The gender aspect of the population in Greece (February 2018)
The English version of the fifteenth comprehensive e-bulletin of the Observatory of the General Secretariat for Gender Equality (GSGE), i.e. the governmental organization in charge of equality between women and men, has been uploaded on its website and it deals with the gender aspect of the population in Greece: http://www.isotita.gr/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Observatory-15th-e-bulletin-Population-in-Greece-%E2%80%93-Remarks-about-gender.pdf .
Here are the key findings of our analysis:
1) Greece is a country where women are the majority of population. Furthermore, the percentage of female population has slightly increased from 50.701% in 1975 to 50.780% in 2017. The female population in Greece had been decreasing until 1998. Since then, it has been increasing (although with lower step since 2010).
2) After the economic crisis, the total population began decreasing, mostly because young people moved to other countries to study and work, but also because of the low birthrate. Between 2011 and 2016 Greece lost around the 3% of the population. Until 2030 it is estimated that the population of Greece will drop to 9,9 million and in 2050 will reach 8,9 million, resulting a total decrease of 18%.
3) The number of births kept decreasing, with a total fertility rate of 1.33 (predicted average number of children per woman), resulting to a high rate of ageing population.
4) The aging population consists mostly of women. According to the last population census by the Greek Statistic Authority (2011), women increase their percentage as we move to higher age groups, reaching 60,27% in 80+ age group.
5) Moving to the educational level, we find a high percentage of illiterate women (more than 2/3 of the total illiterate population), as well as a very low percentage of women in the highest educational level (PhD holders: men 65.30% and women 34.70%).
It is noted that the GSGE is implementing a flagship project on service organisation for the integration, monitoring and evaluation of gender equality policies in all aspects of public sector action. The aim is to support the public administration and local authorities in the design, implementation and evaluation of policies with detailed data on equality issues.
Moreover, it is underlined that on page 40 at the 2015 Annual Report on Equality between Women and Men in the European Union (European Commission, March 2016, http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/annual_reports/2016_annual_report_2015_web_en.pdf ) there has been a positive reference to the specific Greek project.
The e-bulletins take advantage of data derived from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) as a follow-up of the activation of a Protocol of Cooperation between the General Secretariat for Gender Equality and ELSTAT, and they are also supported by lively graphs, diagrams and charts made solely by the employees of our organization.
In that way, the gaps are revealed and all stakeholders are invited to common action in favour of substantive equality between women and men in all aspects of public and private life.
