Wages and prices › Albania
Albania: a wage buys 38.0% more than in 2019
Prices are 27.5% higher than in August 2019. The average gross wage rose 75.0% between the second quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of 2026, while prices rose 26.9% over the same quarters. Wages have more than caught up.
How much have prices risen since 2019?
Prices in Albania are 27.5% higher than in August 2019. What cost 10,000 lek then costs 12,751 lek now.
Price rise since August 2019, by what people buy. The red mark is all items, +27.5%.
- Food and soft drinks+43.6%
- Leisure and culture+42.5%
- Alcohol and tobacco+23.6%
- Restaurants and hotels+21.0%
- Furniture and household goods+19.8%
- Transport+19.5%
- Personal care and other+18.7%
- Education+13.0%
- Housing and energy+11.5%
- Health+9.9%
- Clothing and shoes+9.4%
- Phone and internet+5.2%
- Insurance and finance+5.1%
Have wages kept up?
The average gross wage rose 75.0% between the second quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of 2026. Prices rose 26.9% over the same quarters, so a wage buys 38.0% more than in 2019.
INSTAT counts employees who worked 18 days or more in the month, with bonuses.
How does Albania compare with its neighbours?
- European UnionPrices +30.0%, wages +30.0%, a wage buys +0.1%
- AlbaniaPrices +26.9%, wages +75.0%, a wage buys +38.0%
- GreecePrices +24.6%, wages +40.3%, a wage buys +12.7%
- North MacedoniaPrices +45.6%, wages +97.4%, a wage buys +35.6%
- Kosovo2025Prices +28.0%, wages +49.5%, a wage buys +16.8%
- MontenegroPrices +38.2%, wages +60.0%, a wage buys +15.8%
Work out your own inflation
Your prices depend on what you buy. Put in what you spend each month and see your own rate beside the official one: your inflation in Albania.
Sources and method
Prices: Eurostat, HICP (prc_hicp_minr), August 2026 against August 2019. Wages: INSTAT, average gross monthly wage (PTM011), average gross monthly wage per employee, from tax records, the second quarter of 2026 against the second quarter of 2019. For the comparison, prices are the average of the same months. Processing and visualisation: The Macro Notebook, based on data from INSTAT. The figures are as published on 6 October 2026.