As the Greek Diaspora continues to monitor Greece from afar, embracing the new year presents an annual opportunity to reflect on the recent past of our great nation and consider its near future. This article will primarily be occupied with predicting the most pressing issues facing Greece in 2025, and showcasing KTE’s unique policy prescription for the Hellenic government.
Demographics
2025 will be a year of shifting demographics. Last year, countless international news agencies published stories about the burgeoning demographic crisis in Greece. It was well documented that nearly twice as many Greeks died as were born in 2024, indicating a lack of replacement for Greece’s aging population. Just two decades ago, Greece’s median age was 38.01 years. In 2024, it was more than eight years older, at 46.27.
This means that Greeks are having fewer children, often prioritizing their careers and studies over family life. 2024 showed Greece just how fragile its demographic situation is. Unfortunately, 2025 projects to be another year in which the international community furrows its collective brows as the number of Greeks in Greece declines. As of January 2025, Greece’s population has fallen below 10 million for the first time since 1984.
Our policy prescription: We believe that Greece must immediately introduce natalist and pro-family policies on a national scale, such as reduced-rate housing loans for couples who have more than three children, and income tax exemptions for every year that a mother is pregnant.
Foreign Labor
Although the refugee crisis that flared up again in 2024 is effectively over, the foreign population in Greece continues to rise through legal immigration and the dispensing of work visas. Greece has continued its policy of welcoming in foreign labor and allowing growing numbers of immigrants to remain in Greece indefinitely. According to data sourced from the Hellenic Ministry of Labor, more than 200,000 work visas were issued to foreign labor in 2024, well over the approximate 177,000 allotted in 2023.
In observing these trends, Greeks everywhere are noticing an increase in the sheer volume of foreigners on the streets and their impact on the national labor market. Taken together, the aforementioned demographic crisis and concurrent rise in foreign laborers will bring concerns over these emerging trends squarely to the center of public debate in 2025. Although Greece’s GDP continues to rise, the nation remains in a fragile state from the 2008 financial crisis, and ethnic Greek workers will see their wages undercut and quality of life decline in response to the crowding of the labor market.
Our policy prescription: We propose a drastic restriction on legal and illegal immigration into Greece. Supposed labor shortages can be addressed through the deliberate repatriation of the Greek Diaspora, rather than a massive influx of foreign workers into Greece. Many Greeks have adopted the American political framework and have suggested that Greece must take in foreign workers to do the jobs that “Greeks simply aren’t willing to do.”
Let it be said that these low-skilled workers are indeed competing for jobs held by Greeks, and that Greek workers are left with fewer and fewer opportunities for upward mobility as a consequence. The American economy, still regarded as the gem of the global market, has demonstrated how the supply and demand of labor results in populations from third-world countries replacing the native population in the labor market if left unchecked.
Turkish Expansionism
2025 will bring this much-discussed issue further to the forefront of Greek politics. Around one month ago, the Turkish government facilitated the deposition of the Assad regime, executed through their proxies in Syria. While Turkey portrays itself as a moderate NATO member, Greeks maintain a steadfast inclination to remain vigilant in defense of Turkish cultural, political, and military advances.
Our policy prescription: We contend that Greece must continue to build up a robust military while simultaneously exhausting all diplomatic measures available and necessary. In recent years, Greece has benefited greatly from its diplomatic relationship with the West while developing its military, such as when U.S. Navy Seals trained in Greece with Hellenic Underwater Demolition Command (DYK) units.
Despite this, KTE believes that when push inevitably comes to shove, America and the West will not come to our direct aid in a conflict between two NATO members. American assets in Greece and Turkey are nearly equivalent, and there exists no strategic advantage to alienating either country in the event of an armed conflict. Consider the conflict in Armenia, where Turkey and Azerbaijan colluded to destroy Artsakh and expel hundreds of thousands of Christians from their ancestral homeland.
We recommend that Greece strengthen its relationship with its neighbors and traditional allies, including Romania, Serbia, Cyprus, Armenia, and Lebanon (especially Orthodox Christians), in preparation for an eventual conflict between Greece and Turkey.
The next 12 months will undoubtedly bring many long-standing issues to the forefront of Greek politics. We at KTE remain steadfast in our dedication to the Greek nation, comprising those living inside and outside of Greece. Throughout 2025 and beyond, we will advocate for Hellenes and Diaspora Greeks alike and publicize solutions we believe are in Greece’s national interest.