Many immigrants who once chose Greece as a destination for a better future are massively returning to their homeland, as they are unable to find a job. A massive flow of young Greeks and immigrants unable to find a job in the country has been observed in the past 5 years, since the financial crisis struck Greece. Figures released by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), the Bank of Greece (BoG) and data from Greece’s largest social security fund IKA, show that immigrants – mainly from Albania – are returning to their country. Albanian immigrants, the majority of which came to Greece in the 90’s, have been unable to continue earning a decent living in Greece and are returning home. Most of them had been working legally in the country and held deposits in Greek banks, as several banking scams have occurred in their country. According to ELSTAT, the number of Albanian nationals that left the country in the period from 2011-2012 reached 133,787 persons, while this trend is expected to be larger during the period 2013-2014, however no data is yet available. Moreover, the number of deposits from non EU citizens, mainly depositors from Albania, has decreased during the past 4 years by 30 billion euros, with deposits down by 3.5 billion in the period from June 2013-June 2014 alone. Data revealed by IKA show that the number of Albanian nationals insured by the fund in 2009 reached 121,902, while at the end of 2013 the number decreased to 85,893 persons. The greatest drop was observed in the construction sector, where just one third of those insured in 2009 are still left, since this was the sector most severely hit by the financial crisis.
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