Greece on brink of population crisis as major institutions call for huge change

By Emily Wright, World News Reporter

Greece is suffering from a demographic crisis as a result of plunging birth rates (Image: Getty)

Major institutions in Greece are calling for a complete restructuring as the country's demographic crisis threatens to devastate a key sector next year. Greek university rectors have demanded a shake-up for higher education in the European country from both the state level and the academic community, as enrollment figures are set to drop to disastrous levels.

Regional institutions, in particular, are expected to face the most severe impact. Greece's demographic collapse first began in 2009 following the economic crisis that paralysed the country for a decade. Standing at 118,302 births in 2008, figures plummeted to just 62,500 last year, according to the Hellenic Statistical Authority. This was down from 76,095 births in 2023 and 84,764 in 2020. The decline has not been helped by the accelerating external migration of young Greeks and immigrants who had settled in the country.

The demographic collapse has already forced thousands of classroom closures and school shutdowns across Greece (Image: Getty)

The demographic collapse has already forced thousands of classroom closures and school shutdowns in both remote areas and major urban centres as primary and secondary enrollment shrinks annually.

University of Patras Rector Christos Bouras warned on Tuesday of an impending “collapse of the academic map due to the demographic problem.”

He noted that first-grade enrollment dropped from approximately 115,000 children in 2010 to an expected 71,181 in 2025 – a decline of 45,000 students in just 15 years.

“The cumulative loss of young students reaches 330,000,” Mr Bouras said, reported ekathimerini.

South Korea is the country with the world's lowest total fertility rate, at 0.75 in 2024 (Image: Getty)

This crisis will now strike higher education in 2026, as students born in 2009 to 2010 complete their secondary education.

In a bid to tackle the incoming enrollment shortage, universities are proposing redesigning their strategic approaches and updating outdated academic programs. The rectors have emphasised that comprehensive reforms are urgently needed to prevent institutional collapse.

In 2023, the largest annual drop in births in the European Union was recorded, with 3.67 million babies born—a 5.4% decrease from the previous year's 3.88 million. This is the largest annual decline recorded since 1961. The total fertility rate in 2023 was 1.38 live births per woman in the EU, down from 1.46 in 2022. This is significantly below the replacement level of 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population.

Bulgaria had the highest total fertility rate (1.81 live births per woman), followed by France (1.66) and Hungary (1.55). By contrast, the lowest fertility rates were seen in Malta (1.06 births per woman), Spain (1.12) and Lithuania (1.18). Further afield, as of 2022, South Korea is the country with the world's lowest total fertility rate, at 0.75 in 2024, with high housing costs, education and childcare named as major reasons for the drop.