In this edition of “Explaining Greece”, demography expert Alexandra Tragaki breaks down the numbers of births and deaths in the country; trends since the end of WWII; emigration and migration, and some of the reasons behind this development. Solutions are requested and pondered, yet difficult to define and even harder to apply once decided.

Tragaki, a noted professor of economic demography at the Harokopio University in Athens, also warns that any implemented policies to overturn demographic decline won’t be immediately felt, even if successful to whatever degree, given the complexities involved with women and couples in the West having less and less babies, on the one hand, and people living longer, on the other hand.