A quarter (24 per cent) of Greeks want to relocate to another country permanently and of these, 63 per cent want to migrate to another European country, according to the results of the European Commission’s quarterly report on the employment and social situation in the European Union.
The report showed that 4.1 per cent of Greeks want to relocate in the next 12 months, compared to an EU average of 1.2 per cent. It also stated that Greece has the highest long term unemployment in the European Union, 16.8 per cent in 2012, and the highest youth unemployment, 60 per cent in February 2013.
From 2010 to 2013 there has been a 25 per cent increase of Greeks migrating to Germany, bringing the total number of those who went to live and work there to 123,700. Between 2008 and 2012 the number of people migrating to Germany from Spain has been tripled, while the number of Italians migrating to Germany has been doubled.
It is worth noting that according to this report there has been a 45 per cent increase in the number of EU citizens migrating to Canada on a temporary working visa. The greatest increase comes from Spain 301 per cent, followed by Ireland 158 per cent, Greece 155 per cent, Italy 96 per cent and Portugal 69 per cent. All of these countries are facing a debt crisis.