Confronting Greece’s “Brain Drain”


by Vasiliki Mitrakos — Athens, July 11, 2011

“Staying in 2011 is not the same as staying in 1920 or in 1950. To leave does not mean exile, that I go and do not turn back or that I listen to Kazantzidi and I cry.” — Apostolos Doxiadis speaking at Intelligence Squared Greece’s debate on Greece’s “Brain Drain”

About 114,000 to 139,000 Greeks with a tertiary education work or study abroad—and 91 percent of those who received all of their degrees abroad do not seek employment in Greece upon graduation, according to a study by Lois Lambrianidis, author of Investing in Leaving.

Intelligence Squared Brain Drain

Intelligence Squared Greece’s “Brain Drain” debate focused on answering the question of whether Greek Συνέχεια