About 4 in 5 foreign businesses in the country employ fewer than 5 people/ Italy "dominated" the Albanian market with large enterprises
In recent years, Albania, in addition to being exposed to tourism, has also benefited from increased international recognition. This recognition has been accompanied by increased interest from foreign businesses, which see Albania as a suitable place to invest and collaborate with local entrepreneurs.
During 2024, a total of 7,007 foreign businesses operated in Albania, a large part of which have established collaborations with Albanian entrepreneurs. Data analyzed by "Scan Intel" show that the vast majority of these businesses are small in terms of the number of employees. To be precise, 79.5% of foreign businesses employ only 1 to 4 people, which proves that the majority of investments are small businesses seeking to establish and grow in the domestic market. If we refer to this data, it turns out that 4 out of 5 foreign businesses that are opened are small.
Enterprises with 5 to 9 employees, represented by 485 businesses or 6.9% of the total. These are slightly more structured enterprises, but still remain in the category of small businesses. Medium-sized enterprises, which include those with 10 to 49 employees, rank second in terms of number, accounting for 8.7% of the total number of foreign enterprises operating in the country. Finally, large enterprises, which have more than 50 employees and are represented by only 333 businesses, or 4.7% of the total.
The most common economic activities in which these businesses are engaged are those related to production and the provision of services. In terms of state affiliation, Italy is the country with the largest number of large enterprises in Albania, with a total of 167. On the other hand, Israel is represented by the smallest number of large businesses, with only 3. The countries that rank after Italy in terms of the number of enterprises operating in the country are Greece and Kosovo, indicating a significant presence of investors from these countries.
Furthermore, according to data, 2,021 other foreign companies from different countries around the world operate in Albania, of which 85 have over 50 employees.
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