Greece is experiencing a rapid demographic decline, with births falling sharply over the past decades and the trend varying significantly across the country.
Births fell from an average of about 148,000 in 1979-80 to approximately 67,000 in 2024-25, according to a study by demographer Byron Kotzamanis, professor of Demography and director of research at the Institute for Demographic Research and Studies.
The decline has also been accompanied by a significant increase in the age at which women have children. The average age at childbirth rose by nearly six years, from 26.2 to 32.2 over the same period.
The demographic decline has not affected all parts of Greece equally. In six mainland regional units, births fell by more than half between 2009 and 2024, while several island areas recorded considerably smaller declines.
Six regions record declines of more than 50%
The study compares births in 2009 and 2024, when nationwide births fell by about 42%, from 117,700 to 66,700.
The largest declines were recorded in six mainland areas:
- Thesprotia
- Grevena
- Phthiotis
- Kozani
- Evrytania
- Florina
In all six, births fell by more than 50%. In another 10 regional units, the decline ranged between 45% and 50%.
Kotzamanis said the broader decline in births began in the late 1970s and has continued, with the exception of the period from 2003 to 2009, when births increased slightly, largely because of the mass arrival of foreign nationals in Greece after 1990.
According to his analysis, the long-term decline is linked to a fall in the number of children women have across generations. Women born in the late 1950s had an average of two children, while those born around 1985 had fewer than 1.5.
The annual fertility rate also declined substantially, from 2,200 children per 1,000 women in 1979-80 to 1,240 in 2024-25.
Island regions see smaller declines
The demographic picture is considerably different in some island areas.
In six island regional units, the decline in births between 2009 and 2024 was less than 30%. In two of them, the Cyclades and Zakynthos, the decline was below 15%.
The study also examined changes in mortality over the same 15-year period.
Six areas recorded fewer deaths than births: the Dodecanese, Xanthi, and three of Crete’s four regional units — Chania, Rethymno and Heraklion.
By contrast, 17 mainland regional units recorded between 175 and 276 deaths for every 100 births. In nine of them, deaths were more than twice the number of births.
Those nine areas were Trikala, Arcadia, Kilkis, Karditsa, Arta, Evrytania, Phocis, Grevena and Serres.
Kotzamanis said the differences between the three Cretan regional units, the Dodecanese and Xanthi, and the nine mainland areas where there were at least two deaths for every birth were significant.
Only five regions had more births than deaths in 2024
The latest available figures, from 2024, show how sharply the demographic balance has shifted.
Only five of Greece’s 74 regional units recorded fewer deaths than births that year: Thira, Mykonos, Kos, Naxos and Rethymno.
The differences between regions were substantial. In Thira, the number of births was twice the number of deaths.
At the other end of the scale, Serres, Evrytania and Grevena recorded at least 3.5 deaths for every birth.
