Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed concern over the demographic problem during the conference “Demographics 2023, Time for Action” on Tuesday.
Referring to the data recently announced by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), the prime minister noted that “ELSTAT has sounded the alarm about demographic trends.”
“The figures for 2022 are discouraging: the country actually recorded one birth for every two deaths. It is a negative balance that has been escalating for half a century,” he stressed.
Mitsotakis spoke of a “national danger which is rapidly unfolding” and “must not become a regime.”
“The problem concerns the West in general, it is connected to the modern way of life,” he noted, adding that the population decline is not manifested equally throughout the country, but has peaks in specific areas.
Therefore, he said the national strategies are not sufficient and stressed the need for specific local provisions.“Demographic collapse is becoming an existential bet for our future,” the prime minister warned.
Focusing on the roots of the problem, he pointed out that “all over the world we are now at the edge of the second demographic transition: couples start families at older ages, but they also have fewer children.”
Moreover, “young people’s personal vision of happiness is also changing and the model of the modern family is more demanding, but also more difficult, as it is squeezed into an ever-changing work environment with insecurity often dominating the psychology of many young people.”
Mitsotakis also referred to the Ministry of Social Cohesion and so that the country could consolidate its priorities in a national plan for the basic unit of Greek society, the family.
The Greek premier pointed out that “there are no magic solutions, nor options that can bring immediate results” and that its treatment constitutes “a long-term and often unequal effort and requires the contribution of the state, the businesses and the citizens themselves.”
