A nation in decline

The critical problem of a rapidly aging population is absent from Greek public discourse.

Besides, the country today is more preoccupied with the past and the present. And, at least for now, it appears indifferent about the future. 

The recent announcement by the Hellenic Association of Geriatrics and Gerontology that, by the year 2050, the country's population will have shrunk by 800,000-2.5 million people and one in three Greeks will be over 65 years of age is certainly associated with a falling birth rate. 

The association, which made its projection ahead of International Day of Older Persons on Monday, has urged the state to take measures to reverse this trend as the gradual aging of the population will lead, among other problems, to an increase in chronic diseases.

If the threat of the nation dying out does not affect us, then we deserve our fate.