Mitsotakis: Demographic collapse becoming an existential bet for Greece's future

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in his address to the conference "Demographics 2023, Time for Action" on Tuesday, pointed out that the Hellenic Statistical Authority had recently sounded perhaps the loudest alarm about the demographic trends in Greece, after the country recorded just one birth for every two deaths in 2022, talking of a negative balance that has been escalating for half a century.

"The pandemic certainly played its role, but we have to look at the long-term trends and these are extremely worrying," he said.

The conference, Mitsotakis noted, "comes to examine a national danger which is rapidly unfolding, a danger which, however, must not become the status quo." He added that this is a problem that concerns the West, almost all developed societies, and is connected to the modern way of life.

"In Greece, however, there are also some special conditions. The truth is that today our people are among the most elderly in Europe. In the last five years, Greek women aged 20-40 have decreased by 150,000 as a result of a decline in births that actually started in the 80s. In addition, we must emphasise that this population decline is not manifested equally throughout the country. It has peaks in specific areas and this means that national strategies are not sufficient and that specific local provisions are also needed, with the overall demographic collapse literally becoming an existential bet for our future. And this at a conjunction which many other indicators show to be extremely auspicious. Because indeed our country has now left the financial crisis behind for good, it is experiencing very high growth rates compared to other European countries, reducing unemployment, disposable income is still supported despite the difficulties - but what is the point of a such a hopeful, optimistic bright path if at the same time the shadow of decline spreads over the Greek women and men of the future. And it is precisely to this great wager that the establishment of the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family responds, so that the country can finally unify its priorities in a national plan for the basic building block of society, the family, better coordinating the measures promoted by the state in many different levels."

The prime minister emphasised that there are no magic solutions or options that can bring immediate results. He noted that demography implies a long-term and often uneven effort and, "of course it requires many allies, from the state and businesses to the citizens themselves, because they too obviously participate in the developments as carriers of specific perceptions and behaviors."

"We must not forget that throughout the world we are now at the edge of the so-called second demographic transition," he pointed out.

He also spoke about the need to harmonise professional life with family life, taking care of public health so that the elderly remain active and creating many good jobs for young people with the goal of being able to build their lives in their country with good prospects.