Greece’s statistical authority (ELSTAT) has highlighted key points of the country’s demographic problem, detailing its status as an aging nation as emigration levels doubled compared to the 2010 pre-crisis period.

Greece’s demographic problem has become a well-known persistent issue, highlighted particularly in its “brain drain”, with ELSTAT‘s latest findings uncovering important points.

ELSTAT calculates the country’s population for 2024 based on the annual figures for Natural Population Movement in 2023 (births – deaths) and migration flow estimates (incoming – outgoing migration).

According to their statistics, the permanent population of Greece on 1 January, 2024, is estimated at 10,400,720 people (5,096,893 men and 5,303,827 women), which is a 0.1 per cent decrease from the 10,413,982 people on 1 January, 2023.

The decline is attributed to a natural decrease in population by 55,920 (based on 71,249 births compared to 127,169 deaths among residents within Greek territory) and a net migration of 42,658 people (positive balance).

The findings show that Greece’s aging population is being countered by its increase in inbound migration, which nearly doubled in 2023 compared to 2021.

Greece notably had a major rise in incoming migration flows between 2016 and 2019 which coincided with the peak of the refugee crisis, following the Syrian civil war and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.

During this period, the recorded inflow of migrants and refugees or asylum seekers staying in the country for over a year reached a cumulative total of approximately half a million people.

A gradual decrease followed in 2020 with only 57,000 migrants and asylum-seeking refugees arriving in Greece, the lowest number recorded since 1991.

2023 saw the numbers return to levels seen during the refugee crisis with 118,816 arrivals, including those seeking international or temporary protection.

Regarding external migration, which includes the phenomenon of brain drain, the number of people leaving Greece in 2023 reached 76,158. This figure denotes individuals who leave their usual place of residence for a period of at least twelve months.

It was lower than the 80,307 in 2022, though it remains a consistent high number of outbound migrants.

It is also worth noting that during the decade from 2010 to 2020, migration “outflows” nearly tripled compared to pre-crisis levels.

Specifically, between 2012 and 2018, coinciding with the bailout memorandums, more than 100,000 to 130,000 people left Greece annually.