When teacher Panagiota Diamanti was appointed to Fourna, Evrytania, the elementary school was scheduled to close.
Of the three registered students, only one would remain the following year.
The village kindergarten was already suspended.
“We could see that we were heading towards closure. And we started thinking about what we could do, because the state was inert,” the village priest, Konstantinos Dousikos, told Neos Kosmos.
Dousikos and Diamanti worked together to attract families with children to the village.
Their online appeal spoke of securing housing, employment for at least one of the parents, and support for installation costs.
The response was greater than expected with hundreds of messages from interested parties.
“We gathered everything we could to cover the costs for a couple of families, and within a few days the first family came to the village,” Dousikos said.
It was August 2024. By June 2025, three large families with 14 children had settled in Fourna.
Today, the village counts six new households with 50 on the list of interested parties.
The kindergarten started operating again, while some new businesses opened in the village.
“We have started supporting other villages to do the same, through the organization we created with Panagiota,” Dousikos said.
“We are trying to help families who want to leave the city and come to live in the safety and purity of the countryside. What could be more natural?”
HOUSING, WORK, OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHILDREN
The experiment succeeded with personal effort and private support.
From the very beginning, they established a non-profit organisation to manage the volume of requests and sponsorships.
“The important thing was to provide jobs, housing and some services to the children. Of course, we had to subsidise all of this somehow,” said Diamanti.
“We made contact with people who had vacant houses in the village and were interested in renting them out at a low rent, and we collected donations from individuals throughout Greece for the first rentals.”
For every family that moved to the village, at least one job was found or created.
“The village is located in a fir forest, it has a timber cooperative, so one profile of workers was men who could undertake manual labour,” the teacher explained.
One family was helped to open a restaurant while another came to take over the village tavern that was about to close.
They also reached out to local businesspeople to support the initiative.
“A businessman, originally from Evrytania, was convinced to open a bakery that the village did not have, thus creating new jobs,” says Diamanti.
Their appeals for the needs of children found a response throughout Greece and abroad, he cites some examples.
“Two language centres in Athens offered free English lessons, expatriates in the US covered the cost of all school supplies, while this year we started sports activities for children in collaboration with the municipality and private sponsors.”
THE INITIATIVE IS GROWING – THE STATE IS ABSENT
The “Νέα Ζωή στο Χωριό” (New Life in the Village) program was expanded last year to Zitsa, Ioannina, with the settlement of two families, with the goal of three more by the end of 2026.
“In January, we announced that we were also adopting the village of Kokkino in Boeotia, where the first family also moved,” said Diamanti.
“The goal is for five more families to go there, and we will be able to financially support up to that many this year.”
Each family receives the same financial support; the action is funded entirely by sponsorships and operates thanks to the work of the two founders and a network of volunteers.
“In Fourna there are 20 volunteers, in Zitsa and Kokkino the same, and 20 volunteers in the national management team – including lawyers and accountants – since all the money we raise goes to the families.”
The initiative started by the teacher-priest duo attracted the interest of local government bodies and the central government, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis having visited Fourna.
“In theory, we have had everyone by our side from the beginning, but in practice we have not received any help from the state,” they said.
The needs of the villages, they explained, exceed the capabilities of a private initiative.
“One issue is health,” said Diamanti.
“It took eight months for a doctor to come, and of course after a lot of effort and many requests. We know that when the rural doctor finishes his training we will have to wait again.”
DECENTRALISATION TAKES CENTRE STAGE
Last month, the Greek government expanded a subsidised relocation program to six regions – Kastoria, Florina, Kilkis, Pella, Drama and Feres – with an amount of $16,705 (€10,000) per household.
Greeks abroad are also eligible to participate.
The program, which, as stated by the Minister of Social Cohesion and Family Affairs, Domna michailidou, “will be customised to meet the needs of the demographic,” was implemented last year on a pilot basis in Evros.
Of the 600 applications submitted, only two met the criteria. The vast majority of applicants were already residents of Evros.
According to Diamanti, attracting people to the villages is not possible without taking into account those who already live there.
“It is logical for residents to think, ‘I live here, I don’t have a doctor, I’m about to have no school, and a stranger comes and they give him €10,000’.”
Dousikos believes that the revitalisation of the province is a matter of national economy.
“Normally, all residents of villages should be subsidized. Because people who live in urban centres cannot produce agricultural or livestock products,” said the priest, adding:
“We need to listen to the complaints from the people in each region, because the problems we have, for example, are different, and different in other villages.”
WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF RURAL GREECE?
The demographic challenges facing villages in the Greek countryside are also different compared to the country as a whole, Professor of Demography at the University of Thessaly, Byron Kotzamanis pointed out.
“At the national level, the birth and death balance has become negative since 2011,” he told Neos Kosmos.
But, in local areas, this analogy began much earlier.
“Evrytania, for example, has had more deaths than births for about 45 years.”
The desertification of the countryside, Kotzamanis explained, occurred within the framework of the post-war development model with urbanisation, but is also a result of the abandonment of the primary sector.
He pointed out, therefore, that in order to revitalise the Greek countryside, it is not enough for young people to move there.
A modern development plan for the primary sector is also needed.
“That is, there should be added value with productive investments, linking production with product standardisation and a policy to support the primary sector that does not currently exist,” Kotzamanis said.
“In order for not only young people but also their children to stay in the countryside, the conditions must exist for them to have a future.”
DEMOGRAPHIC BALANCE WILL REMAIN NEGATIVE UNTIL 2060 – IN BEST CASE SCENARIO
According to data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority, approximately one in four Greeks today is over 65 years old.
And the country’s population has decreased by approximately 715,000 since 2011.
Once the birth-death balance has become consistently negative, it is mathematically impossible to reverse it for at least the next 30 years, explained Kotzamanis.
“Due to declining birth rates, fewer and fewer people will reach childbearing age.”
“In 2060, a generation from now, the number of women of childbearing age, due to the decline in births that has already occurred, will be 450,000 fewer.”
The aging of Greece’s population, in other words, is predetermined in the coming decades, even if measures were taken today to create a favourable environment for increasing birth rates.
The relevant projections of the United Nations and the European Statistical Office Eurostat for the period 2025-2050 also support this assessment.
“The results of projections we make in Greece and international organizations show that if the migration balance is zero, the country’s population will decrease by 2-2.3 million in a generation.”
“The only age group that is expected to increase is those over 65 by 700,000,” the professor said.
According to Kotzamanis, the discussion on measures to improve demographic trends in the long term must begin with an awareness of the current situation.
“Such a significant population decline within a generation has implications in many areas.”
He concluded by stating: “the question is, based on the data we know is irreversible, whether we can get by without immigration”.
“And then, of course, other criteria come into play to decide whether someone is for or against it, but for the discussion to take place, it must be based on real grounds.”