Shqiptarët | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Total population | |||||||||||||||||||||
c. 7 to 10 million[1][2][3][4][5] | |||||||||||||||||||||
Regions with significant populations | |||||||||||||||||||||
Albania 2,551,006 (2021)[6] Kosovo 1,797,856 (2021)[7] | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Languages | |||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | |||||||||||||||||||||
Religion | |||||||||||||||||||||
Majority: Islam Sunni[a] · Bektashi · Non-denominational Minority: Christianity Catholicism[b] (Latin Church · Eastern Rites Albanian Greek-Catholic Church · Italo-Albanian Church) · Eastern Orthodoxy[c] (Albanian Orthodox Church · Albanian American Orthodox Church) · Protestantism (Albanian Protestant Church · Kosovan Protestant Church) Other: Irreligion | |||||||||||||||||||||
a 502,546 Albanian citizens, an additional 43,751 Kosovo Albanians, 260,000 Arbëreshë people and 169,644 Albanians who have acquired the Italian citizenship[8][9][64][65] b Albanians are not recognized as a minority in Turkey. However approximately 500,000 people are reported to profess an Albanian identity. Of those with full or partial Albanian ancestry and others who have adopted Turkish language, culture and identity their number is estimated at 1,300,000–5,000,000 many whom do not speak Albanian.[58] c The estimation contains Kosovo Albanians. |
The Albanians (Albanian: Shqiptarët) is a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and Kosovo, who speak Albanian language as their mother tongue. They also form a significant minority in North Macedonia.[66]
Albanians share a common ancestry, culture and history, the majority of ethnic Albanians are Muslim while a significant minority of them profess other religions such as Bektashi, and Catholics and Orthodox Christianity. Their National Hero is Skanderbeg. In the Ottoman Empire, Albanian Men were mostly represented in high ranks, like Muhammad Ali Pasha or Ali Pasha and the Köprülü family. The Albanian Dynasty House of Zogu, was founded by King Zog I of Albania. Muslim Albanian boys get circumcised with a sünnet-ceremony, this was taken at the time of the Ottoman Empire[67]
To this, weneed to add an estimate of irregular migrants; some Greek researchers haveargued that Albanians have a rate of 30 per cent irregularity in Greece, butthis is contested as rather high by others (see Maroukis 2009: 62). If we accept a more conservative share than that–e.g. 20 per cent–we come toa total of around 670,000 for all Albanian migrants in Greece in 2010, which is rather lower than that supplied by NID (Table 3.2). In a countrywith a total population of around eleven million, this is nevertheless a con-siderable presence: around 6 per cent of the total population
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