Greece seeks to repatriate its citizens from Germany after years of brain drain

More than a decade after the debt crisis that prompted hundreds of thousands of Greeks to emigrate in search of work and stability, Athens is today trying to bring back its citizens from abroad, led by those who immigrated to Germany.

The major wave began after the outbreak of the Greek debt crisis. Since 2010, a huge number of Greeks have left the country, and a significant portion of them were young people and those with high university and professional qualifications. Germany was one of the most important destinations that received them.

Estimates vary depending on the time period and methodology used in the calculation. Data relied upon by the Greek government indicate more than 650,000 departures during the years of the crisis, while other estimates that include broader segments of the working-age population indicate more than one million people between 2010 and 2022, according to the Greek Reporter website.

For Greece, the problem was not only the numbers, but the quality of those who left. The country lost highly qualified doctors, engineers, researchers, and specialists after originally spending on educating a large percentage of them, so that other economies could benefit from their skills.

As for Germany, it was one of the most prominent beneficiaries. But after more than a decade, traffic began to take the opposite direction.

According to a report by the Tagesschau website, the year 2024 witnessed an important symbolic turning point, as for the first time the number of Greeks who left Germany became greater than the number who came to it, as the report states.

350 thousand Greeks in Germany

This is not a marginal group for the German labor market. At the end of 2025, approximately 350,000 Greeks lived in Germany, according to the data on which the Tagesschau report was based. Many of them are active in sectors where Germany already suffers from a shortage of workers, most notably health, information technology, restaurants and services, according to the German “Economy and Industry” website.

Observers consider this development a warning signal that could extend beyond the Greek case itself. Demographic change does not affect Germany alone, but also makes qualified workers increasingly in demand within their European countries as well. Here lies the German problem.

Berlin built part of its strategy to confront the aging of society and the labor shortage on attracting immigrants and qualified workers from abroad. But Germany is no longer competing only with the United States, Canada, or Britain to attract talent. Rather, it is facing competition even from countries within the European Union that were in the past a major source of migrant labor.

Athena searches for her children in Germany

The Greek government is not waiting for its citizens to return automatically, but has moved to a direct attraction policy through the ReBrain Greece initiative, which aims to connect Greeks working abroad with companies and job opportunities within the country. There is already an official platform linking Greek scientists, researchers and experts abroad with companies operating in Greece.

Athens organized events in European cities with large Greek communities, including Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, London, and Amsterdam, in which representatives of companies searching for employees with experience acquired abroad participated, and now the Greek government includes Munich among its goals.

According to the Greek Ministry of Labor, between 8,500 and 9,000 Greeks with high qualifications in specialties such as medicine, informatics, cybersecurity and manufacturing industries live in the Munich area.

Today, Greece is doing in Germany, in a way, what Germany has done for years in other countries, that is, searching for skilled workers abroad and trying to persuade them to move.

Greek incentives

Of course, the Greek government is not betting on homesickness alone as an attraction. One of the most important tools used to entice returnees is special tax treatment. Eligible people who transfer their tax residency to Greece according to the specified conditions can obtain a 50 percent reduction in employment income tax for a period of seven years. In 2026, the scope of the system expanded to also include qualified people returning to work in the Greek public sector.

The authorities are also working to facilitate the recognition of foreign qualifications and certificates, which is an important point for those who have spent many years in German universities, hospitals and companies.

The government says the results are clear. According to data from the European Center for Statistics cited by the Greek government, about 422,688 people returned out of 659,547 who left during the years of the crisis until 2023, or about 64 percent. More recent sources provide larger numbers as the period expands to 2024, amounting to about 473,000 returnees out of approximately 735,000 departures. Therefore, the numbers must be dealt with according to the time period covered by each statistic.

The motives for return are not only financial

Studies on returnees show that proximity to family and friends and quality of life play a large role in the decision to return. According to the Greek National Documentation Center, 82% of returnees cited proximity to family and friends as an important motivation, while 63% spoke of quality of life. The weather also plays a role, in addition to the political situation, taxes and bureaucracy in Germany, as among the factors that enter into the calculations of those thinking of leaving.

But has Greece really become more attractive than Germany?

It is true that the Greek economy has improved significantly compared to the years of the debt crisis, that unemployment has decreased and that growth has become stronger than it was during the crisis. But that does not mean that the gap in working conditions and incomes with the richer European economies has disappeared. In fact, Greece itself suffers from a severe labor shortage.

Estimates published at the end of 2025 spoke of a shortage of approximately 250,000 workers in various sectors during 2026, including agriculture, tourism, construction, and industry. The government has set a ceiling of more than 94,000 jobs that can be filled by citizens from outside the European Union in 2026, in an indication of the paradox: Greece is bringing back its workers from Germany while it itself is looking for workers from other countries.

But talk of an absolutely successful return hides real problems, most notably low salaries and weak opportunities for some highly qualified people. According to the Tagschau report, nearly six out of ten returnees say that their financial situation is difficult or relatively difficult.

A wake-up call for Germany

The story, then, is bigger than Greece. Germany suffers from a structural shortage in many specializations, from health care and engineering to technical professions. In March 2026 alone, the gap in mathematics, informatics, natural sciences, and technology majors was estimated at about 133,900 specialists.

The long-term risk is that the countries from which Germany used to recruit workers are also facing aging populations and workforce shortages. Therefore, it will become more keen to retain its youth, and even to return immigrants who are already in Germany.

This changes the nature of the German debate on immigration. The question is no longer just: How does Germany attract more foreign workers? It also became: How do you convince those who already live and work there not to leave?

What Greece is doing may be a model for what awaits Germany in the coming years. European economies are entering a phase in which a young, qualified worker becomes a scarce resource, while population aging coincides with a growing need for doctors, nurses, engineers, digital specialists and craftsmen.

In this race, a strong economy or rising wages alone are not enough. Rather, quality of life, taxes, bureaucracy, housing, social integration, political stability, and proximity to family have become factors that determine where qualified people want to live.