Local officials across Greece are warning of a deepening demographic crisis as shrinking towns and villages struggle to retain young residents, urging the government to adopt a long-term national development strategy to halt population decline, Kathimerini reported.
Mayors say decades of economic weakness, limited job opportunities and poor infrastructure have accelerated depopulation, particularly in rural and border regions, as younger Greeks move to larger cities or abroad in search of work.
“We are champions in permanent population decline,” said Kyriakos Tataridis, mayor of Grevena in western Macedonia, where the population fell by about 10% over the past decade. He said the region lacked the economic resilience to withstand Greece’s financial crisis, leading to business closures and stalled development that pushed residents to leave.
The trend is widespread. Eleven of Greece’s 13 regions recorded population losses between the 2011 and 2021 censuses, with only the South Aegean and Crete posting modest increases. Official data show births continue to lag far behind deaths, with 68,467 births and 126,916 deaths recorded in 2024.
In northeastern Greece, residents describe similar pressures. In the city of Drama, writer Vasilis Tsiabousis said employment opportunities have dried up. “In the market of Drama, three out of five shops that were open 10 to 15 years ago have now closed,” he said, adding that the city’s lack of direct access to the Egnatia motorway has deterred investment.
Nearby Orestiada faces comparable challenges, residents say, as agriculture weakens and alternative employment remains scarce. “It is not enough to say, ‘We are border guards,’” said resident Diamantis Papadopoulos. “Young people want something tangible. This is a national issue.”
Some municipalities are introducing local incentives in an effort to slow the decline. In the Agrafa municipality in central Greece, Mayor Alexis Kardampikis said families receive 1,500 euros for each birth, with plans to increase the amount to 3,000 euros. “There is no demographic policy without decentralisation,” he said.
In Souli, where deaths outnumber births by two to one, local authorities have approved a 1,000-euro birth grant starting in 2026. “If nothing is done, in the end we will be few and live very long,” said Mayor Athanasios Danis.
On the island of Kasos, where births have recently begun to rise, Mayor Michalis Erotokritos expressed cautious optimism as the municipality prepares its own birth incentives and opens its first childcare centre, Kathimerini reported.