Greeks seeking their future abroad
Back to: History and Background of Migration in Greece
The periods of mass immigration of Greeks are from 1903-1917, 1950-1972 and 2010-today and all three relate to economic and/or political factors.1 [weglot-image en=“/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/migration-phases.jpg“ gr=“/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/migration-phases-el.jpg“ alt=“1st, 2nd, and 3rd migration phases in Greece“ lightbox=“1″ caption=“Source: Bank of Greece, Economic Bulletin, issue 43, July 2016″ class=“fullwidth“]
About 65,000 Greeks sought refuge in former Soviet Bloc countries after the defeat of the left-wing forces in the Greek Civil War. Additionally, thousands of Greeks left Greece during the dictatorship (1969-1971). Looking solely at the years from 1955 to 1970, approximately one million people—over ten per cent of the total Greek population—left Greece to emigrate primarily to Europe. It is no coincidence that all three phases took place following a severe recessionary disorder that widened the gap between our country and the developed countries and fuelled the mass migration of people, young people in their majority, seeking new opportunities abroad.
For the first half of the twentieth century, immigration mostly flowed outwards from Greece. At the turn of the century, the majority of Greek immigrants migrated to the ‚Pacific Ocean‘ countries (USA, Australia, Canada, Brazil and South Africa). Seven in ten were aged 15-44, less than two in ten were women, and the vast majority were low-skilled, low-educated workers who were usually employed in the host countries as servants and/or workers.
The second phase mainly concerned young people aged 20-34 (seven out of ten) and five out of ten reported manual workers. Six out of ten went to the Federal Republic of Germany and Belgium and worked as industrial workers. In contrast, the current phase concerns young well-educated people, mainly working in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.