The Report "Life in Transition: After the Crisis (2011)" is a joint project of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank aimed at investigating the impact of the economic crisis on households in the EBRD countries of operation. Based on the survey of more than 39,000 individuals and households conducted across the EBRD transition region in 34 countries from Central Europe to Central Asia, as well as in a selected group of Western European countries, the Report provides vivid evidence of how lives have been affected by the global economic crisis and its aftermath, all against the backdrop of the two decades of social, political and economic transition after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. This is the second survey of its kind, after an initial Life in Transition Survey carried out in 2006, and it was hence conducted in a dramatically changed economic environment, with most countries still facing the aftershocks of the crisis.
The section of the survey conducted in Albania was financed by the Central European Initiative (CEI) Fund at the EBRD, funded by Italy. Peter Sanfey, Deputy, Director of Country Strategy and Policy at the EBRD, presented the main results of the survey held in Albania. According to the analysis, the economic crisis has affected a majority of households (around 60% of respondents) despite the fact that Albania was one of the few countries to maintain a positive growth rate during the crisis. Life satisfaction has dropped since 2006. Optimism for the future has also declined, although more than two-thirds of the population still felt that future generations would have a better life than today. Nevertheless, the level of trust in people has significantly risen since 2006. Nearly half of respondents thought that people could generally be trusted, indicating a higher level of trust than in most other transition countries and higher even than the average rate in western European countries. Trust in financial institutions has increased in the economic crisis (nearly 60% of respondents). The police and armed forces were found to be the most trusted public institutions, while political parties, parliament and trade unions were the least trustworthy. It was also found that democracy and the market economy attracted strong support, and perceptions of corruption in public institutions has dropped since 2006. The official presentation of the Report held on 18 April in Tirana was organised by the Office for the CEI Fund at the EBRD, in cooperation with the Italian Embassy in Tirana, the Office of the Chief Economist at the EBRD and with the EBRD Office in Tirana. The event was attended by representatives of the Albanian Government, of EU embassies and international organisations and institutions accredited in the country. The CEI Fund at the EBRD – as recalled by the Italian Ambassador in Tirana, H. E. Massimo Gaiani – has committed 20.4 million EUR of Technical Cooperation Projects (TCs) in the region so far, especially targeting the Western Balkans. Albania, with about 3 million EUR of TCs, is in absolute terms the first bilateral recipient of the CEI Fund. “In the period 1993-2011 the technical cooperation projects funded by the CEI Fund at the EBRD in Albania were able to mobilise about 48.7 EUR million of international investments which significantly helped reforms in the Country”, the Italian Ambassador underlined. The last EBRD/CEI presentation of the Report Life in Transition: After the Crisis was held in Sarajevo and Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on 22-23 March 2012. The survey carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the one held in Albania, were both financed by the CEI Fund at the EBRD. For more information: mameli@cei-es.org