Greece is facing a nightmare scenario of its indigenous population gradually fading out, warns a research paper titled “The Greek population under siege”, authored by Paris University professor and member of the New York Science Academy and vice-president of the Greek society of Demographic Studies, Ira-Emke Poulopoulos.

The 2010 economic crisis seems to have accelerated the already pronounced demographic problem Greece faced. Shrinking birth rates, rising deaths, and negative migration are the three major issues that underlie the most important issue the country is dealing with, calling for immediate action.

According to calculations by the Hellenic Statistical Services (ELSTAT), only in the period 2011-2017 the population of Greece declined by 355,000 people, and if the problem is not approached as the top priority of the Greek authorities, the population of Greece in will fall to 10 million in 2050, with Eurostat estimates putting the population at 7.2 million by 2080.
“The aim of the book is to prove that during the crisis large sections of the Greek population were “persecuted “, they are systematically subjected to discomforts that have led to or will end in the future with their departure from Greece, their family, their work, their friends, even life”, she told the Athens & Macedonian News Agency (AMNA).

According to the results of the survey, over the period 2011-2016, deaths exceeded births by 115,479 (births 692,592 / deaths 808,071). The slight increase in births (by 1,051 children), recorded in 2016, is due to 77% of births from female refugees who will not stay in Greece.

Mrs Poulopoulos is sounding the alarm. “The demographic problem will worsen”, she stresses, explaining: “The huge decline in birth rates, the ageing of the population and the explosion of emigration will result in a large shrinking of our country’s population and an increase in the proportion of old people.