Population

Switzerland is holding a controversial referendum on Sunday to decide whether to cut immigration by about 75%.

According to supporters, the move would help protect the environment by reducing the need for new transport links and new housing.

The City of Athens called on Friday for the government to accept the asylum applications of a group of some 200 Syrians who have been camped on Syntagma Square in the city center for the last 10 days.

Greece has sent a frigate to rescue a container ship believed to carrying hundreds of undocumented migrants and in distress off its southern island of Crete, the Greek coastguard said on Tuesday.

The Kiribati-flagged vessel, with about 700 people aboard, was sailing 30 nautical miles (55 km) southeast of Crete. The ship reported an engine problem in an area with strong winds.

The United Nations refugee agency has launched an anti-xenophobia media campaign calling on Bulgarians to "see refugees through different eyes".

A recent research by the Migration Observatory at Oxford University reveals that 1.3 % of Eastern Europeans living anywhere in Europe, including in their native countries, are now residing in the UK.

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Region works to resolve issue of legally invisible persons

Workers at the Greek Council for Refugees have issued a statement saying that they have not been paid for six months.

The employees claim that the government has not released the necessary funds for programs run by the organization even though two-thirds of the costs are covered by the European Union.

The council provides assistance to asylum seekers and refugees.

The European Union should not turn into a fortress to deal with immigration but should do more to stop migrant smugglers in their tracks, the new EU commissioner for migration, home affairs and citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, told Kathimerini in his first interview since taking up the job at the beginning of the month.

By Roula Salourou

The demographic threat is evolving into one of the social security system’s biggest, both in Greece and the European Union in general.

The latest EU report on the bloc’s aging population showed that the prospects are particularly concerning in Greece, as the current ratio of one over-65-year-old for every three people of working age will shift to 1:2 by 2040.

The explosion in the world's ageing population presents herculean challenges for health systems, especially in poorer countries, the UN's World Health Organisation (WHO) warned on Nov. 6.
      
As people live longer, the need to care for long-term, age-related health problems will grow, it said.