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Greece is rolling out new financial incentives for people living in or moving to depopulated border regions and small islands, offering households up to €10,000 ($11,479) as part of efforts to slow years of population decline.
The measures cover settlements stretching from the Evros border region, which lies along Greece's frontiers with Türkiye and Bulgaria, to small Aegean islands, while separate programs provide support for families, public employees, doctors and teachers.
The government's relocation program was first rolled out in Evros, also known as the Meric region in Turkish, where households moving to selected settlements can receive financial assistance of up to €10,000.
Under the current arrangement, people moving to settlements with populations of 500 or fewer qualify for €10,000, while those relocating to larger communities can receive support of up to the same amount depending on the number of children in the household.
Authorities plan to expand the scheme to other border regions struggling with population loss, while Greeks living abroad and young families are also expected to be among the groups targeted by the incentives.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has also announced a separate program for Kastellorizo, known as Meis in Türkiye, under which every household permanently living on or relocating to the island will receive €5,000 per year.
The payment will rise by €1,000 for each child, although recipients must live on the island for at least one year to qualify.
Current residents are expected to receive their first payments at the beginning of 2027, while payments for newcomers will start in 2028 and continue annually.
Public employees, security personnel and military staff stationed on Kastellorizo will also receive an additional €5,000 a year. Older homes are meanwhile expected to be renovated and provided free of charge to doctors, teachers, coast guard personnel and other public employees.
Nisyros municipality, known as Incirliada in Turkish, has introduced a one-off €3,000 payment for every new birth as it seeks to push back against population decline.
Families must be permanent residents of the island and registered with the municipality at the time of the child's birth to receive the payment.
Local authorities are also considering a monthly allowance of €150 for children born on the island until they reach the age of five.
Local administrations are also bringing in additional measures to attract health and education workers to islands where staffing shortages have become a concern.
On Sifnos, doctors are offered free accommodation, an additional €300 per month and two round-trip ferry tickets each month, while basic household expenses such as electricity, water and sewage costs are also expected to be covered.
Doctors temporarily assigned to certain islands and remote regions elsewhere in Greece can receive an additional payment of €2,100 for one month of work under a program covering numerous health facilities in the Aegean.
Teachers are also being offered rental, food and transport assistance on several islands. Newly appointed and contract teachers during the 2026-2027 academic year can receive discounts of up to 50% on ferry tickets.
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