TIRANA, May 28- According to data lately published by the Albanian Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) and referring to the State Social Service, 54 thousand Albanian households were receiving economic aid by the end of 2018. This is the lowest number of households receiving economic aid since 1998 when INSTAT started reporting data. A record number of 149 thousand families receiving economic aid was reported in 1999.
The number of households in the economic aid scheme was 33 percent lower compared to 2017, or nearly 27 thousand fewer households. The number of households in the economic aid scheme has been steadily reduced since 2013, falling by about 50 thousand in the last five years. This is half in relation to 2013.
According to the family structure based on 2018 data, 35 percent of households receiving assistance were with four family members and 25 percent with five members. The largest decrease in the previous year was recorded in households with one and two members, the number of which was reduced by 64 and 67 percent, respectively. For families of four to six members, the decrease was 23-30 percent. In addition to the collapse of the number of households by one third, the economic aid fund has been reduced. In 2018 this fundfell by 18 percent compared to the previous year.
The application of the new Economic Assistance system took off the scheme several thousand households in February 2018, reducing the number of benefiting families by more than one third. At that time many of the families voiced their complaint that they were unjustly excluded and that the criteria used were not a real indicator of the situation. This caused the municipalities to be overwhelmed with appeals, which were subsequently transferred to the Ministry of Social Protection, which is also responsible for the project. But from that time it seems that the institutions themselves have found that the number of poor families is bigger than what the system has taken account of, due to meeting the criteria.
A previous report by the Supreme State Audit (SSA) writes that “in Albania there is no government-approved value of the vital minimum and the poverty line on which social care policies and studies are based. The current Economic Assistance scheme, as an instrument of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, and social dependency institutions, is not effective in alleviating poverty, referring to the number of families deriving from the scheme due to employment and improving their socio-economic conditions. The inefficiency of the electronic system is related to the application of the unified scaling formula, which is not evaluated on the basis of coherent conditions of the families in need. Government support with the Economic Aid Program would be effective if the contribution would be assessed in parallel with the overall level of prices, consumer basket products, and dynamic studies for the reintegration of individuals into society.”
