Greeks becoming fewer, older, lonelier
Population shrinks by 3.1% compared to a decade ago, while people over 80 steadily increasing
Greek society is aging and experiencing great changes in its structural characteristics, according to the results of the 2021 population census, which were released on Friday by the Hellenic Statistical Authority.
More specifically, the permanent population of Greece is 10,482,487 people, down by 3.1% compared to 10 years earlier.
Broken down, 48.9% of the population is male (5,125,977) and 51.1% female (5,356,510), which can be attributed to the fact that women have an average life expectancy five years longer than men, according to Byron Kotzamanis, professor of demography at the University of Thessaly.
At the same time, the number of people over 80 is constantly increasing, reaching 766,043, compared to the previous census data of 583,333 people over 80.
One in three people in the country is over 60. Similarly, there has been a decrease in the number of young children up to 9 years old, who now number 878,491 from 1,049,839 in the previous census.
What’s more, single-person households are increasing, divorce and separation are on the rise, and cohabitation is becoming increasingly popular.
The census recorded 4,332,447 households, with the largest proportion of them (32.3%, or 1,401,443 households) consisting of one person.
In fact, 57.6% of single-person households are women living alone and 42.45% are men. The proportion of households with two people comprises 28.4%, or 1,232,487.
Overall, 60% of Greek households currently consist of one or two people.
Migrants, who could play an important role in societies with a strong demographic problem such as Greece, are leaving.
Indicatively there are a total of 765,598 foreign nationals legally residing in Greece, down 16.1% on the previous census. Most of those who have moved are Albanians who have sought better jobs in Italy and England.
Attica continues to be an attraction for citizens since it appears, despite the general population decline, to be maintaining its population (0% decrease compared to the 2011 census).
Significant population growth was recorded in the South Aegean region, of 6.1%, and a small increase of 0.2% on Crete.
The largest population decrease was recorded in the region of Western Macedonia, at -10.3%.
