Albania’s migration after 1990 changed more than the number of its citizens living abroad. It also redistributed people within the country, linking rapid growth along the Tirana–Durrës urban axis with the depopulation of rural and mountainous areas. That is the central picture presented by researchers R. King and J. Vullnetari in Working Paper C5, Migration and development in Albania, whose abstract is published on GOV.UK. Their research treats international emigration and internal movement as connected parts of a major population transformation. The scale of departure was substantial. According to the paper, at least 600,000 Albanians were living abroad ten years after migration began in 1990. That represented approximately one in five of the population, with Greece and Italy the principal destinations. These are historical estimates describing that period, rather than figures for Albania today. An equally significant internal redistribution took place over the same decade, the researchers argue, although it was less thoroughly documented. Their account identifies exceptionally rapid growth along the Tirana–Durrës corridor, alongside rural depopulation, particularly in mountainous regions in both northern and southern Albania. This distinction matters when considering how migration changed everyday life. Looking only at departures across national borders misses the movement that reshaped Albania’s own settlement pattern. The same research places expanding urban areas and diminishing rural populations within one account of the country’s post-communist transition. For international migration, the authors identify money sent home by migrants as a central issue, alongside depopulation. They examine remittances at several levels and consider whether returning migrants might contribute to development. The abstract does not quantify those effects or establish that return migration necessarily produced the benefits being considered. The evidence supports describing the post-1990 movements as a major transformation. It does not establish that they changed everyday life more than every earlier migration wave, nor does it document particular changes to food, faith, language or music. The strongest conclusion is geographical and demographic: Albania’s migration story unfolded both beyond its borders and within them. Understanding what happened to the country requires looking at where people settled as well as where they departed, while recognising the research gaps the authors themselves identified.