HAPPINESS AND EMIGRATION AS A CHALLENGE TO ALBANIAN UNIVERSITY YOUTH: A NATIONAL LEVEL CASE

Aim: The research article aims to analyse happiness as the primary indicator of the current emigration potential of university youth. The challenges of decision-making of Albanian university youth to emigrate tease out the social, political and economic factors as indicators to decrease the level of happiness in terms of personal (being happy with life in general, with life, with family life in the last four years) and in social perspective such as being happy with economic status and house/shelter, the level of satisfaction with current life (standards of living), and the level of trust (in political and governmental institutions; in people, friends and media), as the pushing factors to potential emigration of youth. Methods: To guarantee a national-level measurement of the university youth emigration potential, due to the mentioned indicators, the empirical data gained from the quantitative online survey research on the measurement of opinions of (N=1010) Albanian university youth, at the national level of (N=7) (all) public universities in Albania, in (N=13) departments on social sciences profile, analysed by the Statistical program IMB SPSS 26, in different statistical approach analysis, such as descriptive, frequency, cross-tabs and Kurtosis. Results: Many measurement indicators show that personal and social levels of happiness reflect on a ‘low level of subjective well-being, unsatisfaction subjective well-being and dissatisfaction with life and living conditions that decrease the level of trust and security for life, and proxy dimensions of emigration decision (intention and concrete plan to migrate) of university youth. Conclusion: The low satisfaction (with life and living conditions), and low trust in the state bodies and political institutions, due to the current, social, political and economic conditions, formed an elation among the variables, on the conclusion that happiness is the main push factor and a challenge for potential emigration of university youth as high skilled worker, in the next years.


INTRODUCTION
Albanian emigration flows, change the form and tendencies, never seen before in history.Albanian emigration has been defined as unique compared to the post-communist regime countries in the Balkan and European Eastern arena.Since 1990 Albania has been the country on movement, sending the emigration flows to the higher economic development country.'Albania has experienced increasing emigration since the 1990s, with emigration numbers reaching 1.2 million people in 2020, more than one-third of its total population (2.9 million) according to data estimates by DESA, 8 and 49% of them female and 51 % male.
Comparing immigration and emigration figures shows that the estimated net migration in Albania in 2022 reached -10,600 migrants.In addition, data from the World Bank show that personal remittances received in Albania accounted for 9.9 per cent of the GDP in 2022' (IOM; 2023).
In the last few years, the form of emigration flows has changed, from labour migrants with low skills to the high skilled workers such as university-graduated youth and young professionals.'After three decades, this migration is still ongoing, albeit with a changing profile less a migration driven by poverty, desperation and protest, as it was in the 1990s, and more, nowadays, a structural feature of Albanian society, affecting particularly the younger and more educated components of the population (King & Gedeshi 2020).This phenomenon is new in Albanian society, and its challenges soon will influence the social structure of society, with the segmentation of different social, economical and demographical anomies.'Durkheim considers anomie, as some "abnormal forms".When solidarity is not produced, the relations of the organs are not regulated because they are in a state of anomie, that is the attention to both a structural and a normative pathology, and the absence of these rules creates a lack of harmony of such functions.(Marks, Stephen R.1974, pg 330).The flow of brain (brain drain), the lack of highskill workers, the low rate of birth and the rapid ageing of the population seem to be the near future anomies of current emigration flows in Albania.New emigration flows in Albania, need to be analyzed in multidimensions, to understand the new pushing factors that affect the decision-making in Albania.Despite the increasing migration studies, the sociology of emigration shows a gap in analyzing 'happiness' as a huge challenge and crucial indicator in the current flows of brain drain and high-skill workers in the 21 st century in Albania.The theories on emigration, despite the current situation of increasing power and welfare (economic level compared to the first emigration flows during 1990), influence a decrease in happiness.
From the sociological perspective, it is important to redefine analyzing happiness as personal as social decisions and, the effect on emigration decision-making of Albanian university youth.
The theories of the emigration of the 21st century need radical reviews and even reforms when the case study is Albania.'Albania has been described as a laboratory for the study of migration and development' (King 2005) the complexity of emigration theories, excludes the key concepts of this century such as perceptions of welfare on social conditions and happiness.Still taking as a central reference point Ravestein's emigration theory of materialist perspective as pushing factors (Ravestein;1885;PG 168 ), influences the wider gap of analysis of emigration current flows (especially of youth as university-educated and high-skill workers), by ignoring the key elements (power among states demonstrated by potential economic conditions, the flow of information and technology development, influencing of perceptions, actions, and attitudes on an economic level (even the perception of being poor or rich) as an increasing level of welfare and a decreasing level of happiness, and unable explanation of the complexity of current emigration flows as.The lack of explanation (despite the economy as a push factor) might be because of the three critical points.First, theories of emigration ignore the feelings and perceptions of the most potential group of emigration, that is youth.Second theories of emigration do not explain or are unable to explain the intersections of happiness and emigration, because of the lack of research.Third, theories of emigration do not focus on the explanation of the lack of interdisciplinary fields, such as sociology, psychology, economics, law (including public policies), etc.As the consequences of these three critical points, this research aims to analyse the relation of happiness as the push factor of the current emigration situation, and as the challenge of decision-making of Albanian university youth to emigrate.The research aims to tease out the social, political and economic factors as indicators of happiness (in terms of life satisfaction, living standards, trust and happiness level), and as a push factor for the emigration of Albanian youth.Research focuses on the measurement of university youth's subjective wellbeing and happiness to emphasize the importance of analyzing from a different sociological perspective, due to the level of satisfaction with current life, standards of living, prices of goods and houses (to rent or buy), infrastructure and services (transportation, education, health, security).Measurement as a personal and social indicator of happiness, results in the deconstruction in terms of personal (being happy with life in general, with life in last four years) and in wider perspective such as being happy with family life, economic status and house/shelter.Measurement of the level of trust in political institutions (political parties), governmental institutions/state bodies (financial institutions, police, judiciary institutions, government as political body, fairness of elections) and 'trust' as a personal indicator in people, friends, and media.The relations among the indicators analyse the current Albanian university youth emigration plan (for the last twelve months), initial steps, financial plan and connections in the host countries, and are tested by the measurement of factors influencing the decisionmaking to emigrate (such as economic crises, insecurity and hopelessness, search to gain the sense of economic and political stability, better services, less corrupted state, opportunities for better jobs, opportunities to learn and growth, to trust in governmental functioning and judiciary system and happiness as a push factor of this decision. The total number of students in public and private universities in Albania is 121,352, from this group, 71,192 are enrolled in bachelor programs and 42,983 students are enrolled in master programs (INSTAT 2023a).In public universities, total number of students is 90,912.55,399 students are enrolled in bachelor programs and 30,085 master programs (INSTAT 2023 b).To conduct a considerable surveyed number of public university youth at the national level, (N=1010) students, study in (N=13) departments mostly with social sciences profile.The extension of the survey application has been from January 2023 to December 2023.To measure the opinions of university youth in all (seven) public universities in Albania (the University of Aleksander Moisiu Durres, the University of Tirana, the University of Aleksander Xhuvani Elbasan, the University of Korca, University of Vlora and University of Gjirokastra), in main regions (Durres, Tirana, Elbasan, Korce, Vlore and Gjirokaster-cities that get more located population according to the regions), empirical data gained from the quantitative online surveys.Survey questions were uploaded to the Google Form Platform.Reaching students and including them in the surveys, was a challenge due to two reasons.The first one, they are not interested, the second one, they get bored easily and do not answer all questions of the survey.For this reason, it was necessary to send via online platforms (communications platforms such as WhatsApp and email addresses) more than 2300 surveys and received back just 1010.
Connections with academic staff, and the usage of the snowball method, influence a considerable number of research at the national level, due to the public university student population in Albania.
Collecting data has been transformed from the Google Forms platform to the Statistical program IMB SPSS 26, and the instrument of measurements of the indicators, in different statistical approaches, such as frequency, descriptive and crosstabulation etc.The usage of the quantitative research approaches in the analysis of data has been selected to measure and test the hypothesis through the main indicators as happiness, satisfaction with life and living conditions as a consequence of the current political and economic situation, trust in the public institutions and the consequences of trust as the insecurity due to the economical, political and social conditions, as the push factors of emigration decision of university youth in Albania.

6
The research develops as the review of literature on the intersection of emigration and happiness, in a sociological context, the next section on the analysis of youth in the national Albanian university context, and the method section which consists of a wider statistical explanation of data findings, dealing with the research questions of the study.The search is summed up with discussions and conclusions.

EMIGRATION AND HAPPINESS IN THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE
An emergency of understanding and analyzing the new flows of emigration in Albania is related to the lack of exploration of important issues of the current century such as happiness.
'According to economists, objective criteria show the well-being of individuals, and the quality of life of the society is easily understood with the objective criteria of economic conditions (Gul, 2020).Differently from that, in the 21st century, life conditions have drastically changed in the better multi-dimensional perspective.The 'rational individual' of the economic neoclassical theory of happiness studies, evaluated that there exist many reasons, but the most important is the welfare and happiness of individuals, directly associated with the economic conditions.The other one is happiness as an important pushing factor, of the youth as a potential group in the current emigration flow.
Layard determined that social actors' happiness is influenced by three main sources such as external, cultural determination and comparison with others, and internal which is a quick adaptation (Layard 2007).The social comparison theory established in the field of quality of life was developed by Easterlin.Easterlin states that an individual compares his/her income with the income of 'others' in the social environment.'If the individual earns more income than the income of 'others' in the social environment, the happiness of the individual increases, and in the opposite, it decreases (Easterlin, 1974).'The individual can be unhappy by comparing herself with someone who earns more/a lot, can increase the level of income, and aims to earn by increasing the level of desire (Boyce et al., 2010).Due to emigration, the reference groups to which individuals compare themselves might be changing.Especially, youth as a dynamic and potential group for emigration, is more proper to compare themselves with others.They may compare themselves with their peers who are at the same study level in the university or in the other social environments where they live.Since the relative happiness of young people is completely related to the reference group with which they compare themselves, it is important to be very careful in identifying happiness as a personal as a social factor, during the conducting research on emigration The indicators.'The most important reason is the idea that long-standing well-being is directly related to happiness (Gökdemir Dumludağ, 2011).
But the predictability of this research is focusing on the perspective, that rational individuals of the 21st century, such as university youth, do not emigrate just from economic conditions, but also due to the social conditions of the society where they live, which did not match the reality of happiness to them.To determine and analyze the research questions, it is essential to focus on the social theory of emigration elements such as stratification, social mobility, social changes, crystallization of statuses, symbolic interaction and marginal benefits, etc., of the sociocultural structure of a society, that are primary 'pushing' factors of emigration.
If in the social system, the units (social actors or community) are changed rapidly (as happens in Albanian society's structure), it reflects the tensions between social structures which appear in three types.First 'Ranked tension (rank tension)' (Skryms, 2014), is defined as the tension of positions of similar statuses but from different units.Second as 'Unbalanced tension (disequilibrium tension)' (Skryms, 2014), the tension of unequal positions of a similar unit is defined.Third 'Unfulfilled tension' (Skryms, 2014), the situation is defined, as is formed as a result of not participating in one or more similar units.The research results show that the ranked, unbalanced and unfulfilled tensions are the main social, political and economic elements that decrease the satisfaction of Albanian university youth and increase the desire to emigrate.
According to Krech and Crutchfield, 'tensions can often shape the social and cultural anomie of the social structure' (Krech and Crutchfield;1980).These can be identified as anomic tensions in a society, which are formed by sequences at the moment when the structural tension exceeds the limits.Tensions become the trigger for the incitement and removal of individuals from the society where they live.All the elements are closely related to each other and form the mechanism of functioning of the social structure of society.Breaking the social equilibrium and formation of social tensions, influence the formation of various phenomena such as emigration.
Individuals decide to emigrate by reducing and eliminating tensions, to get a better life.
'Subjective well-being (SWB), colloquially referred to as happiness and used interchangeably, is a person's subjective experience for quality of life.It includes people's affective experiences (the frequency of experiencing positive or negative emotions/ moods) and life evaluations (contentment or life satisfaction) (Diener et al., 1999).
Analyzes of the social theories of emigration, indicated that happiness plays an important role in migration decision-making, beyond accounting only for standard predictors (economic conditions) of migration.The concept of well-being explains life satisfaction broadly by including being happy in family life, leisure time, social environment, health 8 services, accommodation, and friendships.On the other hand, welfare is defined by the individual's assessment of the contribution of the goods and services of well-being, according to income.Material well-being consists of income and wealth.'Happiness is defined as the degree of positive evaluation of attitudes that people give in the face of situations that happen in their lives, by calculating the consumption of leisure time, goods, and other activities at an optimum level by limiting it to income (Gökdemir Dumludağ, 2011).Social actors might perceive that happiness influences well-being in society.If social actors cannot achieve this, it influences the decision-making to leave (emigrate).It is reasonable, to evaluate happiness as a challenge to decision-making for emigration.The youth as the most dynamic group in society, forms social mobility more easily than other groups, maintains easy social changes, and faces difficulty in the crystallization of statuses, which is influenced by social conflicts and disbalances in societies.Consequently, youth as the primary group, have more priority to be influenced in terms of happiness, satisfaction and decision-making on emigration flows.

AN OVERVIEW OF ALBANIAN YOUTH AS THE POTENTIAL GROUP OF THE NEW EMIGRATION FLOWS
The understanding of youth as a social category is the focus group and is very important in terms of carrying out the analysis of the research article.In a society, the categorization of a group 'young people' occupies a very important place, because they perform the function of the connecting bridge between the past and the future of the socio-cultural structure of the society.This is the main indicator that youth play a functional fundamental role in the structure of society.In terms of sociological literature, categorizing and defining the differences between 'adults' and youth is important.Ozensel determines youth as the category of young people, by comparing it with adults.'Firstly, adults can select values and judgments according to values, as well as adopt them in daily life ' (Ozensel;2004).Meanwhile, youth have not resolved yet the conflict between childhood aspirations and experiences, and the impact may have later on the social environments where they will live.Youths search for values that fit their personality and current emotional situation (the personality that is in the process of development).
'Secondly, adults can have independence from the family (especially from the parents) as well as work to have economic independence ' (Ozensel;2004).While youth are not yet at this stage.
They are dependent on the parents (family or people who care about them), in economic, social, and psychological attachments.Youths feel the need to rely (emotionally and materially) on these people.Consequently, youth is the most dynamic group in society.Emigration flows, ___________________________________________________________________________ 9 especially in the last four years of the three decades of the post-communist regime, bring out the rapid narrowing of the youth category number.'48,800 international migrants were living in the country as of midyear 2020, which represents 1.7 per cent of the country's total population.Disaggregated data indicate that the majority of emigrants in 2020 were 0-19 years old (52.6%), followed by working-age migrants 20-64 years (working-age migrants) (40.3%), and 7,1 % 65 (older migrants).(IOM), 2023.FQ 16) Declining birth rates and emigration flow of young high-skill workers will be segmented with the huge gap in the social dynamism, and several anomies in the demographic and social structure of Albanian society.'Demography is an important factor that shapes career services and makes a difference whether the population of a particular country is an ageing one, or whether young people constitute a majority (Bergmo Prvulovic, 2017); and it also makes a difference if the local economy and labour market are vibrant, whether many are obliged to consider migration as an option (Fejes et al., 2021;at Rama,2022,14) The youth decided to leave the country for several segmented push factors (see the chapter Methods and Data Analysis), and form the new trend on current emigration flows.'This trend is exacerbated in some cases by the tendency of young people to leave their country.This is the case with Albania (where the best educated and most qualified emigrate to EU countries or the USA (Rama, 2022, 15).Highly educated individuals are more likely to benefit from migration to an economy with lower levels of corruption where they will be better able to reap the benefits of investment in their human capital (Arif 2022), and the rapid economic polarisation in society.The youth, especially the highly educated youth as high-skill workers, attend the trend of moving from Albania toward economic development countries, especially in the EU (Germany has been the most attractive country, due to the emigration attraction and employment policies for young high-skill emigrants).'While anyone might benefit from migrating from a high-to a low-corruption country, those with more education will receive a greater benefit (Garcia, Ana I.L. & Maydom, B. (2023).The new trends of emigration of youth, occur as the result of a variety of complexity of pushing factors.As research aims to analyze 'happiness' as an important factor in decision-making (as personal as social), it is important to a short overview of the current Albanian society structure.Albania was affected by the November 2019 earthquake and the all consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.'The energy and food crises as well as the ensuing economic consequence of the war in Ukraine on European markets, have put additional pressure on the Albanian economy' (Rama;2022,10)..'Thenegative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic growth, employment and migration trends have been strongly felt in the Western Balkan countries.Such as Albania (Mara and Landesmann;2022 PG90) In Albania's country profile, the GDP growth rate seems very low.Statistics show that the total rate of population does not match with the GDP per person.In case the economic crises came as the result of earthquake disasters (2019) and followed by the Covid -2019 pandemic, the rapid growth of bi-polarisation in society came out as the result of informality in Albania.
'Data published by Eurostat show that 51% of Albania's citizens are at risk of poverty and social exclusion, which is the highest share in Europe.In 2019, the percentage of Albanians perceived as being at risk of poverty was almost twice as high as the EU average (21.1%)'.(Mara and Landesmann;2022 PG 90).Since 2019, in Albanian society, where extreme economic bi-polarization appeared (never seen before, from the communist regime till the last few years) in divisions of social classes, middle and low er classes' incomes do not match with the high prices (identified as an economic crisis) of the national market.
On one hand, life standards and welfare of the 21st century differ from the last century (the meaning of being poor has changed), especially in Albania as a post-communist country.
'According to economists, objective criteria show the well-being of individuals, and the quality of life of the society is easily understood with the objective criteria of economic conditions (Gul, 2020).The standards of welfare, the influence of social media and the flow of information, culturally and socially determined the new perception of happiness on youth.On the other hand, all the extreme dynamism that appears in Albanian society with bi-polarization of economic classes.'The shrinking of the middle class, and enlarging of the lower and upper class, bring structural and social disequilibrium in society' (Ozdemir, 2020).The lowest GDP in the region and the rapid fancy luxury manifesto of a group of young people (incomes form the illegality), (referring to the sociological perspective of Ritzer, compared to the other, is an attitude that social actors have naturally and lean in everyday life social activities (Ritzer, 2011))parallelly increase the insecurities, and unhappiness and affects social actors (especially youth as a 11 dynamic group), to undertake actions (such as emigration) to get changes in their lives.'High unemployment, low wages, precarious and unskilled jobs in the informal sector, uncertainty and emotional stress, poor working conditions and lack of prospects generate poverty and trigger dissatisfaction among many segments of society' (Gedeshi, 2021,4 ETF).Even though, youth play a fundamental role in the structure and dynamism of emigration flows, due to the performance of the risk of poverty, youth as a social category undertake willingness and decision to leave Albania.The main issue to consider is that unemployment, is related to a decrease in happiness and trust, influencing increasing feelings of insecurity.The longer the period of unemployment, the deeper and more devastating the impact of the negative consequences and the drain of population, toward economic development countries are.
'Unemployment rates are twice as high, and salaries are one-half to one-quarter lower than in Western European countries Albania ranks fourth in the world in its emigration rate of highly skilled workers' (OECD 2022).As in all Western Balkan countries, the problem of unemployment in Albania has become a strong structural element in the society and economy.
'Deep structural changes are required to the labour market in Albania.Unemployment rates remain at two-digit levels, wages are low, the share of unskilled jobs, particularly in the informal sector, is high, and vulnerability at work is also high.Gedeshi, 2021,10 ETF).
Unemployment rates are extremely important to an economy's performance, strength, fragility, and efficiency and in the social structure of society.'According to the official data of INSTAT 2020, the unemployment rate in 2019 was 11.5%, whereas youth unemployment 15-24 yearsold group age, increased to 27.2% (INSTAT 2020).It is worth mentioning that the unemployment situation in Albania has become structural.Especially, youth, who do not participate in the labour force because they are discouraged, and disadvantaged groups, problems faced during the transition from education to work, and problems arising from poverty, underemployment, and working conditions are among the most important issues to analyze.Wages do not match with the prices, due to the basic needs, home rent or buy prices, high prices of healthcare, etc. 'Qualified and well-educated young people are unhappy with the working conditions prevailing in the country, as well as the importance of clientelist networks and 'connections' in finding a well-paid job, the shortage of skilled and decent jobs, the lack of opportunities for career advancement, and the poor levels of job security.All these factors produce migrant flows from across social groups, from low-skilled workers to highly educated graduates (Gedeshi, 2021,10 ETF).All these factors influence happiness, insecurities, and untrust of all public institutions, and are important to measure as indicators and push factors for the emigration of Albanian youth, as the background of the social and political situation.
'People in the category of 'youth' are more prone to take risks and therefore can migrate easily ( Polgreen et al., 2010).One of the most striking types of migration movements today in Albania is the 'brain drain' of well-educated youth.The issue of the reverse brain drain as high-skill workers is as important as the brain drain and even has effects in terms of attracting the brain to leave the country.'Labour Force Survey data for the Western Balkan countries during 2011-2019, showed that 40 % of the emigration from Albania could be classed as brain drain Leitner (2021).It figures out a high rate when compared with other societies in the Balkan region.In recent years, policies have been started to be developed for highly qualified individuals, especially youth, going abroad to perform a reverse brain drain to Albania.Emigration from Albania is mainly motivated by economic reasons (unemployment and the effort for better living conditions), although other considerations have come to the fore.'Two categories of the population, young people and women find the situation in the country's labor market particularly difficult (Strategjia Kombëtare për Migracionin the Plani i Veprimit, 2023).The theoretical perspective of the strategies and policies to prevent the flow of youth emigration, as the highly skilled workers and 'brain drain' of society, most of the time does not match the social practice reality.This happens because of the lack of multi-dimensions of policies (to empower the support of youth as a dynamic 'brain' force, lack of policies to reduce the bi-polarization of classes in society, and to wider the middle class (because university youth are potential to work as white collars), and to form stability in the hierarchy of society (in economic and social perspective), and empower opportunities for work, where political rhetoric to match the reality, etc.

METHOD AND DATA ANALYSIS
This is an empirical research study, based on online survey field research.The method used in this study occurred as a combination of the discussion of the theoretical framework and the data analyses gained from the field research with surveys.Researching the influence of 'happiness' as a push factor in the decision-making of Albanian youth, the literature review as seen previous section and the data analysis gained by survey field research, have an importance in analyzing the current profile of Albanian youth as potential emigrants in a very near future.The research's hypothesis is about the happiness of university youth, as a pushing emigration factor, due to satisfaction with life and living conditions as the sequences of economic, political and social current situations, and the level of trust in public institutions, analyzing as elements influence the decrease of the happiness level and strengthen the desire, intention, and decision-

University youth distribution according to the enrolment in the public university (Frequency statistic)
As shown in Table 1,

Faculty (Frequency statistic)
Different from the other research on the emigration protentional, this research focuses on studying university youth, who are not enrolled on the attracted profession from the hosted countries of emigration current flows (such as medicine (doctors, nurses, and other health care professions), IT engineering and designers etc(so much geographically but economically and geopolitically, within the European sphere' (King &Gedeshi;2023,3)), but in programs of education and social sciences.The only program of Technology and information, at the University of Aleksander Moisiu Durres, is a two-year bachelor program (with a profile of optic fibre installation), it was chosen because this profile is not preferable to the emigration host countries and forms the gender balance in the study.As shown in Table 2, the study's sample group, are distributed in faculty of education, social sciences, humanity sciences, history and philology, law, political sciences and business.
To reach a considerable number of university youth, it was necessary the use online social platforms.Survey questions were uploaded to the Google Form Platform.Reaching students and including them in the surveys, performed challenges for two reasons.The first one, they were not interested, the second one, they got bored easily and did not answer all questions of the survey.For this reason, it was necessary to send via online platforms (communications platforms such as WhatsApp and email addresses) more than 2300 surveys and received back just 1014 of them.Just 1010 have validity, and 4 of them are half fulfilled which makes them unvalid.Connections with academic staff, and the usage of the snowball method, influence a considerable number of research at the national level, due to the public university student population in Albania.Even though, the approach of the study was to take into consideration the importance of gender balances, for getting a better understanding of measuring the potential emigration of male or female university youth, as shown in Table 5, 641 out of 1010 or 63.2% of university youth are female and 369 out of 1010 or 36.4 % are male.

Table 5
Gender (Frequency statistic) Table 6 Marital status (Frequency statistic)  7).Regarding the following data analysis, the current employment situation of university youth is related to the house and basic goods prices, and to maintaining living conditions.

Table 7
Current employment status (Frequency statistic)

HAPPINESS LEVEL OF ALBANIAN UNIVERSITY YOUTH
'Regarding the phenomenon of addiction, where a social actor adopts rapidly higher levels of income and sequences of happiness (Kaya, 2008).The most obvious of these is the fact that social actors compare their incomes with the others.If others become richer, this reduces individual satisfaction with whatever they might have.This section aims to analyze the level of happiness of university youth, as the main indicator that influences the decision-making of emigration according to 1-current economic status, 2-currently life rent shelter 3-family life 4-with lifestyle 5-life in general and 6-life in the last four years (from earthquake 2019, COVID-19 pandemic and economic crises).
The measurement of the questions was done by the use of the descriptive statistic approach.The descriptive statistic of the happiness occurred to measure the dispersion of how data is spread out in the responses.Happiness was measured regarding indicators such as happiness in general life, happiness in the last four years (that were critical years because of the Earthquake in 2019, Pandemic Covid-19 in 2020 with lockdown and strict movement allowed till 2022, and economic crises in national and international level during the last three years), happiness with lifestyle, family life, with shelter and economic status.The measurement of central tendency of values 1 (Not at all)-5 (Very), ranged the differences between the highest and the lowest values and showed the mean which is an average value.

Measurement of happiness level (Descriptive statistic)
As shown in Table 8, (Layard 2021) even happiness in terms of social conditions.'But if the income distribution is reasonably stable the income of this reference group will be proportional to average income' (Layard, 2020) and as shown in data of Table 8, it has a correlation to individual happiness in general and in the last four years.The central tendency of values, range difference statistical Mean, with the extremes of average values from a maximum of 4.8218 (happiness of university youth with family life), to a minimum of 1.8832 (being happy with the current economic status).Interesting is that between the extreme of average values, segmentation of other average values is scaled without extreme polarisation, but it is not the same as the Kurtosis distribution.

SATISFACTION WITH LIFE AND LIVING CONDITIONS
The survey contains measurement indicators on the respondents' subjective well-being (usually, level of satisfaction with life and living conditions) and some proxy of emigration decision (usually, willingness or intention and plan to migrate).This section focuses on analyzing the distribution of satisfaction with life and living conditions as variables, measuring the level of satisfaction with current life conditions, distributed in indicators such as 1satisfaction with current life and standard of living.2-satisfaction with house prices and rents.
3-satisfaction with the infrastructure and facilitation system in Albania, such as transportation.
4-Satisfaction with health and security systems.These questions are measured by the usage of a descriptive statistical approach.

Measurement of satisfaction level (Descriptive statistic)
The descriptive statistic of the satisfaction level, as shown in Table 9, occurred to measure the dispersion of satisfaction indicators (due to everyday life and living conditions), spread out in university youth responses.Satisfaction of university youth, in this study, was measured regarding indicators such as the current life, current standards of living, current prices of goods, house prices to buy or rent, availability of public transportation system in the city, security in the city and home country, in health care and educational system.As shown in Table 9, the highest mean has a normal distribution shown in the satisfaction with security in the city where university youth live (3,6122) reflected with the negative Kurtosis of -0.587.The lower mean is shown in the level of satisfaction with current life (2.6436) with lower positive Kurtosis (0.493), satisfaction with current standards of living (2.4000) with lower positive Kurtosis (0.543), satisfaction with the quality of healthcare in the city where they live (2.3703) with lower positive Kurtosis (0.021) and satisfaction with current prices of goods (2.0515) and lower positive Kurtosis (0.683).World Bank emphasized that in Albania the current poverty rate is 23.4%, representing a continuous improvement from the previous years (World Bank, 2022).
The lower mean is shown in the level of satisfaction with current life (2.6436) with lower positive Kurtosis (0.493), satisfaction with current standards of living (2.4000) with lower positive Kurtosis (0.543), satisfaction with the quality of healthcare in the city where they live (2.3703) with lower positive Kurtosis (0.021) and satisfaction with current prices of goods (2.0515) with lower positive kurtosis (0.683).
It is very important to mention that, 998 out of 1010 responded to the question of being secure in the city where they live.So statistical mean is the highest, but to view from a broader perspective the segmentation of average values is in lower weight under 2.6436.The lowest mean of being satisfied with the availability of public transportation, and the mean of house prices to buy or rent, shows the lowest values in the responses.

TRUST IN CURRENT PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND BODIES
At the moment of breaking the social equilibrium (and formation of social tensions), the level of trust decreases and insecurities appear, which is the consequence of various phenomena such as emigration flows.Social actors, reduce and eliminate tensions in making decisions to leave/emigrate and form a new social/better life.This part contains questions for measuring the level of trust (as indicator 'believe;), in 1-Political institutions, such as political parties.2-Trust in governmental institutions such as financial institutions, police, judiciary system, and government.3-fairness of elections 4-Trust in general, to people, friends and media.

Measurement of trust level (Descriptive statistic)
The descriptive statistic of the trust level, as shown in Table 10, 10, where the level of trust in the institutional and governmental bodies is very low, influences the decrease in happiness and security of youth.It is not just an economic crisis (see Table 9), but the current political and cultural anomie situation, in Albania nowadays, The economic conditions are not the only primary pushing factors of youth from Albania as their home country.The low level of trust, as seen in Table 10, where the level of trust in the institutional and governmental bodies is very low, influences the decrease in happiness and security of youth.
It is not just an economic crisis (see Table 9), but the current political and cultural anomie situation, in Albania nowadays, that pushes the current emigration flows of youth.

POTENTIAL EMIGRATION OF UNIVERSITY YOUTH (DECISION-MAKING AND PREPAREDNESS TO EMIGRATE)
This part contains the measuring of the potential emigration of Albanian university youth and their plan to emigrate, by 1-plan for the last 12 months.2-Intial steps 3-Finanacial plan.4-connection in the destination country, with frequency statistical approach.The usage of crosstabulation for comparing thinking about emigration during the last 12 months and the level of happiness in general and in the last four years.

Decision to emigrate (Frequency)
The questions related to the potential emigration of Albanian university youth were analyzed due to the Frequency approach and Cross tabs between the two questions.As shown in Table 11, the highest distribution of the respondents during the past 12 months, think about leaving/moving out from Albania, temporarily 497 out of 1010 university youth or 49.2%, and permanently 406 out of 1010 university youth or 40.2%.Just a few university youth, 107 university youth out of 1010 or 10.6% did not think about leaving/moving out from Albania.89.4% of university youth, temporarily or permanently, during the past 12 months think to emigrate.Potentially this is a very high rate and shows the desire of youth to leave Albania.
To analyze the difference between desire and decision-making, as the following Table 12.

Table 12
The time plane to leave (Frequency) The question 'How soon would you like to leave', is related to the plan that potential youth make to emigrate.As shown in Table 12, the highest distribution of the respondents about the plan they make to emigrate within six months is 433 out of 967 university youth or 42.7%.
The second highest rate of responders that think to emigrate in one year is 421 out of 967 university youth or 41.5 %.The lowest rate is in the emigration plan within two years, with 113 out of 967 university youth or 11.1%.It is very important to analyse that, it is not just the desire of university youth to emigrate, but they do plan and take action to realize their emigration plans soon, by taking additional steps, doing preparation, forming contact points and doing financial plan (Table 13-14).

Table 13
Doing preparation and taking initial steps to emigrate (Frequency) Making preparations to move and taking initial steps, was asked due to getting information about the city/region/country of destination, getting information about accommodation opportunities and costs, getting information about employment opportunities and available jobs, and contacting people to help find jobs and accommodation, have been answered 938 university youth.In the open option of this question, some responders added the answer that they already applied (120 out of 938 university youth, or 11.8%).'All these questions, reflected the decision-making, of youth as a potential group to emigrate.
The highest distribution of the responders about the preparation and initial steps to emigrate is on getting informed about the employment opportunities and available jobs (259 out of 938 university youth or 27.6%).The other highest rate is on the answer of the contact with people who will help and find jobs and accommodation, where 225 out of 938 university youth or 22.2%.204 out of 938 university youth or 20.1% responded that they get informed about accommodation opportunities and available jobs.130 out of 983 university youth or 12.8% get information about the city/region/country of destination.Just 29 out of 967 university youth did not take action and initial steps to emigrate, even though they decided to emigrate soon (see Table 12).These data show that the initial steps and future preparation of university youth are the main actions to realize the movement.

Having close friends or family members in the country of destination (Frequency)
Knowing people in the destination country, where the potential social actors want to emigrate, is one of the crucial points in choosing the country.'Two most popular destinations are Italy and Germany' (so much geographically but economically and geopolitically, within the European sphere' (King &Gedeshi;2023,4).The attraction of family members or other people that are vulnerable to help, is not new in the history of emigration.Having contact points such as friends or family members living in the country of destination, influence rapidly the concretisation of the emigration decision and process.838out of 1010 university youth or 82.6% responded that they have close friends or family members living in the country they choose to emigrate.

Table 15
Financial plan for emigration (Frequency) Financial plans and support are the crucial issue in the emigration process.Taking risks to emigrate, has changed trajectories in the Albanian emigration process.As in the theoretical discussion mentioned, the new current of emigration flows is formed by highly skilled workers.
For this reason, taking risks, without having a financial plan or many, is no longer the contextual development of new emigration flows in Albania.
This does not mean that the potential group have financial support and does not apply to other alternatives.This question is answered by 938 university youth.As shown in Table 15, 366 out of 938 university youth or 36.1%,make plans and take initial steps to emigrate, and get financial support from their families.267 out of 938 university youth or 26.3 %, did not specify where they plan to get the financial support for the emigration.248 out of 938 university youth or 24.5% responded that their financial emigration will come from savings.Just 57 out of 938 university youth or 5.6% responded that their emigration financial plan is based on a loan.

Table 16
Thinking about emigration during the last 12 months and Being happy with life in general (Crosstabulation) The correlation between emigration decision-making and level of happiness is an important issue to test the hypothesis of this research, in Table 16 reached by the crosstabulation of thinking about emigration (temporarily or permanently), during the last 12 months and being happy with life in general.
There is a strong relation between the level of happiness and with think of emigrating during the past 12 months.233 out of 497 university youth who are very few happy with their life in general, think of leaving/emigrating temporarily.152 out of 406 university youth, responded that are very few happy and thinking of leaving/emigrating permanently.

Thinking about emigration during the last 12 months and Level of happiness with life in the four last years (Crosstabulation)
To analyze the broader period, of the correlation between the level of happiness and thinking about emigration, Table 17 shows a correlation between two questions.As shown, a strong correlation between being very few and happy with life in the last years and thinking about leaving/moving temporarily shows a high rate, where 216 and 203 out of 497 responders of university youth.Also, during the past 12 months, thinking about leaving/moving and level of being happy with life in the four last years, as shown in Table 17, from 406 university youth, 209 responded that are very few and 169 are few happy with life in the last four years.

Table 18
Thinking about emigration during the last 12 months and Being happy with life in general (Crosstabulation) As shown in Table 18, the crosstabulation between the level of being happy with the lifestyle and thinking about emigration shows a relation between two questions, the lower is level of happiness the higher is desire to emigrate.
As shown in Table 18, a strong relation between being few and partially happy with lifestyle.the more university youth think about leaving/moving in the last four years for temporarily, the higher the level of being few and partially happy with their lifestyle (262 and 183 university youth, out of 497).Also, during the past 12 months, thinking about leaving/moving permanently, from 406 university youth, 173 responded that are few and 183 are partially happy with life in the last four years.

DISCUSSION
While the Gallup World Poll research in 2019 shows that Albania has the largest share of citizens who desire to move abroad (50 per cent) (Gallup World Poll;2019), this research's The key findings show that Albanian university youth, are potentially prepared to emigrate as highly skilled workers, soon (see Tables 11-15), (903 out of 1010 or 89,4 %), by getting information about the city/region/country where they want to emigrate, getting information about employment (process, policies, and applications), getting informed about accommodation and the process of renting the house, or already applied to formal procedures to emigrate.
'The outflows of students and workers bear witness to Albanian's peripheral position, not so much geographically but economically and geopolitically, within the European sphere' (King &Gedeshi;2023,7).Potential and preparedness for emigration decision, and taking initial steps to emigrate, are related to the other variables such as satisfaction with life and living conditions, and trust and insecurities from the actual Albanian society situation as seen in Table 19.

Table 19
Current pushing factors for the emigration of Albanian University youth (Descriptive statistics) Current pushing factors of emigration of Albanian university youth are measured (by a Likert Scale from 1-strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree) due to the current aspects of the social, economic and political situation, and expectations for life.As shown in Table, there is a very similar to the response measured by Mean, that it varies from 4.5598 (Insecurity and hopelessness affected my desire and attention to emigrate with a negative Kurtosis -1.087) to 4.2783 (economic crisis affected my desire and intention to emigrate with negative lower Kurtosis -0.494).University youth expectations for life, by the current economic and political situation, not to emigrate is reflected in the high mean of the statements 'I want to find a job that is appropriate to my level of qualification and my profession (4.5079) with negative Kurtosis -2.003,I need access to better healthcare services due to the conditions (4.4924) with negative Kurtosis -1.771,I want to have a sense of stability and perspective (4.4752) with negative Kurtosis -1.994,I want to have access to better public services (4.4683) with negative Kurtosis -1.988,I want to live in the safe environment where no one will discriminate or violate my rights (4.4663) with negative Kurtosis -1.929 and I want to live in a less corrupted society (4.4563) with negative Kurtosis -1.985.The central tendency of values ranges very significantly in the e statistical Mean, with the distribution of average values of the value 4 (Agree).In the Table, the average values of the Mean, do not show the extreme scale, which is a significant element to show decision-making of emigration of Albanian university youth.'Subjective wellbeing (SWB), colloquially referred to the happiness, is a person's subjective experience of his/her quality of life.It includes people's affective experiences and life evaluations (contentment or life satisfaction) (Diener et al., 1999).As many individual-level questions as social-level ones show the respondents' low unsatisfaction subjective well-being and dissatisfaction with life and living conditions.and proxy dimensions of emigration decision (intention and concrete plan to migrate).

CONCLUSION
As the discussion on happiness in the theoretical part, happiness as a personal and social indicator results in the deconstruction in terms of personal (being happy with life in general, with life in last four years) and in wider perspective such as being happy with family life, economic status and house/shelter.The findings show that the "happiness'' due to satisfaction with life and living conditions and trust in current public institutions is a "push" factor that strongly impacts emigration willingness, intentions, and decisions (Table 19).An important reason for the emerging self-well-being SWB angle is the growing evidence that people's choice behaviour in important life decisions is strongly (even if not exclusively) driven by the maximization of happiness when basic survival needs are met, which 'reflects the notion that ___________________________________________________________________________ Rev. Gest.Soc.Ambient.| Miami | v.18.n.1 | p.1-36 | e05806 | 2024.
Happiness and Emigration as A Challenge to Albanian University Youth: A National Level Case ___________________________________________________________________________ Rev. Gest.Soc.Ambient.| Miami | v.18.n.1 | p.1-36 | e05806 | 2024.13 making to emigrate to the university youth.The research questions to help develop the hypothesis of the research are nominated as the following: 1-What is the level of happiness of Albanian university youth?2-What is the level of perceptions' measurement about life and living conditions as indicators of satisfaction with life?3-What is the level of trust in current public institutions and bodies?4-What is the potential emigration situation of university youth in Albania as future welleducated and highly skilled workers?5-How is 'happiness' related to life satisfaction, trust, and the current potential of university youth in Albania to emigrate?4.1 SURVEYS PROPERTIES AND DATA CONDUCTED CHALLENGES The research drives from an initial idea, in public universities in Albania, to a broader one and extends to other Balkan countries, making it the first enlightening study in the field of emigration and happiness (more than individual, to analyse happiness as a socially influenced choice).The research instruments provide the data utilised by the online research survey, at the national level in Albanian public universities, enrolled in bachelor or master programs.The research and surveys extended from January 2023 to December 2023.all (seven) public universities in Albania (the University of Aleksander Moisiu Durres, the University of Tirana, the University of Aleksander Xhuvani Elbasan, the University of Korca, University of Vlora and the University of Gjirokastra), in main regions (Durres, Tirana, Elbasan, Korce, Vlore and Gjirokaster-regions that get more located population).
university youth of University Aleksander Moisiu Durres (UAMD), are 280 out of 1010 university youth or 27.6 % (4 surveys are missing in most of the survey responses, for this reason, it is important to consider the validity just 1010 surveys in total).Surveyed students enrolled in the University of Elbasan 'Aleksander Xhuvani' are 229 out of 1010 or 22.6%, in the University of Tirana 152 out of 1010 or 15%, in the University of Vlora 133 out of 1010 or 13.1 %, in the University of Shkodra 104 out of 1010 or 10.3%, in the University of Korca 'Fan Noli' 62 out of 1010 or 6.1%, and in the University of Gjirokastra (which as lowest enrolled students in national level) 50 out of 1010 or 4.9%.
The theoretical analysis of the main concept as variables of the questionnaires, helps to understand clearly the implementation of the quantitative research method used in this research study.The questions (total of 48 questions) of the applied online questionnaires are classified as Demographic questions, Satisfaction with current life conditions, Trust, Potential emigration of Albania university youth, Factors influencing the decision-making to emigrate, and Happiness, which comprise the measuring instruments of this study by an unchangeable variable: ' university youth.Questionaries contain in total of 48 questions, divided into the parts according to the main indicators of the study.The first part of the questionnaire is identified as Demographic questions.The second part of the questionnaire contains questions measuring the level of satisfaction with current life conditions.The third part of the questionnaire contains questions related to the measurement of the level of trust.The fourth part focuses on measuring the potential emigration of Albanian university youth and their plan to emigrate.The fifth part focuses on the measurement of the factors influencing the decision-making to emigrate The sixth and last part of the survey focuses on happiness as the main indicator that influences the decision-making of emigration.Questions typology, is formed by alternatives, open questions and Likert scales of measurement such as 1(Not at all)-5 (Very).Collecting data has been transformed from the Google Forms platform to the Statistical program IMB SPSS 26, and the instrument of measurements of the indicators, in different statistical approaches, such as frequency, descriptive, and cross-tabulations.The usage of the quantitative research approach by online survey application has been selected to measure and test the hypothesis through the main indicators as happiness, satisfaction with life and living conditions as a consequence of the current political and economic situation, trust in the public institutions and the consequences of trust as the insecurity due to the economic, political and social conditions, as a challenge to emigration decision of university youth in Albania.4.2 TYPOLOGY OF STUDENTS AND YOUTH IN ALBANIA (DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS) Measurement of Demographic characteristics based on personal data such as status, gender, hometown, university and department students are enrolled, receiving incomes by measuring questions such as working (full or part-time), family, relatives, spouse or others.As shown in Table 3, it was important to keep the balance of several university youth studying in bachelor's 498 out of 1014 or 49.1%, and in master program 512 out of 1010 or 50.5 %.The purpose was to get the measurement of the demographic characteristics to get a clear profile of public university youth in Albania.Age group categorization is divided into three such as 18-19 years old (486 out of 1010 university youth or 47.9 %) are enrolled in bachelor programs, especially in first or second-year degrees.The second age categorisation is 20-24 years old (303 out of 1010 university youth or 29.9%) and the third group is 25-30 years old (221 out of 1010 university students or 21.8 %), who are enrolled in the last year of bachelor program or master programs.
status is not just a descriptive profile of the sample group.It is an indicator of the migration decision-making due to the determination of potential emigration.As shown in Table 6, 858 out of 1010 university youth or 84.6 % are single, 111 out of 1010 university youth or 10.9% are married, and 41 out of 1010 university youth or 4% are single.Interestingly, 520 out of 1010 university youth or 51.3% are part-time employed and 40 out of 1010 university youth or 3.9% are full-time employed.That shows that 55.2% of university youth work as full or part-time employees (Table the highest mean (positive kurtosis or leptokurtic of higher values) is shown in the happiness of university youth with family life (4.8218) and shows the highest positive Kurtosis (20.806).The other normal distribution mean is shown in the happiness of Happiness and Emigration as A Challenge to Albanian University Youth: A National Level Case ___________________________________________________________________________ Rev. Gest.Soc.Ambient.| Miami | v.18.n.1 | p.1-36 | e05806 | 2024.20 youth due to the current shelter/house (3.9455) with positive Kurtosis (1.891) and being happy with lifestyle (3.3891) with lower positive Kurtosis (0.633).The lower mean is shown in the happiness of youth in the last four years (2.4901) with low positive Kurtosis (1.162) and being happy in general in life (2.1713) with negative Kurtosis ( -0.644).The lowest mean is shown in the being happy with the current economic status (1.8832) and the positive Kurtosis (2.401).The lowest mean of being happy in general in life, being happy in the last four years and being happy due to the current economic status, show most lower values in the responses.Analyzing that social actors' happiness gets from what largely is determined by the cultural and social environment.'Economics normally assumes that tastes are given occurred to measure the dispersion of trust indicators (due to governmental and political bodies), spread out in university youth responses.The trust of university youth, in this study, was measured regarding indicators such as trust in police, the judiciary, government, financial institutions, media, governmental institutions, political parties, fairness of elections, and trust in people generally and in friends.As shown in Table 10, the highest mean distribution is seen in the 'trust in friends' (3,6455) and trust in people (3.3723), with Kurtosis of 0.827 (positive Platykurtic) and -0.188 (negative Platykurtic) The lower mean is shown in the level of trust in media (2.8238) with lower negative Kurtosis (-0.611), trust in the Judiciary system (2.2614) with lower positive Kurtosis (0.397), trust in government (2.2604) with lower positive Kurtosis (0.662), trust in governmental institutions (2.2228) with lower positive Kurtosis (0.898), and trust in political parties (2.0515) with lower positive Kurtosis (0.155).The lowest mean is shown in the level of trust in financial institutions (1.9743) with the lowest positive Kurtosis 0.084, and in the level of trust in the fairness of elections (1.7653) with the lower positive Kurtosis (0.309), The lowest mean of being satisfied with the availability of public transportation, with house prices to buy or rent, with the education system, show most lower values in the responses and differ to the Kurtosis values.The economic conditions are not the only primary pushing factors of youth from Albania as their home country.The low level of trust, as seen in Table Happiness and Emigration as A Challenge to Albanian University Youth: A National Level Case ___________________________________________________________________________ Rev. Gest.Soc.Ambient.| Miami | v.18.n.1 | p.1-36 | e05806 | 2024.30 key findings show that the sample group of university youth made the decision to emigrate and the initial steps.