A detailed spatial analysis of the population changes in Greece during the period 1940-51

Nikolaos Mostratos

University of Newcastle upon Tyne

3rd International Population Geographies Conference, 2006

Examine spatially in ‘eparchia’ level, the overall population changes caused by the events of WW2 and the following Greek Civil War

Refer to the main reasons of these changes Focus on the advantages of using the lower ‘local authority’

level to analyze population changes Show that the events of the period triggered urbanization in

Greece

Aims

Resources

Greek censuses of 1928, 1940*, 1951 for present (de-facto) population

Greek censuses of 1928 and 1951 for mother language and religion data

Italian censuses of 1931 and 1941 for the Dodecanese Islands

*Census data of 1940, lost during WWII and only overall figures were published later in 1950.

Mapping Many changes in all levels of

administrative units from 1928 to 1951 (caused by population changes of the period)

Need of diachronic cartographic dataset for comparable data

Creation for the 1st time of comparable datasets in’LAU’ (~6000) as well as ‘eparchia’(150 units) and ‘nomos’ (50 units) administrative levels by reconstructing them from lower ‘LAU’

1940-1951 population changes in numbers…

Population of Greece in 1940 census: 7,344,860 Population average annual growth rate of 1928-1940: 1.5% Under normal circumstances population in 1951 should be

around 8.5 millions, instead was 7,632,801, almost 900,000 less

Constant population moves towards various places in search of safety, depending on the occasion

Finally, in 1951, more than 500,000 had moved mainly to urban centers such as Athens (almost half of them), Thessaloniki and other towns

Source: Doxiadis, 1947

…and on map (eparchia level)

Main Reasons

Battles and bombardments

Bulgarian atrocities German, Italian

retaliations of partisan acts

Famine in cities and remote areas, outbreak of diseases

Decrease of specific ethnic groups numbers (Jews, Bulgarians, Albanians, Italians)

Battle Casualties Evacuation of

‘sensitive’ areas by National Army

After defeat, thousands of communist guerillas fled to eastern Europe

All remaining communists outlawed and sent to concentration camps (mainly on islets)

Decrease of Slavomacedonians numbers

WW2 Civil War

Axis power control areas

1940-1951 Pop.Change Axis powers control areas in 1941

Source: Doxiadis, 1947

Destroyed buildings

1940-1951 Pop.Change Destroyed buildings in 1946

Source: Doxiadis, 1946

Ethnic groups concentrations

1940-1951 Pop.Change Affected eth.groups concentrations,1940

Partisan controlled areas

1940-1951 Pop.Change Partisan controlled areas

Source: Territorial Army HQ, 1970

‘Eparchia’ units vs ‘Local Authority Units’

Thessaly Lorenz curves

Lorenz - Eparchia Level

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20

40

60

80

100

0 20 40 60 80 100

Area

Po

pu

lati

on

1940

1951

'Lorenz - LAU Level'

0

20

40

60

80

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0 20 40 60 80 100

Area

Po

pu

lati

on

1951

1940

Lorenz Curve shows the extent to which a given distribution is uneven compared with an even distribution

Depicts better the unevenly distributed population, with smaller units

Thessaly population changes (LAU)

Urbanization triggered

Urban (>10,000)/ Semiurban(2,000-10000) / Rural (<2000)

Major Cities pop.change: Athens (23%), Thessaloniki (7%)

Regional Centers pop. change: Ioannina(48%), Arta (54%), Lamia(43%), Kavala (-15%), Xanthi (-11%)

1940

Urban

Semi

Rural

1951

Urban

Semi

Rural

Urban %

Semi %

Rural %

1940 32 15.4 52.6

1951 36.8 15.5 47.7

Conclusions

Greece was a different country after WWII, regarding the spatial distribution and ethnic composition of the population

Events of the period triggered the massive rural exodus firstly towards local urban centers and then to mainly Athens and Thessaloniki (continued until 90’s)

Urbanization trends shown clearly in LAU

Today almost 50% of the Greeks live in these 2 cities, while in 1940, less than 20%

In 1991, urban population in Greece over 60 %