Hellenic Statistical Authority: Greeks are ageing and…divorcing

The findings of the Hellenic Statistical Authority’s report on Living Conditions in Greece released on Friday, September 2, are significant.

Regarding the population, one of the conclusions of the aforementioned report is that, today, the Greeks are older. More specifically, the ageing index, i.e. the ratio of the ageing population (aged 65 and over) to the younger population (aged 0 to 14) has increased. While in 2009 the ratio was 129, in 2020 it had increased to 157.8.

Low fertility rate

A low fertility rate is also recorded in our country. The fertility index is defined as the average number of children that a woman will give birth to during her lifetime and is used to determine the level of replacement of generations. In developed countries this indicator is considered to be 2.1. In our country the index was already low in 2009 at 1.5 and became even lower, in 2020 reaching 1.4.

As for the gross mortality rate, i.e. the number of deaths during the year per 1,000 inhabitants, in 2009 it was 9.8, while in 2020 it increased to 12.3.

However, the infant mortality rate, i.e. the ratio of deaths of infants under one year old to the number of births, also shows an increase from 3.1 in 2009 to 3.2 in 2020. It should be noted that this rate in 2018 was at 4.2.

Striking is also the fact that, in recent years, there has been a slight decrease in life expectancy at birth. For example, while in 2018 the life expectancy for men was 79.3 years, in 2020 it was 78.8 years. For females, life expectancy in 2019 was 84.2 years; in 2020 it decreased to 83.9 years. Nevertheless, in our country life expectancy remains at a high level compared to most countries in the European Union.

Marriages and divorces

According to the Hellenic Statistical Authority data, the number of Greeks getting married has significantly decreased. More specifically, both religious and civil marriages have been recorded, so far. For example, in 2009 a total of 59,212 marriages (34,375 religious and 24,837 civil marriages) were celebrated in our country, while in 2020 a total of 31,475 marriages (11,935 religious and 19,540 civil marriages) were celebrated, as well.

However, in the same period we see a large increase in civil partnerships. Thus, in 2009, there were 161 civil partnerships, while in 2020 their number reached 8,966.

There is also a large increase in divorces. More specifically, in 2009 there were 13,607 divorces, in 2020 there were 19,190.

Births and deaths

A significant decrease is also recorded in births. In total, in 2009 there were 117,933 births in our country, while in 2020 there were 84,764.

While births are falling, deaths are rising. More specifically, in 2009 we had 108,316 deaths, while in 2020 we had 124,954.