Due to the complexity of Greek immigration policy, practices and data collection, it is difficult to gather truly reliable data on immigrant populations in Greece and therefore it is subject to much speculation.
Following the beginning of mass illegal immigration into Greece in the early 1990s, largely as a result of disintegration of the former Communist bloc, Greece has struggled not only with immigration policy but also with acquiring even approximate data on the extent and type of immigration into the country.
After several years of mass illegal immigration, accompanied by mass (illegal) deportations of mainly Albanians, Bulgarians and Romanians, Greece reluctantly initiated in 1997 its first legalization programme for illegal immigrants. The 6-month White Card was granted to almost all 372,000 applicants, and at that time yielded the only reliable data on immigrants. Its successor programme, the 1-3 year Green Card, laid substantial impediments in the way of applicants, and the number of applicants was only 228.000 with heavily delayed bureaucratic procedures.
The 2001 Census had a total of 762,000 registrants normally resident and without Greek citizenship, but this figure supposedly included ethnic Greeks [homogeneis], EU nationals, and children. A dataset compiled for us by the Statistical Service should have revealed more information on the number of homogeneis without Greek citizenship. According to the Census, there are only six persons with this status: this conflicts with our understanding of the unknown but large number of persons awarded the 3-year homogeneis card by the Ministry of Public Order. Unofficial sources suggest that the number is 150-200.000 such cards awarded.
A new Immigration Law in 2001 was accompanied by another legalisation, which attracted a total of 368,000 applications, although press reports claim that only 220.000 were eventually accepted. No data on numbers, characteristics of the applicants, or anything at all were ever provided by OAED. Only IKA social insurance contributions – some 328,000 active registrations in 2002 – provided any indication of immigrants’ role in the economy and society.
Finally, in 2004, the Ministry of Interior database on residence permits became fully operational. It is these unpublished data which constitute the most crucial new information on immigrants in Greece. The results of our analysis of the dataset are provided below, providing a much clearer picture of the situation than was available previously. However, there remain some quite serious difficulties with this dataset, which are discussed in Part B of this Report.
The rate of increase of immigration into Greece since 1988 has been phenomenal, multiplying the stock of immigrants fivefold. From 1991 to 1997, the number of residence permits awarded by the Ministry of Public Order actually declined in the face of mass immigration. The legalisation programmes (1997, 2001) made an impact on the illegality of migrants, but of a transitory nature and leaving a large minority in illegal status.
The 1991 Census significantly under-recorded immigrant residents, finding only EU residents and those with legal status. The 2001 Census, however, made an explicit attempt to capture a record of all immigrants – legal or undocumented , with fewer than 100.000 people not participating. However, if we add the estimated number of homogeneis who were recorded as Greek nationals, Figure 1 is significantly changed. On the one hand, homogeneis are invisible in the Census data, and on the other hand are indistinguishable from illegal immigrants in other data. If we add to this, the problem of delayed residence permit procedures and the non-appearance of legal immigrants in the permit data, there is only one conclusion possible. We cannot estimate other than crudely how many illegal or even legal immigrants are present in Greece, or what the total of immigrants might be.
Thus, by 2004 the immigrant population (with a conservative estimate of illegal stocks) stands at around 900,000 non-EU/EFTA or non-homogeneis persons, and including EU nationals this takes the total to about 950,000 immigrants. This latter figure is about 200.000 more than recorded in the 2001 Census, and takes the immigrant/total population ratio up to about 8,5%. If we add the estimated number of ethnic Greeks with homogeneis cards, this takes the figure up to 1,15 million persons – about 10,3%. However, without proper data on all legal immigrants in Greece, plus detailed accounts of citizenship awards, these figures are highly unreliable.
Despite the earlier legalisations of immigrants, in particular the Green Cards which required employment contracts and social insurance registration, almost nothing about immigrant employment is known from official records prior to the 2001 Census. The only three reliable and comprehensive sources of information, as of late 2004, consist of the Census, residence permit data and IKA data. There is absolutely nothing available from the Ministry of Labour – the responsible ministry for managing three legalisations and currently for work permit awards in Greece.
The geographical distribution of non-EU immigrants in Greece follows, with some exceptions, the general pattern of other countries: immigrants go to where there is work available, which tend to be the economically developed regions. Therefore, immigrant concentrations are in Attika and tourist areas, such as islands. The principal exception is the border region with Albania, where some areas have large numbers of Albanians: the exact nature of their employment is not known from official data.
Albanians constitute the vast majority at 240,000 persons (58%), followed by Bulgarians at 28,000 and Romanians at 17,000. Comparing the self-declared foreign workforce with the total foreign population of the Census, one can see that certain nationalities are over-represented in the labour force. In fact, this group consists of most non-EU or non-Greek immigrants – namely, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Pakistan, Ukraine, Poland, India. Thus, the participation rate of these nationalities is considerably higher than that of Greeks and even EU migrants. Among the principal immigrant groups, only Georgia shows a lowish participation rate: whereas Georgians constitute 2,9% of the immigrant population [as do Romanians], they are only 2,7% of the workforce compared with Romanians’ 4,2%.
The very different characteristics of each national group are clearly visible: Bulgarians and Indians with a very high presence in agriculture [although of different types]; Bangladeshi and Pakistanis are specialised in industry; Polish, Georgians and to a lesser extent Albanians tend to work in construction. With different national emphases, and different specific niches in the labour market, non-EU immigrant male employment is concentrated in construction, agriculture and industry – although with some presence also in tourism.
Speaking of the employment of male immigrants by economic sector, out of a total of 231,750 IKA registrations, the overwhelming importance of construction [approaching 50% of all male employment] stands out; other important sectors are retailing (7%), hotels and restaurants (7%), “other construction” (4%), metal products (3%) and the food industry (3%).
Out of a total of 102,012 female immigrants, the largest share is in hotels and restaurants (28%), with housekeeping at only 20%. Following some way below this are wholesale at 7%, retail at 6% and the food industry at 4%. Unhelpfully, there are large numbers in “unknown” (7%) and “other” (6%).
Source: Mmo
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