In Greece, low birth rate has become a ‘national danger’

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned on Tuesday that the falling birth rate poses a “national danger” with an expected population decline of 1 million by 2050.

Last year, this Mediterranean country with a population of about 10.5 million people recorded one birth for every two deaths, Mitsotakis said at a conference on demography, estimating that “the national danger is in full swing.”

“Our population is one of the oldest in Europe. The number of Greek women aged between 20 and 40 has decreased by 150,000 over the past five years,” the head of the conservative government said.

“If we do nothing (…) by 2050, we could (lose) up to 1.4 million people,” demographer Byron Kotzamanis, author of a recent study on demographic projections, said in an interview on public television channel ERT.

The government formed in June has a Ministry responsible for families, and is committed to increasing benefits for families with children.

According to the national statistics agency (ELSTAT), Greece recorded just under 77,000 births last year, compared to more than 140,000 deaths.

This is the lowest number of births in 90 years, and compared to 2021, the decrease reaches 10.3%.

According to the OECD, Greece’s population may decline to about 10 million in 2030.

During the years of financial and economic crisis, the country saw a real depletion of its young population, especially among those with university degrees who left to work abroad.