RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: It’s dawn at one of the world’s most spectacular ancient sites — the Acropolis. More than 30 million visitors flock to Greece each year to see its wonders…I mean it really is incredible. 25 centuries ago… But there’s a crisis looming — Greece is running out of Greeks. The population could drop by as much as 20 percent — from over 10 million now to around 8 million in 2050.
DOMNA MICHAILIDOU: The consequences are difficult and troubling. No one can say for certain that things are going to be ok.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: The Acropolis really stands as a symbol of the glory days of ancient Greece. But if modern Greece can’t sort out its population problem, it too could become a relic.
THANOS PLEVRIS: We are becoming an old people and we must reverse this. Our problem is now.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: It’s survived many crises before, but where does Greece’s epic story go from here? We’ve come to see how a silent threat is risking this country’s future, and whether it can save itself from a modern-day Greek tragedy.
We’re walking in the footsteps of myth and legend. The forests of Arcadia were the realm of nymphs and the nature god Pan.
LAMBROS PAPALAMBROS: This bridge it’s over 1000 years old.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Wow. Lambros Papalambros runs hiking tours along these ancient trails.
LAMBROS PAPALAMBROS: Let’s say that I know every stone in this area. So even if you dropped me with a helicopter everywhere here, I know where I am, directly.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: But I know something he doesn’t… So Lambro, when I saw your name I realised we have a family connection. Alexandros, the sculptor in Olympia, he’s my cousin.
LAMBROS PAPALAMBROS: Your cousin! C’mon! You know, he’s my cousin too.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: He’s both of our cousins.
LAMBROS PAPALAMBROS: In the middle of nowhere I find a relative. I don’t believe it. C’mon!
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: In Greece, we’re all family… My grandparents are among the hundreds of thousands of Greeks who left their homeland in the aftermath of the Second World War. Ever since then, rural areas like this have suffered wave after wave of population loss.
LAMBROS PAPALAMBROS: This village from years now, they don’t have civilians. Just empty houses.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Some ghost towns have become tourist attractions. In its heyday, Lasta had about 300 residents. Now there’s just three. There’s no one to staff the café, so today it runs on the honour system… So it’s self-serve, clean up, leave a donation.
LAMBROS PAPALAMBROS: Exactly. When I was child, I remember this place was full of life. There was farmers, a lot of children, and the school in the back of the church was open of course.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: So where have they all gone?
LAMBROS PAPALAMBROS: A lot of young people thinking that it’s a hard life here, they go to Athens, most of them, but a lot going to States, to Australia, to Europe and they never come back.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: This is a trend that’s happening all around Arcadia.
LAMBROS PAPALAMBROS: Of course there are a lot of villages like Lasta. The next village used to have 3000 people and now there live not over a hundred people. So that it’s a problem, I think all around where we are in the moment and it’s a shame.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Today there are ghost towns scattered right across Greece. Not far from Lasta, the little village of Limni is trying to avoid that fate. One family is desperate to hang on.
NIKKI: Our life here is beautiful. We get up in the morning and our child has school, so we prepare for school.
GEORGE: Good morning, Mama.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Parents Nikki and john are farmers in Limni. Eight-year-old George is the last child left in the village.
NIKKI: When I arrived here 10 years ago there were about 80 residents in the whole village. Now there are 50, 40. There were five to six children, maybe seven, and now there is one… George, up you get. George, your jacket.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Limni doesn’t have a school anymore. The nearest one is about 20 minutes away in a larger town.
NIKKI: Good morning. Lots of rain today.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: There’s so few kids in the area the government doesn’t send a school bus – it sends a taxi.
NIKKI: A few years ago there was a bus. The police are closed, now the Post Office is closing down. Too many services.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Kids come from across the region because their own schools have closed. All across Greece, enrolments are in freefall, with over 700 schools shut down last year alone. That’s five percent of all schools in the country. Back in Limni, we find just one shop open on a Monday morning. Inside it’s more like a retirement home… Good morning. How are you?… It’s a glimpse into Greece’s future. According to the OECD, Greece is set to become Europe’s oldest nation by the middle of the century.
NIKKI: The old people are dying. Young people aren’t getting married and they leave to go abroad. No one wants to live in the village. We’re going to have a very big problem in a few years.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Every evening, George’s family go up into the hills to round up their animals… You’re the little shepherd.
GEORGE: Yes, because I’m looking after the animals. I’m going to be a farmer.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: This area is known for its fresh produce, cheese and honey, and there used to be about ten families working in these fields. Now there’s one.
NIKKI: The world has changed very much. Yes, we are changing, but we must also keep the good things. The villages must be kept alive. The people, customs and traditions in the villages must remain.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Nearly half the population of Greece now lives in and around the capital, Athens. A city battle-scarred by its history, where people regularly take their frustrations to the streets. Protests like this are a really common part of life in Athens; this one’s a student protest. We’ve got the riot squad standing by in case things kick off. I guess the sense is life in Athens is still really tough. Wages are low, cost of living is high, and it’s a pretty tough place to live for a young person. Today’s demonstration is nothing compared to the rageful scenes here just over a decade ago, at the height of the Greek debt crisis.
ABC NEWS: Outside the parliament, the people with their message: no more cuts, sell offs or sackings.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: The country was broke, and a series of bailouts from Europe came on the condition Greece would slash spending.
ABC NEWS: The government has now announced a range of austerity measures. Wages and pensions have been cut, taxes increased.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: By some measures, the economic crash was worse than the Great Depression. Greece fell into six years of recession. One in five lost their jobs and youth unemployment peaked at nearly 60 per cent. Half a million Greeks left the country and many never came back, turbo charging Greece’s population plunge. It was the students and young workers who fled in droves. Klairi Sacha was one of those who made the painful decision to leave in her early twenties.
KLAIRI SACHA: So it was honestly a traumatising experience, because on one hand you are very happy to feel that you are out of it, but also you are wondering how your country’s going to look like if you ever want to return.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Klairi is now 37. Her age-group are often called Greece’s ‘lost generation’… You must have missed this when you were away?
KLAIRI SACHA: I did, yes. Athens is a very vibrant city. It’s good to be back with family and friends.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Deciding to come back wasn’t easy.
KLAIRI SACHA: What we were promised as a generation is that if you are a good student, if you study hard, if you go to university, you are going to have a chance for a good life. You’re going to get a good job, you’re going to have a good salary, you’re going to have a family will be able to provide for. And this is not really the case. So it felt like we were failed on that promise.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Of those who have returned, what have you observed around if people are starting families, choosing not to have children?
KLAIRI SACHA: I think we are starting a family later and later in life because they don’t feel that they can provide for their family earlier, or as early as our parents did.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: I hope it’s not too personal, but you would like a family one day?
KLAIRI SACHA: Of course. Hopefully. Hopefully sooner than later. Yes, indeed. Most of my friends are in the same situation. And I think that with what we went through during our twenties, we really want to make sure we have a very stable life situation before starting a family.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Greece’s birth rate has fallen well below replacement level. There’s a real risk the country won’t have enough young people to pay for pensions and health care for the old. The Greek government will spend 20 billion euros over the next decade trying to solve the problem.
DOMNA MICHAILIDOU: It’s very serious. And it’s an issue of not just economic and social importance, but of a national one.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Domna Michailidou is Greece’s families minister, a former economist and a mum. One of her first jobs in government was rolling out a baby bonus to try to lift the birth rate.
DOMNA MICHAILIDOU: We currently give for the first kid, 2,400 euros, so that a family can have some help from the government for the first high expenses of birth. And we give indirect financial incentives with regards to tax deductions and lowering of tax rates. Tax rates that get reduced exponentially according to the number of children that you have.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: What does the future of Greece look like if this trend continues?
DOMNA MICHAILIDOU: Well, I think no one can tell and no one can tell in the rest of the developed world. If people responded directly to financial incentives with regards to demographic issue, it would’ve been simpler for all of us. Young people don’t want to have kids. They defer the decision. They’d rather go and travel than have kids. To say it very simply, we also need to make it cool for the youngsters to have kids.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: The Greek islands have long been tourist magnets. But some haven’t seen a baby born in years. As beautiful as the island life is, it also comes with its challenges. We’re in a really remote part of Greece, closer to turkey than we are to Athens. Transport is slow, often by ferry, and some islands don’t even have medical services. So the decision to have a baby out here can be really daunting. I’m travelling with someone who’s trying to change that. Dr Dimitris Christakis is an obstetrician from Athens.
DR DIMITRIS CHRISTAKIS: Right now we are on our way to Lipsi. Lipsi is a very beautiful island, very small and very inaccessible.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: He’s one of a team of doctors with a group called Hope Genesis. The charity’s sole aim is to boost the birth rate, especially in the remote islands.
DR DIMITRIS CHRISTAKIS: Lipsi has about 700, 800 inhabitants. It’s quite difficult for women to access health services here.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Hope Genesis helps out by providing free specialist care during pregnancy. And even flies women to Athens for check-ups and to give birth.
DR DIMITRIS CHRISTAKIS: When they feel a problem, you can give them a solution and make them feel safe. That it’s okay, that there’s no problem. That’s the difference.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Today, Dr Christakis is making a special visit.
DESPINA: Welcome! Welcome! Well, doctor, what an honour this is!
DR DIMITRIS CHRISTAKIS: Perfect! I’m so glad to be seeing you again.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Hello Nicoletta!
DESPINA: And this is your namesake.
DR DIMITRIS CHRISTAKIS: Dimitrakis.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Despina was one of his patients. It’s the first time he’s seen twins Dimitri and Nicoletta since delivering them.
DESPINA: It was a difficult pregnancy being twins, but the doctor is amazing. A very good man, a very good doctor. I’ll never forget when I went into his office and I thought wow, what am I doing here in this office? And he got up from his desk with joy and said come on, what’s your name? Where are you from? And he immediately made me feel safe. I always have him in my heart.
DR DIMITRIS CHRISTAKIS: I like very much to help. My greatest joy and pleasure is that in the end, when the pregnancy is over, she has her baby and takes off. You can see it in their eyes that the joy and gratitude that women feel for what they have given her, that is the greatest reward.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: So far, eighteen babies have been born in Lipsi through Hope Genesis, including the twins.
DESPINA: I would like my children to be able to raise their families here. To live their lives beautifully. Daily life very simple and easy.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Here on Lipsi, it feels like a real-life postcard. Things move slowly. Some still get around on four legs. There’s plenty of authentic Greek charm, and a musical mayor. But one thing that has changed is Lipsi’s average age.
MAYOR: It’s a tragic number. I can tell you that in the last 15 years we have had 165 deaths and only 70 births, which means that we have twice as many deaths as births. And we all understand that this is a terrible development for our island. It’s very important for a small place to have young children, to have functioning schools and to have the new generation, which will give a new impetus to the development of the place.
SCHOOL KIDS: Lipsi!
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: While Lipsi might seem small, some islands are even smaller. The one I’m heading to now doesn’t have any children left at all. It’s so quiet. There’s no-one here. In peak season, Arki hosts up to 800 people per day. But only around 30 hardy souls live here now. Most of them are old men.
FISHERMAN: You’ll find a woman from Australia. First she has to have money and she needs to be full of life.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: They’re saying they need more women. They want Australian women.
FISHERMAN: Young lady, are you married?
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: The young and the old once lived here together. But the big Greek family is a thing of the past. Now there’s no one left to pass on the traditions to.
THANASSI: We miss having children here, you don’t hear them playing anymore. It’s very difficult, very, very difficult. I have been here since I was born. Seventy years I’ve been here. It’s changed so much now. It’s too hard for today’s kids to stay here.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: What is the future of this island?
THANASSI: Slowly our generation is dying and the island is getting deserted, deserted, deserted.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: For years, Greece has been on the frontline of Europe’s migrant crisis. More than a million people have arrived on its shores since 2015. And you might think some of these people might be able to help with the country’s population problem. But the Greek government says it’s not that simple. Greece has a centre-right government called New Democracy.It won its second term in a landslide in 2023. Stronger borders were a key part of its election pitch.
THANOS PLEVRIS: We believe in a tough immigration policy and indeed, personally as an individual, I am considered one of the toughest in my party.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Immigration minister Thanos Plevris is from the party’s hard right. He’s behind several controversial policies, including jail time for asylum seekers whose claims are rejected… Do you see migration as part of the solution to the demographic problem?
THANOS PLEVRIS: No. I am one of those who believe that demography should not be combined with immigration. Greeks are not being born. We are missing Greeks. The demographic problem will be solved if we give incentives for more Greeks to be born.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: But currently you have double the number of deaths almost than births per year. So is it even possible to solve this problem just by people having more babies? How can migration not be part of the solution?
THANOS PLEVRIS: Demography is not just a numerical problem. Keeping the population the same or growing can also be replacement. Greece is a nation that doesn’t have the same characteristics as the United States or possibly Australia. It’s not as simple as the integration that some other nation states have, that have been set up by immigrants. Migrants can help solve the labour problem we have. They can become part of Greek society. But this cannot be the basic policy of a state.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: One group the government definitely does want to lure here is the half-a-million Greeks who fled during the debt crisis. I’m joining Klairi for lunch with the young professionals from ‘Back to Greece’. Eirini Kapogianni started the group as an Instagram page, which now has 20,000 followers.
EIRINI KAPOGIANNI: I lived and worked in Germany for seven years. Returning isn’t easy. There are many Greeks who live abroad and have lived a secure life there and it’s very difficult to leave a stable career and come back to start your life from scratch.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: Back to Greece aims to make the transition a little easier.
EIRINI KAPOGIANNI: We’re not just an Instagram page. We’ve found jobs for many of our members even before they’ve returned from abroad. We have become friends, which is very important for all of our lives.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: The economy is improving, and the government is offering Greek expats generous tax breaks to return home. But the decision is rarely financial… Why did you decide to come back?
WOMAN: Because I missed a lot of things in Greece. Well, my parents, my friends. I wanted to build a life here, actually.
RHIANNON SHINE-PAPANTONIOU, Reporter: What if there’s any Australian Greeks watching? What’s your pitch; why should someone come back to Greece?
KLAIRI SACHA: I would say for great weather, a very vibrant community, nature, culture. Athens is a city where you have the old co-living with the new under the same sky. I think that’s what makes us love this place.
WOMAN: It is indeed difficult to come to Greece, but if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.