Growing numbers of young and educated Greeks are returning to the country, drawn by prospects in the economy and the rising demand for high-skilled workers. According to Eurostat data, about 350,000 of the 600,000 Greeks who moved abroad in the period 2010-2021 have returned, reversing the loss of talent Greece witnessed during the financial crisis.

Since exiting special European oversight in 2018, Greece’s economy has boomed. The economy is one of the fastest growing in the European Union, achieving record export growth and record Foreign Direct Investment. Recently, The Economist magazine named Greece as the world’s top performing economy for the second year in a row based on a range of metrics.

Particularly noteworthy has been the inflow of foreign investment by major multinationals in the technology sector from the likes of Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Pfizer and Amazon, which are reshaping the economy and creating demand for new job skills. Recent data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority show that 6 out of 10 new jobs created between the third quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2023 were in high-skill fields.

“The trajectory of the economy forms the basis of our efforts to bring back the generation lost to the brain drain,” Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said in remarks to the annual BrainReGain conference in Athens. “There is absolutely no comparison between the economy of today with the economy of 2019.”

Since then, the Greek government has put in place a number of incentives to attract skilled Greeks and others living abroad. These include new regulations on working hours and parental leave, and lower tax rates for those relocating to Greece.

For entrepreneurs, the Greek government is also developing new programs to support innovation and business development through tax incentives and access to funding from the European Union and the Hellenic Development Bank.