Establishment and Operation of the First Elders' Care Institution in Albania

This article analyses the efforts to establish and operate the first institutions for elderly care in Albania during the monarchical regime of Ahmet Zogu and the fascist occupation. Based on archival documents, a detailed description is given of the efforts of the Albanian authorities to establish an elderly care institution, the taxes collected for this purpose, the negotiations between central and local institutions during the process, the rationale for encouraging payment of these taxes made by government representatives. In addition, a comparison between the main dimensions of social care and the social care conceptualized and provided by the Albanian state. The concept of social welfare is broader and includes the notion of elderly", but in this paper only social care for the elderly is considered. The basic concept of the Albanian state is that the main provider of social care for the elderly is the family. Only persons who do not have family or stable income should be cared for by state institutions and their care should be paid for through special taxes.