The Silent Crisis Killing off Greek Islands and Villages | Foreign Correspondent

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 21:30:42 +0000

Greece is one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations – more than 30 million visitors travel there every year. But extraordinarily, Greece itself is in danger of running out of Greeks.The population is in freefall with predictions it will drop by twenty percent by 2050.

On Foreign Correspondent reporter Rhiannon Shine travels to the birthplace of her grandparents to see the problem first hand. Right across the country, ghost towns are becoming all too common.

There are far more deaths than births, young people have left in droves and migration is deeply unpopular. If modern Greece can't solve its population problem, it's at risk of joining its ancient ancestors as a living museum.

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