Greece's low birth rate raises spectre of population collapse in Aegean Islands

At 1.3 babies per woman, Greece's fertility rate is among Europe's lowest — and well below the threshold for population growth.

Transcript

00:00Authorities in the Asian islands have warned about the rising level of desertification and low birth rates.

00:07Mayors in the islands have expressed serious concerns during the 15th Congress of Small Islands held in Milo.

00:14The authorities lamented about the continuous negative records of the birth to death rate,

00:19saying the consequences were already visible on the small islands.

00:25There are no girls, or at least one or two under the age of 30.

00:32The same thing happens with boys.

00:35We have to find the means to bring back boys and girls,

00:42young and old, back to the place where they were born, the place where they grew up,

00:47to come there and make their family.

00:49Unfortunately, we had one birth last year, and another one three years ago.

01:04If we don't do something, in 25 years, which is two decades,

01:09one third of the population will be over 65 years old,

01:13and in 2050 we will be 2.5 million less.

01:18We don't need economic knowledge to understand the consequences of these predictions

01:25on all economic indicators, on the clean product of the country,

01:29on production, on insurance, on pensions, on health,

01:33even in the same education, with fewer schools, fewer kindergartens and all that.

01:48These numbers are indisputable, and they show that infertility is now

01:53a burden that shakes the foundations of the Greek society.

01:57Such a complex issue requires solutions on many levels,

02:01which must be found and implemented immediately,

02:04because otherwise, in just a few decades,

02:07we will be talking about the dramatic decline of the Greek population.

02:10From Milos, for Euronews, Faye Voulgeri.