Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis, speaking at the Annual Conference of Brain ReGain held at the Athens Concert Hall, stressed that “Greece is no longer a one-way flight, but an option to return.”
Hatzidakis noted that “today, we are no longer witnessing a mass exodus like that of the crisis decade. In 2023, for the first time since 2008, the migration balance became positive: 47,200 Greeks returned, 32,800 left. These figures cannot be disputed by even our fiercest critics."
In total, according to official Eurostat figures cited by Hatzidakis, by the end of 2023, 400,000 of the 600,000 Greeks who had left during the brain drain have returned.
Hatzidakis also stressed that the government set the goal of reversing the brain drain. This is because, as he explained, “we see it as a national obligation”.