The Grexodus is real.  It has been triggered by a financial crisis.  So will yours.

 

The Greek diaspora is massive – proportionally greater even than the British.  The free movement of people is a hallmark of any progressive civilisation.  But when austerity measures have cast more than half of young people into unemployment, the loss of more than 150,000 graduates from a population where only five million are available to contribute to national wellbeing does not bode well for the future.

The figures are stark.  Classically just over half the Greek population is not available to work; this proportion of children, pensioners and those in poor health is little different to other countries.  So, of around 11 million people, the entire economy must be supported by around five million – but only 3.6 million Greeks are currently employed.  1.4 million are without work. Nearly half of those (0.64m) are aged less than 35 years.

Estimates of the scale of the Greek exodus vary.  Some counts suggest that 75% of the 200,000 emigrants since 2010 are graduates – a brain drain that hardly encourages investment in new start-up enterprises.  Add to that the lack of bank funding for small businesses and the ever-tightening noose of welfare cuts, and it’s no surprise that well-educated young people are flying out.

Grexodus, not Grexit: the Greater Greek Tragedy