New data from Eurostat predicts that Greece’s population will drop sharply by up to 30% by 2070, much higher than the EU average of 3.8%. In 2022, the country recorded less than 76,000 births, the lowest in almost a century, while deaths reach to 144,600.
The fertility rate in Greece is now only 1.31 births per woman, leading to an aging population.
Also, the material and social deprivation of the entire population is high.
It should be noted that only Romania and Bulgaria were in a worse position than Greece (Eurostat figures), while for 2023/24, 6.84% of the EU population faced severe material and social deprivation.
Among the EU countries, the rates of severe material and social damage vary greatly. Romania recorded the highest percentage in the EU, with 19.8%, followed by Bulgaria with 17.0%, Greece with 13.8%, and Hungary with 10.3%.
The percentage of severe material and social deprivation (SMSD) is defined as the percentage of the population that cannot afford a specific good, service or social activity and experiences a forced lack of at least 7 of the 13 types of deprivation (6 are related to the individual and 7 are related with the household).
At the household level, possibilities are taken into account such as dealing with emergency expenses, paying for annual vacations of a week away from home, dealing with late payments (mortgage or housing, public utility bills, loan payments), the financial possibility for a meal with meat, chicken, chicken or vegetarian equivalent every second day, heating the house, access to a car for personal use and replacement of damaged furniture.
At the individual level, the ability to connect to the internet, the ability to replace worn clothes and shoes, the leisure activities, the meeting with friends/families for drinks/food at least once a month are taken into account.
It seems that this is also the main cause of the demographic problem of our country.
Sources: EUPoli, Eurostat, FMT, BBC politics, GRnews, MTPA.