Grevena in northern Greece recorded 425 deaths and just 113 live births in 2024, illustrating the country’s uneven demographic decline. The figures amount to approximately 376 deaths for every 100 births—nearly four to one—according to the Greek Statistical Authority, ELSTAT.
An analysis by demographer Vyron Kotzamanis of the Institute for Demographic Research and Studies, known as IDEM, places that imbalance within a wider regional divide: steep birth declines across parts of mainland Greece, alongside more favorable birth-to-death ratios in several island areas.
Mainland areas face large birth–death gaps
Grevena was not alone. Evrytania registered 213 deaths and 57 births in 2024, while Serres recorded 2,750 deaths and 766 births. Both had more than three and a half deaths per birth. These local figures reflect the usual residence of the mother or deceased person, rather than the location of a hospital or registry office.
Nationwide, ELSTAT recorded 68,467 live births and 126,916 deaths that year—approximately 185 deaths per 100 births. Greece’s overall imbalance was therefore considerably smaller than Grevena’s.
A different picture in some island areas
IDEM found that only five of Greece’s 74 regional units recorded more births than deaths in 2024: Thira (Santorini), Mykonos, Kos, Naxos and Rethymno. In Thira, births were approximately twice the number of deaths.
Rethymno’s margin was much narrower: 815 births against 810 deaths, a difference of five.
Using former prefectural boundaries for its longer-term comparison, IDEM found that births fell by more than 50% between 2009 and 2024 in Thesprotia, Grevena, Fthiotida, Kozani, Evrytania and Florina.
Why age structure matters
Kotzamanis attributes the regional differences to fertility, population aging and migration. Birth totals depend not only on how many children women have but also on the number of women of childbearing age. Areas retaining or attracting younger residents can therefore follow a different demographic trajectory from those losing them.
The birth–death gap measures natural population change, excluding migration. Grevena’s figures imply a natural decrease of 312 people in 2024, before accounting for residents moving into or out of the area.
Provisional figures show births fell again in 2025
A subsequent ELSTAT release, published on June 18, 2026, reported 65,594 live births nationwide in 2025, down 4.2% from 2024. Those figures are provisional and subject to revision as registrations are updated.
At the broader administrative-region level, births declined in 12 of Greece’s 13 regions. Crete was the exception, recording a 2.5% increase, from 5,174 to 5,303 births. Epirus recorded the largest percentage decline, at 10.8%.
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