According to preliminary results of a Living Standards Measurement Survey in Albania for 2012, that part of the population, whose monthly consumption expenditure was below 4891 Leks (46.1 U.S. dollars), increased from 12.4 percent in 2008 to 14.3 percent in 2012.

　　In a country of about 3 million people, the extremely poor population, defined as the people who can hardly make ends meet, increased from 1.2 percent in 2008 to 2.2 percent in 2012. Extreme poverty decreased from 4.7 percent in 2002 to 3.5 percent in 2005.

　　In urban areas, 2.2 percent of the population are mired in extreme poverty, while the extreme poverty rate in rural areas have reached 2.3 percent.

　　Tirana, capital city of Albania has also experienced a sizeable increase in poverty. Compared to 2008, the percentage of the population considered as being poor has gone from 8.7 percent in 2008 to 12.6 percent in 2012.