ABSTRACT
Until recently, Greece was a migration sender rather than host country. A brief historical overview of immigration trends into Greece since the twentieth century is limited mainly to inflows from the Balkans due to the Balkan Wars, to refugees from Asia Minor (approximately 1.4 million in the 1920s and again around 350,000 in the 1950s from Istanbul) and from Egypt. These refugees were principally of Greek origin; they were integrated into the host society very quickly, primarily for foreign policy reasons, and their impact on the Greek economy and commerce was positive. Nevertheless, the economic underdevelopment of the country did not encourage immigration into Greece. On the contrary, Greeks emigrated in significant numbers mainly to Northern Europe (Germany, Belgium), the USA and Australia. Emigration, however, nearly came to a halt in the mid to late 1970s after the tightening up of migration regimes in Northern Europe.
