Albania’s IT sector has built a credible nearshoring proposition, with over 21,000 professionals delivering software development, QA, DevOps, and UI/UX services to Western European clients.
IT services exports reached 221.5 million euros in 2024, and the sector is moving beyond simple staff augmentation toward higher-value engagements where Albanian teams own entire product components. Senior developers in Tirana cost less than their Berlin equivalents, but firms increasingly compete on expertise rather than price alone. Tourism has inadvertently boosted the country’s profile, while programmes from GIZ, the EU, and Albania’s own investment agency are strengthening the talent pipeline and start-up ecosystem.
The sector’s constraints are real: a population under three million limits scale, brain drain pulls top talent westward, and ICT’s share of GDP remains well below regional averages. Competition from established nearshoring destinations like Poland, Romania, and Ukraine is intensifying. Yet Albania’s trajectory is upward. ICT employment, exports, and salaries are all growing steadily, and the government is targeting 20–25 per cent of IT exports from product-based work by end of 2026.
The sector’s competitive advantage lies not in any single differentiator but in a reliable combination: European working culture, time-zone alignment, genuine technical skill, and a track record of simply delivering.
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