Albania Civil Registration

Introduction
Civil Registration is the registration of births, marriages, and deaths by civil authorities. These records are kept by local civil registration officers in each municipality. These records are excellent for family and relationship linkage. They identify names of parents, prove other relationships, and are very useful for linking generations. Ottoman population registers (see the Albania Census page to learn more) functioned in the role of civil registration until 1912. Civil registration began in 1929.

Coverage
Civil registration began in 1929 and continues to the present. However, birth and marriage registration is only available from 1929 to 1950. 75 to 99% of the population is covered in these records.

Content
Birth records list name; sex; date and place of birth; legitimacy status; father's name, age, occupation; and mother's name and age. Marriage records list the names of groom and bride, date and place of marriage, ages, residence, previous marital status, place of birth, and names of parent’s of the groom and bride. Death records list the name of deceased, date of death and burial, place and cause of death, age, occupation, marital status, spouse’s name, burial information, and sometimes birthplace.

Accessing the Records
Existing civil registration is likely kept in local municipality and community offices. Older civil registration are likely held by the Central State Archives of Albania in Tiranë. None of these records have been acquired by the Family History Library. It may be possible to access them by correspondence or by hiring a local researcher. The present regime has no resources to expend on preservation of old records and it is not known how well these records are being preserved.

These records are excellent for family and relationship linkage. They identify names of parents, prove other relationships, and are very useful for linking generations.