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GJIROKASTRA REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 2005
shows that generally younger women have little or
no decision-making power at home and husbands
or parents decide marriage for them. Consequently,
as the wife’s age at marriage increases, the disparity
concerning power relations between the couple may
Civil Status by Gender 56
District
In the Gjirokastra region, approximately 49.6% of
the population is married and approximately 45.6%
is single. Those comprising widows or widowers
make up an estimated 4.4%, while 0.4% of the
population is divorced. The low level of divorce is
important to note. In traditional rural societies,
women rarely initiate divorce due to the social
stigma attached to divorced women. Women are
solely blamed for the failure of marriage and
oftentimes are ostracized within the family and the
community. Economic dependency on male earners
can be a further factor for not seeking divorce. In
addition, a cumbersome legal system and outdated
laws on divorce also act as a deterrent. Women of
the region experience a greater proportion of
divorce than men in each of the districts, but most
remarkable is that female widows outnumber male
widows by a startling 3,373 (of the widowed
population, 16.2% are males versus 83.8% of
females). This statistic is a testament to the fact that
gender is a primary determinant of vulnerability
because if a woman becomes the primary house-
PAGE 48
decrease, positively influencing the wife’s autonomy
and drive for self-fulfillment. Due to changing social
norms and attitudes, as well, the number of divorces
has also witnessed an increase from 8.7 to 9.6 per
100 marriages. 55
Male Civil Status Female Civil Status
Single Married Widowed Divorced Single Married Widowed Divorced
Tepelene 8,535 7,571 214 45 7,111 7,697 1,179 52
Permet 6,333 6,463 202 25 5,177 6,619 916 45
Gjirokastra 13,250 13,741 395 91 11,021 13,917 2,089 143
Total 28,118 27,775 811 161 23,309 28,233 4,184 240
55 Progress Report 2003 on Implementation of the National Strategy for
Socio-Economic Development, Council of Ministers, Tirana 2004.
56 INSTAT: REPOBA, 2001.
hold income earner, she is more likely to suffer from
higher levels of poverty than a male primary household
income earner. Moreover, since women as
opposed to men are commonly stigmatized for
divorcing, women very rarely remarry whereas
divorced men often do.
Life Expectancy
Average life expectancy in Albania is 69 years for
men and 75 years for women, with an average of
72. This average is only slightly lower than the
average recorded in Western Europe but it has been
declining in recent years. The average life expectancy
within the Gjirokastra region is 73.78. In the context
of the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe, the
average life expectancy is 78.2 in Greece, 70.9 in
Bulgaria, 70.4 in Turkey, 74.1 in the UN Administered
Territory of Kosovo, 73.5 in the Former
Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, 74.0 in Bosnia,
and 78.7 in Italy. In the United States the average life
expectancy is 77.0 years. 57
57 Progress Report 2003 on Implementation of the National Strategy for
Socio-Economic Development, Council of Ministers, Tirana 2004.