Foreigners in Kythera: Their Impact on the Economy and Demography of the Island

Dr Nicholas P. Glytsos

Center of Planning and Economic Research
Athens, Greece

English Version of the Paper presented at the International Conference on Kytherian Migration: Historic Diaspora and Contemporary Migration Movements

Organized by the Open University of Kythera Municipality,
the University of Athens and La Trobe University of Australia

Kythera 16-19 September 2004

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Kythera May 2005


Foreigners in Kythera: Their Impact on the Economy and Demography of the Island


Dr Nicholas P. Glytsos

Center of Planning and Economic Research
Athens, Greece


Abstract

In the last few years, about 800 foreigners entered Kythera for the purpose of seeking employment, in an island whose population before this inflow was of the order of 3000 permanent inhabitants. The study of this very significant addition of mostly young people in a small island as Kythera is of particular interest. Due to the ageing Kytherian population and the lack of an adequate number of young native labour force, foreign workers play a vital role in the economy and the demography of the island. This paper discusses the demographic and economic profile of foreign population, examines the economic aspects of immigration in general, including employment of foreign workers, as well as their contribution in the economy of the island and the degree of their overall integration in the Kytherian society.

1. Introduction

During its long history the island of Kythera went through large ups and downs of population. Invasion of pirates exterminated or enslaved the inhabitants of the island, while wars and conquests in other regions of Greece brought people to Kythera. Furthermore, deprivations and poverty during the last century sent hordes of Kytherians to the far away places as well as in other parts of Greece in search of a better life, while the thirst for knowledge and education led many Kytherian youth to the educational institutions in Athens, other regions of Greece and abroad.

Subsequently, in the more recent years of the tourist development and the vibrant construction activity, in conjunction with the fast ageing population, the island became a magnet of immigrant workers mostly from the neighboring Albania, but also from other parts of Central and Eastern European countries and to a small extent even from countries of the Western Europe.

The short history of foreigners in Kythera and the lack of systematic and reliable data does not allow the possibility of some comprehensive study of their presence and their contribution in the island. This notwithstanding, a first attempt will be made to highlight certain economic, demographic and educational aspects of these immigrants on the island.

2. Population and Employment in Kythera

Over the post second world war period and up until 1991, the population of Kythera was continuously declining in fast rates, so that the island’s inhabitants in 1991 were 62 percent less than they were in 1940 and 43 per cent less than they were in 1951. The emigration to foreign countries, mainly to Australia along with the movement to Athens, particularly during the period 1951-1971, contributed greatly to the decline and the ageing of the Kytherian population. The exodus of young people had as a consequence the drop in the birth rate, which was a second factor, apart from emigration, that contributed to the decrease in population. Even in the period 1971-1981, emigration continued to reduce population, but to a much lesser extent (Table 1).

Only during the 1981-1991 decade, for the first time in the post-war period, the island’s population increased very slightly (0.7 per cent), a trend that was intensified during 1991-2001, with a 14.3 per cent growth, equal to 441 persons in a 1991 total population of 3091 inhabitants. This increase was due to the inflow of a relatively large number of foreigners. Concurrently, the birth rate in the island increased for the first time by 7.6 per cent over the decade, compared to 6.4 per cent in the previous decade. As a result of these developments, the net inflow of people to the island – the overwhelming majority being foreigners - during 1991-2001, was of the order of 800 persons, which by itself alone increased the population by 25 per cent.

As a result of this inflow, the ageing of population has been retarded, considering that people up to the 39 years of age amounted, in 2001, to 45.3 per cent of total population, compared to 40.1 per cent in 1991, reducing the share of over 65ers from 28.8 per cent to 25.3 per cent in the same period.

From total population, 1350 persons were in 2001 economically active, out of which 1,220 were employed. The secondary sector, practically construction, engaged 289 workers and the tertiary sector 609 workers, while the primary sector employed only 229 persons. Between 1991 and 2001, total employment increased by 100 persons. Most of these workers were absorbed by the tertiary sector and much less by the secondary, while primary sector employment decreased substantially (Table2).
3. Foreigners in Kythera: Overall Picture

These developments in population and the size and composition of employment are almost exclusively the result of the inflow of relatively large numbers of foreigners in the small island of Kythera. As it comes out from the applications to the municipality for the issuance of residence permit, during 2003, about 400 foreigners received such permits, including their families who have moved to the island. It should be noted in this context that, in addition, there are some small numbers from the Greek minority in Albania and the former Soviet Union (the Pontians) who according to the law do not need a residence permit. Furthermore, there are also 50-60 mixed marriages, mainly women from Eastern Europe married to Greek men. In addition, there is a small number of persons whose residence permit was pending at the time, and another small number who came to Kythera from other parts of Greece having already on arrival residence permits. If in all these categories are counted about 70 citizens from other countries of the EU, the total number of foreigners on the island are of the order of 600-650 persons.

Apart from these people, about 200 Kytherians of working age returned from the Diaspora, mostly from Australia, and participate in economic activity, while an additional number of skilled and experienced persons come to Kythera from other parts of Greece for seasonal employment in tourism, during the short tourist period in the island and then leave for the rest of the year.

From the number who got new or renewed residence permits in 2003, 87 per cent are Albanians, whereas the rest come in small numbers from countries of Central and eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, Belarus, Russia, Armenia, Moldavia and Kazakhstan (Table 3).The Albanians consist by 70 per cent of males and 30 per cent females. The gender composition is reversed for the rest of nationalities as a whole (about 64 per cent are females and 36 per cent males). Out of the Albanians, about half belong to the ages of 15-34, while the rest are in their majority 35-39 years of age. From the other foreigners, the majority (65 per cent) are 25-34 years of age (in women the proportion in this age bracket is 86 per cent). Immigrants from Russia and Bulgaria are mainly women (about 50 from Russia), the former working in shops and bars and the latter in housekeeping. According to an educated guess, about half of immigrants leave in Kythera for the last 5 years. This does not seem to differ from immigrant duration of stay in large cities. For instance, the above Thessaloniki survey has produced a similar figure for the Albanians, i.e. 5.7average years of stay (6.2 for men and 5.1 for women).

Almost all foreigners live legally in Kythera. Although there are no concrete figures on the educational level of immigrants in Kythera, at least several of women from Central and Eastern Europe, particularly from Russia, are believed to be educated, some holding third level education degrees and speaking foreign languages. Let me note that the above survey in Thessaloniki has shown that more than half of Albanians are secondary education graduates and 11 per cent hold tertiary education degrees. This certainly does not necessarily signify that the Albanians of Kythera have a similar educational level, but it gives a hint about such a possibility.


4. The Role of Foreigners in the Demographic Changes in Kythera

Many immigrants in Kythera are accompanied by their families with 1-2 and less frequently 3 children. Family immigration concerns mainly the Albanians, therefore the children of other nationalities are few. Several of these children were born in Kythera. From April 2000 when the Kythera hospital hired a gynaecologist, up to the summer of 2004, 110 pregnant Kytherian and foreign women visited the hospital for observation, while 30 foreigners of them and 7 Kytherians gave birth at this single local hospital. This difference between the number of pregnancies and the number of baby deliveries is due to the fact that almost all Kytherian women and a small number of foreign move to Athens maternity hospitals for giving birth. From the 30 born babies of foreign women in Kythera hospital, during this period, 29 belong to Albanian mothers (Table 4)

These figures show that the Greek women of Kythera gave birth to 80 babies (either in Athens or Kythera), compared with 30 babies of the foreign women. Considering that the number of foreigners on the island are generally young whereas the native Kytherian population is aged, the birth rate (births per 1000 population) of foreigners-with whatever margin of error they are counted –is overwhelmingly higher (perhaps double) compared to the birth rate of the native population. This evidence clearly demonstrates the significant contribution of foreigners in the enhancement of birth rate in Kythera. Let me remind that between 1991 and 2001, the overall birth rate increased in Kythera by almost 1 percentage point for the first time in the post-war period.

5. Children of foreigners in the Primary and Secondary Education in Kythera

The system of compulsory education (Primary School plus first cycle Secondary School – High School) in Kythera has an enrolment of 310 pupils, of which 85 are children of immigrants from 12 different countries, of which Albanians are numbering 57. Thus, the pupils of foreign descent make up 27.4 per cent of all pupils in the system and 37.8 per cent of the Greek pupils. In the 6 Primary schools of the island, the number of pupils sum to 223, of which 61 are of immigrant parents (42 Albanian). In other words, in every 26 Greek pupils of the Primary schools correspond 10 foreigners. The proportion is in fact less than 1 to 3. This proportion differs however greatly among the 6 schools, ranging between 1 to 1 and 1 to 6, but mostly roughly 1 to 3 (Table 5).

In the academic year 2003-2004, the first cycle High School had an enrolment of 87 pupils (49 boys and 38 girls). Out of this, 24 were children of foreigners (14 boys and 10 girls), of which 15 were children of Albanians (11 boys and 4 girls). The rest 9 are children of Georgians, Bulgarians, Russians, Armenians, British, French and Australians. The children of immigrants represent 27.5 per cent of all pupils and 38.0 per cent of the Greek pupils. The foreign pupils at the second cycle Secondary education (Lyceum) are as yet very few (4-5).

Such a high proportion of foreign pupils of 12 different nationalities with different cultures, religion and language in the compulsory education could be expected to generate educational problems and problems of attitude and behaviour if the integration of the foreigners and the corresponding adjustment of the Greek pupils, as well as the methods of instruction are not up to the needs that must be fulfilled.

Since immigration in Kythera is as yet too early for children born on the island to have enrolled in school, almost all foreign children in the primary school system in Kythera are themselves immigrants. As a consequence, in the earlier years of immigration, these children had some learning problems, due mainly to the lack of knowledge of the Greek language. Such problems appeared, as expected, more in schools with a high proportion of immigrant pupils, where the teacher had to spent considerable time for helping them to be able to attend the classes, but today these problems tend to vanish. As in Greece in general, there were ”reception classes” in some but not all schools in Kythera, instructing especially the Greek language, using teaching material, i.e. books etc, which was considered by the teachers unsuitable for the purpose. Such formal classes were in fact given only in the school of Potamos village, the largest primary school in Kythera with 59 pupils, of which 15 foreigners (see Table 5). In the other five schools, the teachers offered an ad hoc preparation. The duration of the preparatory classes was decided on an individual basis, according to the original knowledge and the performance of the pupils concerned, and could last from one to a few years. Today such reception classes are not any more needed, since the inflow of foreign children has practically stopped, while the very few pupils born in Greece are growing up in a Greek environment learning the language.

Foreign children are now fully integrated in school; therefore their performance is not any different, neither do they behave differently, compared to the Kytherian children, who, in their turn, do not demonstrate any discriminatory attitude, treating them as equal to equal. Some occasionally problems may still emerge, but they have to do with parents’ attitudes vis-ΰ-vis their childrens’ schooling. Several immigrant parents show a lack of interest in supporting the efforts of their children to the extent that the Greek parents do. Even in cases that children excel in school, their parents may be indifferent, especially in respect to girls, and there are some concrete examples on this. Furthermore, these parents have no interest of cooperating in general with the teachers and, with very few exceptions; they are not involved in the operation of the school to the extent that the Kytherian parents are. In fact, some of the parents consider the school as a “parking” place to leave their children while they are at work.

The relative average school performance of immigrant children differs according to the grade. At the lower grades in which the enrollments consist of children who came to the country with their parents at very small ages – thus, growing up in a Greek environment and learning Greek very early - or children born in Greece, the average performance is equal to that of Kytherian pupils. However, at higher grades, with enrollments of children who came to Greece at larger ages, their score is a little inferior compared to the score of Kytherian pupils.

The Kytherians have developed a good tolerance and acceptance of immigrants and this is reflected in their attitudes towards the mixed schools. They are not openly complaining for the coexistence and coeducation of their children with the foreign ones and the potential influence the latter may exert in retarding classes and deteriorating the quality of education. Despite some private expression of discomfort here and there on the issue, they have never troubled the school authorities. Let me note in this context that this is not always the case in Greece, in some communities of which such tolerance is lacking and occasionally serious conflicts have emerged in schools.

This helps the smooth integration of foreign children into the school society of Kythera and their involvement in school activities. Foreign pupils participate in the official parades and national festivities along with the Greek pupils, and although they are mostly children of the Muslim faith (mainly Albanians) they go Greek Orthodox Church with their Greek classmates when such events take place. They also attend the classes on religion, which they refer to the Greek Orthodox faith. As the Chairman of the Kytherian Teachers association suggests, there has not been any pressures by the parents of immigrant pupils on teachers concerning these issues.

Compulsory schooling in Greece is 9 years, of which 6 years in the primary school and 3 years in the first cycle of secondary school (High school). However, despite the compulsory character of this system, there are often cases that some children are not enrolling in High school. The experience in Kythera shows that there is again for foreign pupils a difference between the earlier and the later comers of immigrants. Contrary to the Kytherian children who, with very insignificant exceptions, enroll in High school, earlier immigrants with very low incomes and often in an illegal situation were reluctant to allow their children to enroll in High school, because they wanted them to work for complementing the family income. But as time went on and their economic situation was improving, they legalized that primary education was not enough for their children. This change in parents’ attitudes was reflected in the proportion of foreign children enrolling in the High school, which has been increasing over time.

6. Employment and Wages of Foreign Workers

About 80 per cent of foreigners coming from third countries outside the EU belong to the labour force and almost all are employed, most of them on a permanent basis either working in one employer, particularly in the construction sector, or offering independent work of all sorts, such as seasonal employment in agriculture or in tourism, assuring one way or another continuous employment. This is confirmed by evidence of the immigrants themselves in a relevant survey.

The demand for the work of foreigners is particularly high in the construction industry and seasonally in agriculture, while the demand in the tourist industry is low since part of the seasonal needs is covered by Greeks, young Kytherians or students. A very small number of foreigners (3-4) who have several years of stay in Kythera, work as employers in the construction sector, offering even employment to Greek skilled workers (electricians, plumbers, etc). Another part of foreign workers, mainly women, are employed in services, such as tourism, housekeeping, care of aged people, etc. Most foreigners are also employed, some in parallel with their permanent employment – in the after hours - in occasional jobs in households for one or more days or even a few hours whenever a helping hand is needed for errands around the house.

According to information from the local agent of the Employment Office, immigrant workers seldom appear in the register of the unemployed. This is because even if they become unemployed they don’t satisfy the requirements for getting unemployment benefits. They register however only in cases that there is a possibility of collecting some special benefits, such as the special financial assistance given to unemployed construction workers or the subsidization of training programmes, such as learning of Greek.

Concerning the wages of immigrants, in the pre-legalization time the simple unskilled worker was receiving about 30 euro daily, but as the illegal immigrants were becoming legal, they pushed through some atypical collective effort for higher wages and they were able to get them. Thus, by 2004, the wages of unskilled workers rose to 40 euro daily, while for the skilled workers in construction, the wages reach 60 or 70 euro and for very few may even touch 80 euro daily. These wages are not different from the wages of the few native Kytherian workers. According to the survey mentioned earlier, the Albanian workers admit that the wages they receive are satisfactory, but they nevertheless complain that they don’t correspond to the amount of work they offer. It should be noted in this context that the legalization of foreign workers does not necessarily assure their full social security, particularly when they work in occasional employers, or do precarious jobs.

7. Contribution of Immigrants in the Production of Goods and Services in Kythera

Given the lack of data on Kytherian output and of any measure of the productive activity of immigrants, their contribution in the output of the island is calculated on the basis of certain alternative assumptions concerning these two variables. For output, the per capita annual output of the island of Zakynthos will be analogously used as a proxy. This is the lowest regional per capita output in Greece amounting to 8,530 euro. The reason for this choice for estimating total output of Kythera is that, apart from the fact that both islands belong to the complex of Ionian islands, the economy of Zakynthos has several common characteristics with the economy of Kythera, and, perhaps more importantly, both islands have a similar proportion of immigrants in their labour force. On the basis of these conditions, the total annual output of Kythera is estimated of the order of 30 million euro, a little more a little less.

The annual income of the immigrants in Kythera is, in its turn, roughly estimated, using their wages and the annual work time, as the calculation of these variables is based on converging views of the island’s labour market stakeholders. Assuming that the contribution of immigrant workers to the economy of the island is analogous to their remuneration, using the above “attributed” output of Kythera, it is estimated that immigrant workers produce 15-20 per cent of this product. The contribution could be even higher in case that for various reasons, i.e. longer hours of work, relatively lower wages in some cases, the average productivity of immigrant workers is higher than the level of their income.

An alternative estimate of immigrant contribution is based on labour productivity in Kythera, which as mentioned is close to that of Zakynthos, and on the reasonable, but a bit arbitrary, assumption that, due to the kind of jobs exercised, immigrant average productivity would be between 1/3 and ½ lower of the average productivity of the native labour force of the island. This assumption is justified by the fact that the native labour force includes the higher productivity self-employed, the employers and the merchants, among others. This method gives an annual income of immigrants as a group in the range of 5.5-6.0 million euro, which corresponds to 19-20 per cent of the total output of Kythera.

A third alternative method of estimating the contribution of immigrants in the economy of the island is through the share of the immigrant workers in the labour force of the island. As already mentioned, the number of persons with employment was, in 2001, 1220, which today would be higher if the new comers are also accounted for. According to our calculations, the immigrants with jobs are about 500, representing about 35-40 per cent of the total number of employment on the island. Considering the above assumed relatively lower productivity of immigrants (1/3 to 1/2 lower than the native workers’ productivity), which is due to the nature of the jobs they exercise, their contribution should be expected to be considerably lower than their share in employment. With this logic and the assumed lower productivity, a contribution of immigrants in the order of 15-20 per cent would not be far from being real.

Concluding, if the per capita income of Kythera is lower than the per capita income of Zakynthos, each one of the alternative methods of estimation would give a larger contribution of immigrants to the economy of the island than here estimated. In contrast, in the unlikely situation that the per capita income in Kythera is actually higher than that of Zakynthos, the contribution of immigrants would be lower. The bottom line is that either way, it would not be too absurd to suggest that the contribution of immigrants in the production of goods and services in Kythera could very likely range between 15 and 20 per cent, and under certain conditions even more.

8. Integration of Immigrants in the Kytherian Society

The integration of immigrants in a society is basically attained through the economy, education, the language and the acceptance by the society of “different” people with a different language, religion and culture. On the other hand, the smooth integration requires that the immigrants themselves desire the rapprochement with the local people and make an effort for adjusting in this society. This desire would among others depend on the intention of immigrants to stay long or short in the host country. There is the view that those who don’t intend to return some time home may not have the desire and the motive to integrate in the new country, therefore they don’t make any efforts to do so. The earlier mentioned survey of the Albanian immigrants in Thessaloniki showed that about half of males had the intention of returning to Albania. Analogous seems to be the intentions of the Albanians in Kythera, as they have stated in the limited local survey, but as it is also gathered from other scattered local information in the island.

Referring to the economic aspect of integration in the kytherian society, the previous analysis indicates that the immigrants are doing rather well. The local population admit that the immigrants satisfy real needs of labour and receive satisfactory wages, which is also indicated by the immigrants’ own evidence, no matter their occasional claim that their wages are not up to their offered work. Regarding the knowledge of Greek, which is another element facilitating integration, the immigrants have a satisfactory grasp of the language, enough to be able to communicate adequately in their every day activities. Education as a means of integration concerns particularly immigrant children, who enroll in the Kytherian schools and communicate daily with their Greek classmates.

In any case, as it comes out from converging information and opinions of knowledgeable persons, the kytherian society as a whole seems to have accepted the imperative of the integration of immigrants. The majority of Kytherians demonstrates a positive attitude vis-ΰ-vis immigrants, particularly because they recognize the necessity of their work in the Kytherian economy. From the other side, the immigrants themselves in their majority have the desire to integrate and develop good relations with the native people. Immigrant responses to the above mentioned local survey point to a rather good relation with their fellow coworkers in and out of work places, as well as with their employers. And yet, they communicate usually more with their compatriots, since they generally consider the Kytherians reserved in opening to them. They recognize though that some persons helped them in difficult times, especially when they were still in the state of illegality before they got the residence permit. Immigrants actually participate, to some extent, in the local life of the island, such as cultural and athletic events and other activities. Specific examples are the participation of immigrants in the parents and teachers association in some schools and the participation of their children in school festivities. Another example is the participation of immigrants in the athletic teams of the island.

Mixed companionship of immigrant youth and natives is not unknown, although there are some reservations on the part of Kytherians for such a communication. Naturally, one form of integration is the mixed marriages, mentioned earlier. In recent years, about 50 mixed marriages took place in Kythera, concerning by 90 per cent Greek men marrying foreign women.

Referring parenthetically to a recent survey in three rural areas of Greece, in the regions of Epirus, Corinthia and Crete, it is interesting to see that older people kept a more positive attitude for immigrants compared to the young ones. Analogous was the acceptance on the part of those who had employed immigrants compared to those who had no contact with them. The same survey showed that immigrants were more accepted and integrated more easily in the less developed regions of the country.

One factor that may potentially contribute in the closer connection between immigrants and natives is the scattering of immigrant residence all over the island, as a result of the dispersion of available housing among its villages. There are not in fact any ghettos in any particular part ofKythera. It should however be observed that the small distances within the island, and the fact that almost all immigrants have some private means of transportation makes easy the possibility of moving around and meet other compatriots or friends in other villages, if they so wish.

9. Sending Money Home

The immigrants who plan to return home soon, as those of the above Thessaloniki survey, and perhaps a similar proportion of the Albanians of Kythera, send significant but unknown amounts of money or carry it along, during their frequent visits to Albania, together with durable consumer goods bought in Greece. These transfers support the families left behind, or are used for buying or repairing houses, buying agricultural machinery or other goods. For accumulating this money, the Albanians in Kythera live a frugal life, compared with immigrants of other nationalities. The Russians, for instance, who are believed to have moved in search of a new country to make their living, are observed not to send much of their savings back home.

Even the money sent through the official banking or Western Union routes are not always transferred in an “official” manner. For instance, an Albanian living and working in Kythera hands to his relatives in one of his visits a cash card of the National Bank of Greece Kythera Branch, through which the relatives in Albania withdraw money from the ATM of the National Bank of Greece Tirana Branch. Given these unofficial ways of transfers, the official data on remittances from Kythera would be greatly misleading and gravely underestimated. In any case these transfers are not available from the two banks of Kythera and neither is the number of depositors.

Let me refer in passing and as a hint about the Kythera situation that the above Thessaloniki survey found that 71 per cent of Albanians retain a bank account.

For Kythera, the only available data are the transfers via Western Union, but it must be stressed that even these figures give a very partial picture of the money sent by different nationalities. Thus, the transfers of the first six months of 2004 sum to about 100,000 euro referring to 228 orders. Thirty per cent of this amount concerns transfers of Albanians and 40 per cent of Bulgarians (Table 6).

10. Conclusion

The post-war very intensive exodus of population from Kythera resulted in a demographic decay and deprived the labour market of its dynamic and energetic elements, generating shortages of workforce. The pressure of these shortages became more acute when the tourist development and the construction activity started to rise in a fast pace. This development almost coincided with the fall of the political and economic system in the Balkan countries and in Eastern Europe that released hordes of immigrants to the West. A small part of these people but quite large for the size of the island moved to Kythera at a time when they were mostly needed to cover the pressing labour shortages.

The immigrants in Kythera play an important role in the island’s economy and have a great contribution to its output and development. But apart from that, they restrain the demographic deterioration of the island and the declining trend of enrollment in primary and secondary education.

The immigrants’ integration in the economy of the island is satisfactory, while their social integration is continuously improving. They are increasingly becoming accepted by the majority of Kytherians and they participate in certain local social activities along with native people.
References

Glytsos, Nicholas P. “Problems and Policies Regarding the Socio-economic Integration of Returnees and Foreign Workers in Greece”. International Migration, Vol. 33, No 2, June 1995: 155-176. Reprinted in Migration and Public Policy, Edited by V. Robinson. In the Series, International Library of Studies on Migration, No 8. Editor of the Series Robin Cohen, Edward Elgar Publishers, United Kingdom, 1999: 192-210.

Glytsos, Nicholas P “The Impact of Demographic Deterioration on Labour Balances in Greece” Journal of Economic Studies, Vol. 26, Nos 2-3, 1999: 130-158.

Glytsos, Nicholas P. “The Role of Migrant remittances in Development: Evidence from Mediterranean Countries”, International Migration, Vol. 40 No 1, 2002: 5-26.

Glytsos, Nicholas P “Demographic and Economic developments of Kythera Population during the second half of the 20th Century”. Proceedings of the A’ International Conference of Kytherian Studies with the theme: “Kythera : Myth and Reality”, Vol 3, Kythera, 2003, pp.101-120 (in Greek).


Glytsos, Nicholas P. “Stepping from Illegality to Legality and advancing towards Integration: The case of Immigrants in Greece”. International Migration Review , Vol.39, Winter 2005

Glytsos Nicholas P. and Louka T. Katseli, “Greek Migration: The Two Phases of Janus”. In K. Zimmermann (Editor), European Migration: What Do We Know? Oxford University Press, England, 2005, pp.337-388.

Kassimati Koula, “The Albanian immigrants in Kythera”. Nostos, Athens, 2002: 49-94(in Greek)

Kasimis, “What scares us is what saves us all: The social and economic implications of migrant labour employment in rural Greece”. Paper presented at the International Conference on Immigration and Integration in Northern versus Southern Europe. Netherlands Institute of Athens, 27-28 November, 2002.

Lambrianidis, L. and A. Lyberaki, Albanian Immigrants in Thessaloniki, Paratiritis, Thessaloniki, 2001 (in Greek).


Table 1. Population of Kythera, 1991 and 2001

Age Brackets 1971 % 1981 % 1991 % 2001 %

0-14 928 22.5 631 17.3 450 14.5 520 14.7
15-24 276 6.7 301 8.3 242 7.8 349 9.9
25-39 488 11.8 406 11.1 549 17.8 732 20.7
40-54 812 19.7 683 18.7 478 15.5 672 19.0
55-64 564 13.7 572 15.7 481 15.6 366 10.4
65-79 784 19.0 808 22.2 615 19.9 665 18.8
80 + 268 6.6 246 6.7 276 8.9 228 6.5

Total 4,120 100.0 3,647 100.0 3,091 100.0 3,532 100.0

Source: NSSG, Population Census, 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001.



Table 2. Employment in Kythera, 1991 and 2001

Sector 1971 1981 1991 2001 Change
1971-81 1981-91 1991-01

Total 1,988 1,767 1,119 1220 -221 -648 101

Primary 1,536 1,193 412 229 -343 -781 -183
Secondary 192 126 210 289 -66 84 79
Tertiary 260 448 478 609 188 30 131
Non-declared - - 19 93 - 19 74

Source: NSSG, Population Census, 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001



Groups Males Females Total Males Females Total Males Females Total
0- 4 8 7 15 0 0 0 8 7 15
5-9 10 9 19 1 0 1 11 9 20
10-14 5 10 15 1 0 1 6 10 16
15-19 21 6 27 1 1 2 22 7 29
20-24 38 9 47 0 1 1 38 10 48
25-29 27 7 34 1 6 7 28 13 41
30-34 46 14 60 2 5 7 48 19 67
35-39 34 5 39 3 2 5 37 7 44
40-44 21 5 26 1 4 5 22 9 31
45-49 16 1 17 0 4 4 16 5 21
50-54 2 1 3 1 4 5 3 5 8
55-59 1 1 2 1 0 1 2 1 3
60-64 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
65-69 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 2
70-74 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1

Age Unknown 9 16 25 4 1 5 13 17 30
Gender Unknown 4 6 10
All Ages 239 92 335 16 29 51 255 121 386

Source: Archives of Kythera Municipality: Foreigners received residence permits in 2003.


Table 3 : Foreigners in Kythera with Residence Permit, 2003
Age Albanians Other Foreigners All Foreigners

Note: The total differs from the sum of the two genders due to the number of persons of unknown gender


Table 4. Number of Pregnant Women under pre-natal observation and number of births in Kythera Hospital, in early 2000s

Year Number of Pregnancies
Under observation Number of Births
_____________________________________________________

2000 (Apr-Dec.) 15 6
2001 20 6
2002 25 16
2003 15 4
2004(Jan-June) 35 5

Total 2000-2004 110 37

Source: Kythera Hospital (unpublished data)


Table 5. Pupils of Primary and First Cycle Secondary School (High School) in Kythera, by Nationality, 2004
___________________________________________________________________

Nationality Pupils of Elementary Education First Cycle
By School High School
Pupils __________________________________________________________________
Ag.Pelag.Karv.Kastris.Leivad.Potam.Chora __________________________________________________Total________________

All Nation. 25 47 22 35 59 35 223 87

Greeks 13 32 17 30 44 26 162 63
Foreigners 12 15 5 5 15 9 61 24

Albanians 4 10 5 4 15 4 42 15
Georgians 6 1 7 1
Romanians 2 1 3
Russians 3 3 2
Poles 1 1
Belarusian 1 1
British 3 3 1
Swiss 1 1
Bulgarians 1
Armenians 2
French 1
Australians 1

Proportion (%)
of foreigners
over Greeks 92.3 46.9 29.4 16.6 34.1 34.6 37.6 38.1
___________________________________________________________________

Source: Teachers Association of Kythera (Unpublished data).


Table 6. Transfers by Immigrants in Kythera through Western Union
(First six months of 2004)

Country of Destination Amount (Euro)

Albania 28,585
Bulgaria 38,605
Russia 9,255
Belarus 8,350
Ukraine 5,650
Armenia 2,300
Poland 1,295
Romania 350
Other Countries 3,240

Total 97,630
Number of Orders 228
Average per Order 428

Source: Kythera Post Office (Unpublished data).