Any nation with a birth rate below replacement will eventually cease to exist. – tweets Elon Musk.

Reports coming in saying Greece is facing a population decline, possibly becoming the first country to experience “population collapse.” 

What’s population collapse?

Wikipedia says population decline, also known as depopulation, is a reduction in the human population size. It’s an alarming trend.

Throughout history, Earth’s total human population has continued to grow. The growth rate of the population accelerated to a peak of 2.1% annually during the 1962–1968 period, but since then, due to the worldwide collapse of the total fertility rate, it has slowed to 0.9% as of 2023.

Greece’s dwindling population sparked discussions on social media, with billionaire Elon Musk expressing worry. Greece lately is in the news for all wrong reasons. 

Increased mortality rates among young, healthy individuals due to conditions like heart failure, stroke, blood clots, and cancer, especially after COVID-19, are major cause of worry in the nation now.

Prime Minister of Greece, Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis has described the situation as a “ticking time bomb” and a “national threat.”

According to The Hellenic Statistical Authority (2015), the unemployment rates in Greece rocketed from 7.8% in 2008 to 24.9% in 2015. 

The proportion of the population that is at risk of poverty in the country rose from 28.1% in 2008 to 36% in 2014 and 35.7% in 2015.

The reports say Greece’s population is projected to decrease by over a million by 2050. 

The country recorded just one birth per two deaths in 2022, PM Mr. Mitsotskis has stated. (So sad!)

“This is one of the most serious problems we face not only in Greece but in the EU as a whole,” Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis told news agency Reuters.

The demographic problem is due to lower birth rates, causing a negative natural population change, coupled with elevated migration.

Greece is not just alone. 

Japan is experiencing a similar trend. The country’s population is currently (2022–2026) declining at the rate of 0.5% per year.

China, whose population has peaked and is currently (2022 – 2026) declining at the rate of about 0.04%.

By 2050, Europe’s population is projected to be declining at the rate of 0.3% per year.

The UN Population Division data says that it took the world 12.5 years to go from 7 billion to 8 billion people, but it will take 14.1 years to go from 8 billion to 9 billion. It’s projected to take another 16.4 years to go from 9 billion to 10 billion.

The long-term projections give a dismal figure though. The growth rate of the human population of this planet will continue to slow and before the end of the 21st century, it will reach zero.

You know now why ‘Population Collapse’ should sound no Greek to the economists of the world.