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Skip Navigation Greece’s ghost towns offer a glimpse of a country struggling with ‘existential’ population collapse * Livestream CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Markets * Pre-Markets * U.S. Markets * Europe Markets * China Markets * Asia Markets * World Markets * Currencies * Cryptocurrency * Futures & Commodities * Bonds * Funds & ETFs Business * Economy * Finance * Health & Science * Media * Real Estate * Energy * Climate * Transportation * Industrials * Retail * Wealth * Sports * Life * Small Business Investing * Personal Finance * Fintech * Financial Advisors * Options Action * ETF Street * Buffett Archive * Earnings * Trader Talk Tech * Cybersecurity * Enterprise * Internet * Media * Mobile * Social Media * CNBC Disruptor 50 * Tech Guide Politics * White House * Policy * Defense * Congress * Equity and Opportunity * Europe Politics * China Politics * Asia Politics * World Politics Video * Latest Video * Full Episodes * Livestream * Top Video * Live Audio * Europe TV * Asia TV * CNBC Podcasts * CEO Interviews * Digital Originals Watchlist Investing Club * Trust Portfolio * Analysis * Trade Alerts * Meeting Videos * Homestretch * Jim’s Columns * Education * Subscribe * Sign In PRO * Pro News * Livestream * Full Episodes * Stock Screener * Market Forecast * Options Investing * Chart Investing * Subscribe * Sign In Livestream Menu * Make It * select * ALL SELECT * Credit Cards * Loans * Banking * Mortgages * Insurance * Credit Monitoring * Personal Finance * Small Business * Taxes * Help for Low Credit Scores * Investing * SELECT * All Credit Cards * Find the Credit Card for You * Best Credit Cards * Best Rewards Credit Cards * Best Travel Credit Cards * Best 0% APR Credit Cards * Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards * Best Cash Back Credit Cards * Best Credit Card Welcome Bonuses * Best Credit Cards to Build Credit * SELECT * All Loans * Find the Best Personal Loan for You * Best Personal Loans * Best Debt Consolidation Loans * Best Loans to Refinance Credit Card Debt * Best Loans with Fast Funding * Best Small Personal Loans * Best Large Personal Loans * Best Personal Loans to Apply Online * Best Student Loan Refinance * SELECT * All Banking * Find the Savings Account for You * Best High Yield Savings Accounts * Best Big Bank Savings Accounts * Best Big Bank Checking Accounts * Best No Fee Checking Accounts * No Overdraft Fee Checking Accounts * Best Checking Account Bonuses * Best Money Market Accounts * Best CDs * Best Credit Unions * SELECT * All Mortgages * Best Mortgages * Best Mortgages for Small Down Payment * Best Mortgages for No Down Payment * Best Mortgages with No Origination Fee * Best Mortgages for Average Credit Score * Adjustable Rate Mortgages * Affording a Mortgage * SELECT * All Insurance * Best Life Insurance * Best Homeowners Insurance * Best Renters Insurance * Best Car Insurance * Travel Insurance * SELECT * All Credit Monitoring * Best Credit Monitoring Services * Best Identity Theft Protection * How to Boost Your Credit Score * Credit Repair Services * SELECT * All Personal Finance * Best Budgeting Apps * Best Expense Tracker Apps * Best Money Transfer Apps * Best Resale Apps and Sites * Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) Apps * Best Debt Relief * SELECT * All Small Business * Best Small Business Savings Accounts * Best Small Business Checking Accounts * Best Credit Cards for Small Business * Best Small Business Loans * Best Tax Software for Small Business * SELECT * All Taxes * Filing For Free * Best Tax Software * Best Tax Software for Small Businesses * Tax Refunds * Tax Brackets * Tax Tips * Tax By State * Tax Payment Plans * SELECT * All Help for Low Credit Scores * Best Credit Cards for Bad Credit * Best Personal Loans for Bad Credit * Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit * Personal Loans if You Don’t Have Credit * Best Credit Cards for Building Credit * Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower * Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or Lower * Best Mortgages for Bad Credit * Best Hardship Loans * How to Boost Your Credit Score * SELECT * All Investing * Best IRA Accounts * Best Roth IRA Accounts * Best Investing Apps * Best Free Stock Trading Platforms * Best Robo-Advisors * Index Funds * Mutual Funds * ETFs * Bonds * USA * INTL * Livestream Search quotes, news & videos * Livestream Watchlist SIGN IN Create free account Greece’s ghost towns offer a glimpse of a country struggling with ‘existential’ population collapse * Livestream CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Markets Business Investing Tech Politics Video Watchlist Investing Club PRO Livestream Menu Vathia, a deserted village in the mountains overlooking the sea, is now a popular tourist destination, Mani, Peloponnese, Greece. Heritage Images | Hulton Archive | Getty Images Europe Economy GREECE’S GHOST TOWNS OFFER A GLIMPSE OF A COUNTRY STRUGGLING WITH ‘EXISTENTIAL’ POPULATION COLLAPSE Published Wed, Dec 11 20241:11 AM ESTUpdated Wed, Dec 11 20246:37 AM EST Karen Gilchrist@_karengilchrist WATCH LIVE ShareShare Article via FacebookShare Article via TwitterShare Article via LinkedInShare Article via Email Key Points * Greece’s abandoned “ghost” towns and villages offer an eerie glimpse into the future of a country, whose prime minister has warned of “existential” population collapse. * Years of decreasing births, economic hardship and mass emigration have left huge swathes of the country vacant. * Economists warn that population decline is now putting a major strain on society – with not enough young workers to grow the economy and support the elderly. A cafe offers a glimpse into the past in the abandoned village of Lasta. There are no staff but instead an honor system, which allows visitors to serve themselves a coffee in exchange for a donation. CNBC Lasta, GREECE — There’s nobody around anymore to man Saint George cafe in Lasta, a mountainous village in Greece’s Peloponnese region. Instead, there’s an honor system — just take a drink, leave a donation and soak up the relics of a bygone era. Photos of lively residents on the walls belie the reality outside, where a deserted square, abandoned school and derelict houses offer an eerie glimpse into the future of a country at risk of population collapse. Lasta is just one of hundreds of depopulated or abandoned “ghost” towns and villages scattered across Greece, in an all too visible marker of years of declining births, economic hardship and mass emigration. Economists warn that population decline is now putting a major strain on a country just emerging from crisis — with not enough young people to support the economy over coming generations. “While Greece is seeing very solid growth for the moment, looking ahead, with fewer people to do the work, that’s going to be difficult to sustain,” Bert Colijn, chief economist at ING, told CNBC by phone. FALLING BIRTH RATE AN ‘EXISTENTIAL’ THREAT Greece is home to one of the lowest fertility rates in Europe: At 1.3, it is half that recorded in 1950 and well below the 2.1 required for population replacement. Last year, the country recorded just over 71,400 births, the lowest number since records began almost a century ago, and down around 6% on 2022. Greece now has around one birth for every two deaths, and the share of the population aged over 65 is nearly twice that aged 0 to 14. This content is blocked because you are not allowing cookies. To view this content, click on Cookie Preferences here or at the bottom of the page to allow all cookies. That prompted Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to warn of an “existential” threat to Greek society, with the country more disposed than most to wider demographic shifts afflicting developed nations. “The truth is that today our people are among the most elderly in Europe,” Mitsotakis said last year, speaking at a Greek demographic conference. It’s an issue affecting some pockets of the Greek mainland and its vast archipelago more than others. > Local provisions are also needed, with the overall demographic collapse > literally becoming an existential bet for our future. > Kyriakos Mitsotakis > Prime Minister of Greece “This population decline is not manifested equally throughout the country,” Mitsotakis continued. “It has peaks in specific areas and this means that national strategies are not sufficient and local provisions are also needed, with the overall demographic collapse literally becoming an existential bet for our future.” That decline is most visible through the emergence of scores of ghost towns and villages — locations with none or virtually nil inhabitants, deserted as local populations leave or die out. It can be difficult to quantify the exact number of such locations, given their often remote nature, but recent estimates put the figure of entirely abandoned towns and villages close to 200. This school, established in 1885, educated generations of children in Lasta and the surrounding area before closing its doors due to a lack of pupils. CNBC Many are all but forgotten, with decrepit buildings the only signs of former life. Others like Lasta, meanwhile, have become sources of offbeat tourism, with visitors to the cafe and abandoned buildings keen to experience a piece of history. At Greece’s last census in 2021, Lasta had a reported permanent population of 12, but when CNBC visited in 2024 there were no signs of permanent residents. REMNANTS OF THE GREEK FINANCIAL CRISIS Greece’s recent demographic decline can be largely traced back to the country’s sovereign debt crisis of 2009. Resultant bailout programs sparked years of austerity and financial woe for the country, with the economy contracting by as much as a quarter over the ensuing decade. Young people were among the hardest hit by the downturn, with youth unemployment peaking at 59.5% in the first quarter of 2013 — more than twice the national high of around 27%. watch now VIDEO5:4505:45 Greece’s ‘ghost’ towns show the risks of population decline Squawk Box Europe As a result, many were unable to forge new lives outside of their family homes. Of those who did, many did so overseas, with an estimated more than 400,000 people — or 9% of the workforce — emigrating over the period. Much of the remainder relocated to Greece’s big cities, in search of better work and education. Today, more than half (53.5%) of the Greek population lives in the capital, Athens, and the surrounding Attiki region, as well as the country’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki. Meanwhile, all other regions, including Greece’s prized islands, have recorded population decline over the past several years. > We need a shock. We need something that creates, you know, a sense of security > and sense of optimism. > Sofia Zacharaki > Greek minister of social cohesion and family affairs Many demographers say the country’s population decline stems even further back to the 1980s — another period of economic decline. A fall in birth rates over that period has since led to in a reduction in women of childbearing years, with the proportion of women aged 20 to 40 now 150,000 fewer than five years ago. INITIATIVES TO SUPPORT POPULATION GROWTH The government is currently forecasting that the population may fall from around 10.4 million today to 7.5 million by 2050 — a decline of more than a quarter. To help tackle the issue, Mitsotakis last year launched a new Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family Affairs to unify and enhance support for children and vulnerable groups. In October, the ministry announced that it would spend 20 billion euros ($21 billion) through 2035 on incentives to halt population decline, such as child benefits, enhanced parental leave and tax breaks. Sofia Zacharaki, who heads up the office, said the measures were designed to provide a wake-up call to society. A deserted home overgrown with plants and foliage — one of many in Lasta, an abandoned village in Greece’s Arcadia region. CNBC “We need a shock. We need something that creates, you know, a sense of security and sense of optimism, especially in the younger population,” Zacharaki, minister of social cohesion and family affairs, told CNBC via video call. “We are faced with not just an economic impact ... but also a mindset issue that has been instilled in many young people’s minds, probably because of the recurring crisis and probably a sense of disillusionment,” she continued, adding that the funding should give more people the choice to start a family. However, Colijn said he was skeptical that child support measures would be enough to alter the trend, and that major policy changes would likely also be needed to support demographic shifts. “There doesn’t seem to be one example of a policy that’s been introduced somewhere that has resulted in a swift turnaround in that decline,” he said. He added that other policies might include incentives to encourage more young people to remain in Greece, and attracting back those who left. DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFTS WEIGH ON ECONOMIC GROWTH Greece’s demographic decline stands at odds with the country’s now much improved economic outlook. The Greek economy is projected to grow 2.2% in 2024, and 2.3% in 2025 — outpacing Europe’s major economies. The country’s initial 2.9% 2025 gross domestic product (GDP) forecast was revised down only by a wider EU slowdown. Nevertheless, economists warn that demographic decline could ultimately undermine that growth over the longer term. > We are currently in the midst of an unprecedented demographic transition. > Jim Reid > Global head of macro research at Deutsche Bank “Demographic developments are absolutely key to economic growth in general. It’s about how many hands you have to work and how productive those hands can be,” Colijn said, highlighting a “strong correlation” between working age population growth and GDP per capita. Greece is not alone in this phenomena: Demographic decline is an issue facing many developed nations. Japan and South Korea, with fertility rates of 1.2 and 0.72 in 2023, respectively, are among the best known examples of countries in demographic decline. But much of the West, and China too, have rapidly aging populations and need for greater government support. Many houses in the area have fallen into disrepair as inhabitants have left to find work and opportunities in bigger cities. “We are currently in the midst of an unprecedented demographic transition, whereby global population growth is continuously slowing, with little obvious sign that the trend is about to shift,” Jim Reid, Deutsche Bank’s global head of macro research, wrote in a November report. “Given that demographics almost certainly deteriorates further in the 2024-2049 QC [quarter century] it stands to reason that ... you would expect another QC of below long-term average real GDP growth and real equity returns, especially in the DM [developed market] world,” he added. WATCH LIVESTREAMPrefer to Listen? NOW Worldwide Exchange UP NEXT Squawk Box Trending Now 1. The Fed has a big interest rate decision coming Wednesday. Here’s what to expect 2. 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