Greece’s demographic crisis, one of the most severe in the European Union, worsened during the financial crisis as 427,000 young people of family-forming age left the country.
Their departure carried a double cost: Abroad they produced an estimated €50 billion and paid €13 billion in taxes, while Greece forfeited returns on roughly €8 billion invested in their education, said Fay Makantasi, research director at Dianeosis, speaking at a parliamentary conference on what was described as one of the nation’s most pressing issues.
The population decline is accelerating. From 11.2 million in 2005, Greece fell to 10.4 million people in 2020 and continues downward.
Projections put the population at 9.03 million in 2050 and possibly 6.3 million by the end of the century. In 2025, births totaled 68,309 compared with 125,873 deaths.
Parliament Speaker Nikitas Kaklamanis warned that if current trends persist, “the historians of the future will record a society and a state committing gradual demographic suicide.”
The fertility rate stands at 1.2-1.3, well below the 2.1 replacement level and under the European average. Demography professor Byron Kotzamanis said births are unlikely to fully recover but could rise from 62,000 to 70,000 annually with highly favorable family policies.
“Greece is one of the countries where raising a child is extremely expensive. This can change with specific policies,” he said, citing gender inequalities in caregiving.
Economic demography professor Alexandra Tragaki added that family has become a choice rather than a given and must be supported.
Surveys show Greeks want 2.3 children but have 1.3, constrained largely by economic costs, including €614 million euros spent on private tutoring in 2023.