The demographic collapse is a national risk, and a literal existential gamble on our future, warned the prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis speaking at the ‘Demographic 2023 – Time for Action’ conference.

Recently, the Greek Statistical Authority signaled perhaps the loudest demographic alarm of all recent years, that based on the extremely disheartening data of 2022, the country essentially recorded one birth for every two deaths, speaking of a negative balance which is unfortunately escalating here and almost half a century. “The pandemic certainly played its role, but we have to look at the long-term trends and these are extremely worrying,” he said characteristically.

The conference, as he said, “comes to examine a national danger which is in full development, a danger which, however, should not become a regime”. He added that this is a problem that concerns the West, almost all developed societies, it is connected to the modern way of life. “In our country, however, it is also burdened by other particularities. The truth is that today our people are among the oldest in Europe. In the last five years, Greek women aged 20-40 have decreased by 150,000 as a result of a decline in births that actually started in the 80s. In addition, we must emphasize that this population decline is not manifested equally in the territory. It has outbreaks in specific areas and this means that not only national strategies are sufficient but also specific local provisions are required, with the overall demographic collapse literally becoming an existential bet for our future. And indeed at a time when many other indicators indicate that it is extremely auspicious. Because indeed our country has today left the financial crisis behind for good, it is experiencing very high growth rates compared to other European countries, reducing unemployment, despite the difficulties the disposable income is still supported, but what is the point of a such a hopeful, optimistic bright path if at the same time the shadow of shrinking spreads over its protagonists, over the Greek women and men of tomorrow. And it is precisely to this great bet that the establishment of the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family responds so that the country can finally unify its priorities in a national plan for the basic cell of society, the family, better coordinating the measures promoted by the state in many different levels”.

He emphasized that on many levels the danger of reducing our population also spreads with geostrategic consequences for a nation in a key area of ​​the map while it is directly connected to the productivity of the place, to the progress of the citizens, to the sustainability of our insurance system, but above all it is connected to the well-being of the next generations”.

The Prime Minister emphasized that we know there are no magic solutions or options that can bring quick results. Demography implies a long-term and often uneven effort, and of course it presupposes many allies, from the state and businesses to the citizens themselves because they too obviously participate in the developments as bearers of specific perceptions and behaviors.

“We must not forget that throughout the world we are now at the edge of the so-called second demographic transition”, he pointed out and gave the characteristics of the image that is being formed in the developed world.

“At the same time, young people’s personal vision of happiness is also changing. The same goes for the modern family model, which is now more demanding but also sometimes more inaccessible.” he added, stressing that the defense against these new facts certainly cannot be sought in what was in force a few decades ago.

He spoke about the need to harmonize professional life with family life, taking care of public health so that the elderly remain active and creating many good jobs for young people with the goal of being able to build their lives in their country with good prospects.

At this point he said that as we are at the beginning of the second term of the government with a fresh strong popular mandate, we have not started from scratch, as in the previous four years the tax-free allowance for households with children increased, which now increases by 1,000 euros for each child, while one of the first decisions of the government in 2019 was the granting of a one-off allowance of 2,000 euros for each new birth in our country and already peak of increased wages in the State from January 1, 2024 is the family which is supported with additional wage increases while all baby and children’s items have been transferred to the low VAT rate. He also referred to other measures, such as the extension of parental leave because, as he said, the financial conditions are one side of the issue, while the other concerns the more general conditions. He also pointed out that other initiatives such as the modernization of assisted reproduction launched by the previous government also favor procreation.

The hesitancy of young couples to have children is multifactorial, he even said, emphasizing that actions such as the “Spiti mo” program for the first residence of 150,000 young people, or the institution of Protos Insimos, which favors entry to work without prior service, are responsible for this parameter. He emphasized that even though these initiatives are brave, they are not enough as the parallel front of population aging is lurking.

“We need many more children. But we also need healthy older citizens”, he said, emphasizing the importance of public health policies at the level of treatment as well as prevention.

He added that recently for the first time it was decided at the level of the European Council that the issue of the aging of the European population is a critical priority that we must highlight at the level of European policies.

He underlined the crucial role of work that will finance the choices of young people at the important stages of their lives and emphasized that the role of development in all its expressions is becoming decisive, from investments that will bring jobs to increasing the participation of women in the labor market. And from reversing the brain drain or integrating part of the immigrants to better wages.

“Therefore, the countermeasure to the reduction of the total population is the reduction of the economically active population”, he said and emphasized that he cannot claim that what is happening in the country is enough to change the dramatic data or to reverse decades of trends. He said that he has no illusions but also that regarding the demographic decline, which of course will take time and we will see its results over decades, we need a coherent plan, coherent measures and their implementation over time.

The prime minister closed his speech with the hope that the conference would be productive, fruitful and useful for the political leadership of the Ministry, but also with the hope that dealing with demographics would be able to unite all political forces on a common path without populist and without nationalist crowns. It is not a party debt, it is a national debt and I assure you that the government will serve this national plan, ready to enrich its positions with every positive proposal and with useful ideas that I am sure will be heard here.”