Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned on Tuesday that the falling birth rate represents “a national danger” and the population is expected to fall by one million by 2050.
Last year there was one birth for every two deaths in this Mediterranean country of about 10.5 million people, Mitsotakis said at a demography conference, estimating that “a national danger is in full swing.”
“Our population is one of the oldest in Europe. “The number of Greek women aged 20 to 40 has fallen by 150,000 in the last five years,” said the conservative head of government.
“If we do nothing (…), we could (lose) up to 1.4 million people by 2050,” said demographer Byron Kotzamanis, author of a recent study on demographic forecasts, in an interview with the public television station ERT.
The government formed in June now has a ministry responsible for families and is committed to increasing benefits for families with children.
Greece recorded nearly 77,000 births last year, compared with more than 140,000 deaths, according to national statistics agency ELSTAT.
This is the lowest number of births in 90 years and compared to 2021, the decline is 10.3%.
According to the OECD, Greece’s population could fall to around 10 million in 2030.
During the years of financial and economic crisis, the country experienced a real outflow of its young population, especially those with university degrees who went abroad to work.