Brain drain reversal: Greeks return to their homeland from Germany

Irini Kapogianni is an orthodontist who has her own practice in Athens. But she gained her first professional experience in Düsseldorf. "I remember how we met on Sundays in Greek cafes and read the news and newspapers and wondered if we would ever be able to return to our country." Like Kapogianni, many Greeks left their homeland, especially during the debt crisis.

According to government figures, significantly more than half a million Greeks went abroad from 2010 - a "brain drain" of catastrophic proportions for the Greek economy.

Most went to Germany, like Irini Kapogianni, who describes her career in Düsseldorf as a dream that she never thought possible. "But on the other hand, I missed the warmth of my home and my family. So the dilemma was big," she says, emphasizing: "It took me many years to make the decision to return or stay."

Greek economy on the rise

The decision was made easier by the fact that the Greek economy has recovered. It is now growing faster than the EU average and unemployment has fallen. And so the picture has changed: in 2024, for the first time, fewer Greeks came to Germany than left the country.

You can say that it is a kind of warning signal or exemplary for European migration in general, says Julia Reinold, an expert from the Nuremberg Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research. Because it shows: "The workforce is of course increasingly needed in the home countries within the EU, because we also see there that demographic change is causing more and more problems on labor markets."

Relevant for the German labor market

The migration of Europeans back to their home countries is also likely to cause problems for the German labor market. At the end of last year, around 350,000 Greeks lived in Germany, as Reinold explains. This is definitely a relevant group in the labor market, says the expert, for example in the catering industry, in healthcare and also in IT.

Her data showed that Greek immigration has recently declined and emigration remained stable, but it also showed that "a lot of Greeks are thinking about or even planning to leave Germany," said the expert. “Personal preferences such as the weather or lifestyle” play a major role. Added to this are the political situation in Germany, taxes and bureaucracy.

The state entices people with reduced income tax

And the Greek government is actively promoting its talents, which it now wants back. She specifically addresses highly qualified specialists at career fairs abroad. The motto: “ReBrain Greece”. Konstantinos Agrapidas, a high-ranking official from the Ministry of Labor, speaks of plans to organize an event in Germany soon.

Munich was considered as a venue for this: "Many Greeks live there. There are 8,500 to 9,000 highly qualified people from the fields of medicine, IT, cybersecurity and even from the manufacturing industry."

To encourage people to return, the government is promising, for example, that returnees will only have to pay half of their income tax for seven years. In addition, foreign qualifications should be recognized more easily. Agrapidas from the Ministry of Labor sees a reversal trend: around two out of three Greeks who have left since the crisis have now returned.

Financial situation remains difficult

But economist Yiorgos Ioannidis from the Center for Planning and Economic Research KEPE disputes this picture. The economy with its focus on tourism continues to offer too few opportunities for highly qualified people; many returnees complained about low wages. “Almost six in ten say they are in a difficult or rather difficult financial situation,” says Ioannidis. So it's by no means the case that "they came back and found themselves in a much better situation, so to speak."