Population Decline

Economics Or Values: What’s Really Behind Greece’s Population Decline?

Nov 30, 2024

Written By: KTE Executive Board

Brain drain. Declining birth and fertility rates. Low economic mobility. The numbers are staggering: so far in 2024, Greece’s birth rate has been 6.87 births per 1,000 people. That’s less than half the birth rate in Turkey, which is 14.69 per 1,000 people this year. Greece’s population has been declining for over a decade now, with a 3.1% drop in population from 2011 to 2021.

It’s all bad news for Greece and it’s all connected. Due in large part to the economic crisis, population decline in Greece has accelerated at a rapid rate. Meanwhile, Greek-born skilled laborers are taking their education and talents elsewhere in Europe, contributing to a now-famous statistic revealing that between 2010-2022, over one million working age people left the country. That’s over 10% of Greece’s population, which currently wavers at just over 10 million people.