The Albanian census of 1918: data entry and basic analysis

In March of 1918 the Austro-hungarian military occupation forces conducted in almost the whole country of Albania a population census. In order to enable a precise counting in the whole area the house numbers and family names had to be fixed before. The census materials survived almost completely and in all its detailled results accidently and is stored in the archive of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The results of the population census are crucial, not only because it was the first one that had been conducted since the Albanian state was established but also because the following two censuses that had been taken before 1945 are not as precise as the Austrian one. For the census not only the population was counted, but much more additional informations about each person had been collected. Therefore the census represents a unique source for cultural, historical and demographical problems. The aim of the research project is to comprise the data electronically and to conduct first basic analyses. Thus the basis for more and detailled research would be prepared.

This project is based on the results of the first census in Albania organized by the Austrians in 1918. The material is still in Austria in the archive of the Academy of Science. Within the project all over Albania 120.000 persons were recorded. Some important results are: The average age at marriage was 18.8 years for women and 26.4 years for men. There was a high variation among the different regions and cities: the average age at marriage for women was 16.0 to 22.5 years and for men 20.7 to 33.5 years. In coastal areas the age at marriage was lowest and in the cities the age at marriage was highest. The different age at marriage for men and women lead to an average age difference of almost 10 years between spouses. 6.2 percent of all married Muslim men were married to more than one wife. This pattern was most pronounced in the tribal areas of Northern Albania. There were also some cases of Christian men, who were living with two wives despite the religious ban on it. Marriages between members of different ethnic or religious groups were very rare. The normal place of residence after the marriage was the household of the husband or the father of the husband. It was very uncommon for the husband to move into the household of his wife. 45 percent of the population lived in joint family households, i.e. households with more than one married couple, and only 25 percent of the population lived in nuclear families. These joint family households were especially dominating the tribal areas of the north, while nuclear families were much more common in the cities than in the country-side. The patriarchal ideology urged the household head, that the household be continued in the male line and therefore the birth of sons was of high priority. Remarriage of widowers, the marriage with a second wife and married brothers living together in one joint family household increased the probability of securing the continuation. About one quarter of all Albanian men were not successful in their attempts of having at least one son within the same household in their old age despite all these strategies. High mortality led to the death of a lot of these sons already at young ages.