The United Kingdom is home to a fast-growing Albanian community, and one of the most visible in Europe. Two of the biggest pop stars in the world, Rita Ora and Dua Lipa, are British Albanians from Kosovar families. But the community’s story runs from the refugees of the Kosovo War to the headlines of the 2022 Channel crossings, and this guide tells all of it.
It is part of our Albanians Around the World series.
Quick Facts: Albanians in the UK
- Population: About 99,000 Albania- and Kosovo-born residents of England and Wales in the 2021 census (68,672 born in Albania and 30,515 in Kosovo), larger still counting the British-born generation. A conservative estimate from the official figures: about 98,400 to 101,600 residents of Albanian origin who were born abroad, not counting Scotland (method shown below).
- Where they live: Overwhelmingly in London, which holds about 57 percent of all Albania- and Kosovo-born residents, with communities in Birmingham and the South East.
- Main origins: Albania and Kosovo, with smaller numbers from North Macedonia.
- How they came: Kosovo War refugees in the late 1990s, economic migrants in the 2000s, and a sharp rise in arrivals in 2022.
- Famous connection: Global pop stars Rita Ora and Dua Lipa are both British Albanians whose families come from Pristina, Kosovo.
On This Page
- How Many Albanians Live in the UK?
- A Conservative Estimate, and How It Is Built
- Two Centuries of Albania and Britain
- How the Community Grew
- The 2022 Channel Crossings
- Where Albanians Live in the UK
- Community and Everyday Life
- Notable British Albanians
- Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Albanians Live in the UK?
The 2021 census counted 68,672 people born in Albania and 30,515 born in Kosovo living in England and Wales, about 99,000 Albania- and Kosovo-born residents in total (Office for National Statistics). The real ethnic Albanian community is larger, since these figures leave out the fast-growing British-born generation and Albanians who arrived holding other passports.
The growth has been rapid. In 2011 the census recorded only about 13,000 Albania-born residents in England; a decade later that number had multiplied several times over. The community is also strikingly concentrated: London alone held about 57 percent of all Albania- and Kosovo-born residents in England and Wales, with roughly 35,000 Albania-born people in the capital.
A Conservative Estimate, and How It Is Built
A conservative estimate from the official figures: about 98,400 to 101,600 residents of Albanian origin who were born abroad and live in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is an estimate, not an official figure. It is built from the 2021 census country of birth tables, and every assumption is stated.
| Group | Official count (Census 2021) | Share counted as Albanian | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residents born in Albania (England and Wales 68,672, Northern Ireland 142) | 68,814 | All | 68,814 |
| Residents born in Kosovo (England and Wales 30,515, Northern Ireland 60) | 30,575 | 90.79 percent, the Albanian share in Kosovo’s 2024 census | 27,759 |
| Residents born in North Macedonia (England and Wales 7,547, Northern Ireland 24) | 7,571 | 24.3 to 66 percent (see below) | 1,840 to 4,997 |
| Total | 98,413 to 101,570 |
The North Macedonia range runs from the Albanian share of that country’s resident population in its 2021 census (24.3 percent) to the Albanian share among citizens living abroad who took part in the same census (about 66 percent). The second figure is our own arithmetic from the published totals: Albanians were 29.52 percent of all 2,097,319 people counted and 24.3 percent of the 1,836,713 residents, which leaves about 173,000 Albanians among the 260,606 people counted abroad.
What the range leaves out. The census was taken on March 21, 2021, so everyone who arrived afterwards is missing, including the people who crossed the Channel in 2022. Scotland is missing too, because its 2022 census tables do not list Albania, Kosovo or North Macedonia separately. Country of birth tables also leave out every British-born child. The same census offers two cross-checks that do include British-born people: 45,601 residents of England and Wales wrote in “Albanian” as their ethnic group, and 52,328 named Albanian as their main language. Both are lower than the born-abroad count, which shows how many people of Albanian origin do not appear under that label. The real community is therefore likely to be larger than our range, but we do not put a number on what cannot be measured.
Last reviewed: September 18, 2026. Inputs: Office for National Statistics, Census 2021, country of birth (extended), ethnic group (detailed, TS022) and main language (detailed, TS024); NISRA, Census 2021 table MS-A18; Kosovo Agency of Statistics, Census 2024; State Statistical Office of North Macedonia, Census 2021.
Two Centuries of Albania and Britain
Long before today’s community, Britain and the Albanians were entangled. The poet Lord Byron travelled to the court of Ali Pasha in 1809 and was so taken with the country that he later sat for a famous portrait in Albanian dress. A century afterward the traveller and writer Edith Durham became so beloved for documenting and defending the northern tribes that Albanians called her the “Queen of the Highlanders.”
Britain also helped shape Albania’s modern fate. It was at the Conference of London in 1912 and 1913 that the Great Powers recognized Albania as an independent state and drew its borders. A few years earlier the writer Faik Konica, a founder of modern literary Albanian, published his influential journal Albania from London between 1902 and 1909, making the city a hub of the Albanian national awakening.
The 20th century deepened the tie. When Italy invaded in 1939, King Zog fled into exile and spent much of the Second World War in England, first at the Ritz and then at Parmoor House in Buckinghamshire, reportedly helped to Britain by the naval intelligence officer and future James Bond author Ian Fleming. The BBC Albanian Service began broadcasting in 1940, was closed in 1967, and returned from 1993 until 2011. And in 1949, British and American intelligence launched Operation Valuable, a secret and ultimately doomed attempt to topple Albania’s new communist regime using Albanian exiles, an operation famously betrayed to Moscow by the double agent Kim Philby.
How the Community Grew
Albanians have reached Britain in distinct waves.
| Wave | Period | Who and Why |
|---|---|---|
| Early arrivals | Early 1900s onward | Small numbers, including the writer Faik Konica, who published his influential journal from London during the Albanian national awakening |
| Kosovo War refugees | Late 1990s | Home Office figures show about 4,600 asylum applications from Kosovo in 1998 and about 9,900 in 1999, and a UN evacuation program flew 4,346 refugees to Britain between April and June 1999 |
| Economic migration | 2000s to 2010s | Albanians and Kosovars came for work and family, building communities in London and other cities |
| Channel crossings | 2022 onward | Albanians briefly became the largest nationality crossing the Channel by small boat, before a UK-Albania returns deal and falling numbers |
The first notable Albanian presence in Britain was intellectual, not economic: Faik Konica, one of the great figures of the Albanian Renaissance, published his journal Albania from London in the early 1900s. The community as we know it today, however, was born in the late 1990s, when the Kosovo War drove thousands of Kosovo Albanian refugees to seek safety in the UK. The UN refugee agency’s Humanitarian Evacuation Program flew the first 161 evacuees into Leeds Bradford Airport on 25 April 1999, and 4,346 had arrived by late June. Through the 2000s and 2010s, Albanians and Kosovars followed for work and family, putting down roots above all in London.
The 2022 Channel Crossings
In 2022 the community found itself at the center of Britain’s migration debate. That year Albanians briefly became the largest single nationality crossing the English Channel in small boats, with around 12,700 arrivals, 27 percent of the total, a sharp jump on previous years. Most were young men seeking work or claiming asylum.
The surge triggered fierce political argument and some harsh official rhetoric, and it fed negative stereotypes that community groups worked hard to counter. In December 2022 the UK and Albania signed an agreement to speed up the return of Albanian nationals, and small-boat arrivals from Albania fell sharply in the years that followed. The episode was a difficult chapter for a community that, for the most part, was already long settled and law-abiding.
Where Albanians Live in the UK
The UK’s Albanian community is one of the most concentrated of any diaspora: London is home to well over half of it, in boroughs such as Enfield, Barnet, Haringey, and Barking and Dagenham. Beyond the capital, the largest communities are in the South East and the East of England, followed by the West Midlands around Birmingham. The map shows the pattern.
The 2021 census counted about 99,000 Albania- and Kosovo-born residents in England and Wales, and the community is larger counting the British-born generation. Well over half live in London. Hover or tap a region.
Shading shows where the community lives; London holds about 57 percent of all Albania- and Kosovo-born residents. Source: Office for National Statistics, 2021 census.
Community and Everyday Life
Albanian life in Britain is centered on London, where Albanian-owned cafes, car washes, barbershops, restaurants, and building firms are a familiar sight, and where community and cultural associations, football clubs, and Albanian-language schooling keep the language and traditions alive. The community is mixed in faith, mostly of Muslim background with Catholic and Orthodox minorities, and generally secular, and it keeps the strong family ties and hospitality that travel with Albanians everywhere. A confident British-born generation is now coming of age, at ease in both cultures.
Community organizations play a central role, among them the Shpresa Programme, a charity supporting Albanian-speaking refugees and migrants, the professional network UKAP Foundation, and the UK Albanian Muslim Community and Cultural Centre, alongside Albanian weekend schools that teach the language to British-born children.
Notable British Albanians
Few diasporas have produced bigger pop stars. Dua Lipa, one of the defining artists of her generation and the winner of multiple Grammy and Brit Awards, was born in London in 1995 to Kosovar Albanian parents from Pristina. Rita Ora, a chart-topping singer and television personality, was born in Pristina in 1990 and came to London as a baby when her family fled the worsening situation in Kosovo. Remarkably, both superstars trace their roots to the same small Kosovar capital. Reaching back a century, the writer Faik Konica made London a base for the Albanian national cause. You can read more in our guide to famous Albanian singers.
The community’s reach goes well beyond pop. The philosopher and writer Lea Ypi, a professor at the London School of Economics, won international acclaim for her memoir Free, about growing up at the end of Albanian communism. In sport, the striker Armando Broja, born in England to an Albanian family, came up through Chelsea and plays for the Albania national team. They are part of a British-Albanian generation making its mark in music, letters, sport, and business. In business, Krissy Cela, who came to Britain as a child, built a global fitness-app and activewear business and was named by Forbes among Europe’s most successful young entrepreneurs. Albanian-owned brands have also broken into the mainstream, among them BrownieGod, a London dessert business that has won wide press coverage.
Featured Albanian Business Owners in the UK
Albanian entrepreneurs in Britain include Anisa Alikaj, the London-based founder of Inner Wisdom Coaching, profiled in our featured business owner series.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Albanians live in the UK?
The 2021 census counted about 99,000 Albania- and Kosovo-born residents in England and Wales, 68,672 from Albania and 30,515 from Kosovo. The community is larger still counting British-born children and those who hold other passports. A conservative estimate from the official figures is about 98,400 to 101,600 residents of Albanian origin who were born abroad, not counting Scotland, with the method shown in this guide, and the real figure is likely higher.
Where do most Albanians in the UK live?
Overwhelmingly in London, which holds about 57 percent of all Albania- and Kosovo-born residents, followed by the South East, the East of England, and the West Midlands around Birmingham.
Are Rita Ora and Dua Lipa Albanian?
Yes. Both are British Albanians. Dua Lipa was born in London to Kosovar Albanian parents from Pristina, and Rita Ora was born in Pristina and moved to London as a baby.
Why did Albanians come to the UK?
The community was founded by Kosovo War refugees in the late 1990s, grew through work and family migration in the 2000s and 2010s, and saw a sharp, widely reported rise in arrivals in 2022.
What is the historical connection between Albania and Britain?
It runs deep. Lord Byron and the writer Edith Durham helped shape British views of Albania, the Conference of London recognized Albanian independence in 1912 to 1913, King Zog spent the Second World War in exile in England, and the BBC Albanian Service broadcast to Albania from 1940 to 1967 and again from 1993 to 2011.
Sources
- Office for National Statistics: International migration, England and Wales, Census 2021
- Migration Observatory, University of Oxford, on Albanian asylum seekers
- House of Commons Library, Channel small-boat crossings statistics
- Albert Lulushi, Operation Valuable Fiend: The CIA’s First Paramilitary Strike Against the Iron Curtain (Arcade, 2014)
- An introduction to Faik Konitza (konitza.eu): the journal Albania in Brussels and London, 1897 to 1909
- Office for National Statistics: Census 2021 custom dataset builder, country of birth (extended)
- Nomis: Census 2021 TS022, ethnic group (detailed)
- Nomis: Census 2021 TS024, main language (detailed)
- NISRA: Census 2021 table MS-A18, country of birth, full detail
- Government of Kosovo: First final results of the 2024 Census (ethnic composition)
- Balkan Insight: North Macedonia census 2021, residents and non-residents counted
Related Reading
- Albanians Around the World: The Global Diaspora
- Famous Albanian Singers
- The Kosovo War: A Complete History
- Albanians in Germany
- Albanians in Switzerland
Author: Val Demiri
Valbona is an editor and writer at ALB Connection, where she covers the people, businesses, and culture shaping the Albanian diaspora. A journalism graduate of the University of Iowa, her work spans community profiles, success stories, and features on Albanian life across the US, Europe, and beyond. She is drawn to stories that celebrate Albanian achievement and keep the community connected across borders.
