One in three Municipal Units in our country have less than 10 births per year, according to a disappointing survey by the Institute for Demographic Research and Studies on the low birth rate in Greece

The decrease in births in recent decades in the country is a fact. Nationally, they fell by 37% between 1979-1983 and 2014-19, and are expected to fall by a further 13% in the six-year period 2020-25.

Especially in the countryside, the problem is very big. An illustrative example is the village Furna in Evrytania40 kilometers from Karpenisi., where the village teacher was forced to put adasking two families with children to relocate to the village – all expenses paid – in order to keep the school from closing.

According to the ad, the families that would accept to live in the village would have a free house and job (at least for the husband) and help with the first expenses from the whole village.

“This move is mainly to keep schools open. The house is granted by the church in conjunction with the community and is completely habitable without the tenants having to do anything,” the ad read.

The news went viral, causing excitement as well as a great response to the ad.

Finally, they moved to Fourna dlarge families.

“So far, two houses that we had available have been covered by a family with six children and another one with three children who were all enrolled in the school. We are in consultation with the rest of the residents to see if we can find one or two accommodations for a few more people, but there must be something tangible to announce,” he said a few days ago, speaking to GRTimes.gr resident of Furna.

Schools are closing due to lack of students – What the IDEM study shows

The decline in births is inevitably reflected in young populationstarting initially with that of preschool age and then, to that which runs through all levels of the educational system. Thus, a few days ago, by decisions of regional Directors, the suspension of operation of a large number of Primary Schools and Kindergartens, many of which had been closed for years, was announced.

The cited reasons were the small or zero number of students and in some cases the inappropriateness of the building infrastructure. This recent decision brought back to the public once again, the “subfertility”, i.e. the reduction of births in our country that started five decades ago, a direct consequence of the fall in fertility in successive generations (from 2.1-2.0 children per woman born between 1940 and 1960 to less than 1.5 children in those born after 1985).

At the national level, the recorded decline in births after 1980 does not occur at the same speed in all regions of our country, and this is not only due to the differential fertility of couples (that is, women in some of them have slightly more children than that in others). It is also directly related to the change over time in the total population of each region, a change that was also significantly affected by immigration (internal and external), with effects on the number of people at the age of starting a family and having children (between 20-49 years old).

Where is the most serious problem

But how many and which ones are these regions where an extremely limited number of births is registered after 2014, a number that is already reflected – and will be reflected more strongly in the near future – in the 0-14 year old population?

According to data on births per Municipal Unit (ME) provided by ELSTAT for two six-year periods (2014-19 and 2020-25), the number of Municipal Units with an extremely limited number of births (up to 60 births per six-year period) it is important and increasing as it concerns 29.8% of the DEs in the first six years and 35.5% in the second.

One in two has a population of 1000-3600 people and one in 10 less than 250. A very small number of them had/will not have births, while only 8% of them will have births ranging from 41-60 every six years (ie 7-10 per year).

What are the key common features?

The analyzes of the Institute of Demographic Studies and Research (IDEM), the two researchers report, allow a first answer to be given. The Sections with an extremely limited number of births are all sparsely populated and characterized at the same time by a rapidly declining population, high rates of 60 and over, shrinking of their young and low rates of 20-49 years, far fewer births than deaths and absence of foreigners, while in many of them, it is missing in the ages of creating a family – having children and a balanced ratio between the two cards.

Concluding their short article, they point out that the existence today of more than 1/3 of the 1,035 D.E. with an extremely limited and declining number of births – a fact that inevitably affects/will affect the pre-school and school age population – it cannot be attributed exclusively, as is usually done, to the decline in fertility (that is, to the decrease in the number of children born into the world the post-1960 generations). It is also due to the extremely uneven distribution of the population in the area: 10% of the D.E have gathered 62% of the population, while one in two inhabitants of our country lived in 2021, in only 75 Local Communities that cover only 2% of the territory (out of 6,138 in total), a result of the intense internal migration of the fifty years 1950-2000 (and secondarily the flight of young people abroad in the last fifteen years).

This uneven distribution, according to them, a direct result of the post-war development model and the absence of spatial planning, hardly worries those involved in “Demographics” and is usually absent from the public debate that has opened on this subject. It is accompanied not only by the unequal distribution in the area of ​​the labor force, economic activities and produced wealth, but also by significantly different demographic developments that have already caused the population collapse of many regions, a fact that is also reflected in the births of the last two six years.

Speaking to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, the director of the Institute of Demographic Research and Studies Prof. Vyron Kotzamanis emphasizes that “the unilateral focus of Demographics on “low fertility” is problematic as the components that determine the size of a population, its distribution in space and in large age groups, having multiple effects in many areas, they are more than one. Mortality and migrations play a decisive role, they should not be underestimated and should be taken into account in a “National Demographic Action Plan”.