The problem of brain drain continues in our country, even after the memorandums. This is the main conclusion of a special analysis he made the ENA Institute. yes, to exist a general sense of the phenomenon, from 2010 to 2022, 1,079,992 people from the economically active population left the country where 234,058 aged 15-24, 633,680 aged 25-44 and 212,254 age 45 – 64 years.
What do the numbers reveal?
According to research, in the 9-year period of 2010-18 memorandums, a total of 796,191 people belonging to the economically active population left the country. Of these, 162,591 are aged 15-24, 472,657 are aged 25-44 and 160,943 are aged 45-64. It is clear that almost 60% of the people who migrated during the memorandums were in the intermediate and most productive age group of 25-44 years.
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How much has it changed in the years since the memorandum? In the 4 years 2019-22, a total of 283,801 people belonging to the economically active population left the country. 71,467 are aged 15-24, 161,023 are aged 25-44 and 51,311 are aged 45-64. Again the largest percentage (about 58%) belongs to the intermediate age group of 25-44 years. In essence, the tendency of young people to flee for a better working environment, with better economic conditions and prospects, has not stopped, but continues.
Finally, to have a general sense of the phenomenon, from 2010 to 2022, 1,079,992 people from the economically active population left the country, of which 234,058 were aged 15-24, 633,680 aged 25-44 years old and 212,254 are 44. .
According to the figures above, the number of people who left the country during the memorandums was higher than the number of people who left afterwards. But the total numbers are not suitable for comparing the two periods because they include a different number of years. In comparison we have to look at the average annual migration, that is, how many people leave the country every year. This is shown in diagram 2.
The immigration
Here we see a somewhat different picture. The average annual migration of the 15-24 age group fell slightly from 18,066 people in 2010-18 to 17,867 people in 2019-22. In the 25-44 age group the decrease in average annual migration is greater, from 52,517 people in the period 2010-18 to 40,256 in the period 2019-22. Finally, in the age group 45-64 the average annual migration decreased from 17,883 people during 2010-18 to 12,828 people during 2019-22.
The conclusion of figure 2 is that many young people continue to leave the country, albeit to a reduced extent. Again, however, the comparison between periods is not entirely accurate because it does not take into account population changes. So if we use Eurostat population data, we can calculate the average annual migration rate, ie the percentage of the population in each age group that migrates each year. This is shown in diagram 3.
It is clear that the average migration rate of the 15-24 age group increased between the two periods from 1.58% to 1.64%, the 25-44 age group decreased from 1.71% to 1.51% and the 45-64 age group has decreased from 0.62% to 0.43%. For comparison it is worth noting that the average rate of immigration before the memorandum, ie in the two years 2008-9, 0.72% for the 15-24 age group, 0.68% for the 25-44 group in age and 0.2% for the 45-64 age group.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the problem of brain drain continues in our country, even after the completion of the memorandums, the return to positive growth rates, the increase in wages and the reduction of unemployment. The problem may not be as severe for the lower age group of 15-24 years because some people in this age group may leave the country for studies with the possibility of returning. The serious problem concerns the second category, 25-44 years old, which is the most productive age. These young people continue to leave the country, at a relatively lower rate compared to the memorandum period but a clearly higher rate compared to the pre-memorandum period. Their departure not only deprives the Greek economy of valuable human capital, but constitutes another proof that the losses suffered by the Greek economy at the time of the memorandums have lasting consequences.
The term and analysis
The term brain drain describes the exit of young and educated people from a country to find work abroad. This is a particularly negative phenomenon because it deprives the country of its human capital and undermines its productive potential.
The term entered the Greek public debate at the time of the memorandum where rising unemployment and falling incomes led many people to economic migration.
The first adequate analysis of the Greek brain drain was done in 2011 by L. Labrianidis and followed in 2013 by L. Labrianidis & N. Vogiatzis and in 2016 L. Labrianidis M. Pratsinakis and S. Lazaretou. In 2021, the ENA Institute organized a discussion entitled “How to reverse the Brain Drain” and in 2023 L. Lambrianidis published a related working text.
The works mentioned above analyze many aspects of the phenomenon.
The only question we will discuss here is whether the event has been exhausted since the conclusion of the memorandums
or not. To do this, we look at the number of people who left the country, during the memorandum period (2010-18) and the next period (2019-22). The data we will use comes from Eurostat and concerns the economically active population, ie those aged 15-64, divided into three age groups, 15-24, 25-44 and 45-64. Unfortunately, the specific figures do not include the education level of the population.