The number of Greek citizens returning home has been steadily increasing since 2021, marking a significant shift in the migration trends that defined the years of the country’s economic crisis.

Between 2023 and 2024, around 69,000 Greeks emigrated, while approximately 98,000 returned to Greece. Overall, six in ten Greeks who left the country between 2010 and 2025 have already repatriated, underscoring a sustained reversal of the brain drain that accelerated during the previous decade.

Internationally, Greece ranks fourth among OECD countries in terms of the return rate of its own citizens. Those who return are generally younger and more highly educated than the population as a whole, highlighting the country’s growing success in attracting skilled talent back home.

At the same time, Greece has adopted a more outward-looking and development-oriented approach to its relationship with the diaspora. Recent years have also seen Greek migration patterns gradually align with broader intra-European mobility trends.

Despite this progress, policymakers stress that the challenge extends beyond reversing the brain drain. The longer-term objective is to establish a comprehensive framework for managing the international mobility of Greek citizens—one that supports sustainable economic growth while strengthening the country’s ties with its highly skilled workforce abroad.