Western Macedonia: many leave, some arrive

ita eng
18 June 2024

Western Macedonia is an inner region of Greece. It is located northwest of Thessaloniki and borders Albania and North Macedonia. It is a relatively little-known area of ​​the country, visited by few tourists.

Western Macedonia is going through a complicated phase from an economic and social point of view: it is the Greek region that is depopulating the most. Several national and European initiatives and investments aim to create new opportunities for economic and tourism development.

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Western Macedonia is a predominantly mountainous region, where the population - around 250,000 people - lives mostly scattered in villages and rural areas. The largest towns are Kozani, Florina and Kastoria.Photo: © Ververidis Vasilis/Shutterstock
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The Ptolemaida-Florina lignite mine has been exploiting one of the largest coal deposits in Europe for decades. Mining - and its exploitation for energy production - has traditionally provided work to many inhabitants of Western Macedonia, and its power plants meet a large part of the national demand.Photo: © Konstantinos Mouzas/Shutterstock
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The Agios Dimitrios thermal power plant, powered by abundant local coal, is the largest electricity production plant in Greece. To ensure that the energy transition does not endanger the economy of Western Macedonia, strongly linked to coal, the Greek and European authorities are making an effort to diversify the region's production activities. The largest photovoltaic park in Greece has recently been created near Kozani, while the EU Just Transition Fund is financing a number of innovation and development initiatives  in the fields of hydrogen, entrepreneurship, tourism and agri-food.Photo: © Savvas Karmaniolas/Shutterstock
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Western Macedonia is going through a complicated phase from an economic and social point of view. It is among the regions of Greece where the unemployment rate is highest, and it is the region that has depopulated the most in recent years: between 2011 and 2021, Western Macedonia lost over 10% of its population, and those who stay are increasingly older.Photo: © Valantis Minogiannis/Shutterstock
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Lack of infrastructure complicates life for those living in rural areas of western Macedonia, pushing some people to move elsewhere. The Greek authorities have identified the improvement of the region's road network as one of the strategically important projects  to be financed with EU cohesion funds in 2021-2027. Namely, 50 million Euros will be invested to improve connections in the mountainous area between Kastoria and Ptolemaida.Photo: © Heracles Kritikos/Shutterstock
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Beyond the mountains, the numerous lakes also sometimes complicate internal connections in Western Macedonia. Unlike lakes Prespa and Kastoria, Lake Polyfytos was created in the 1970s by the Greek public electricity company. Almost 30 kilometres long, it is crossed by the second longest bridge in Greece, designed by Italian engineer Riccardo Morandi.© Stelios Androulidakis/Shutterstock
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Kozani saffron is one of the most characteristic and recognised agricultural products of Western Macedonia, registered under the POD brand; this is the only area of ​​Greece where saffron flowers are grown. Production, which began in the seventeenth century, is today managed by a cooperative. The harvest is done by hand every autumn.© Stelios Androulidakis/Shutterstock
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Interiors of a traditional house in the village of Siatista. Unlike many other areas of the country, tourism is still relatively undeveloped in Western Macedonia. Only 85,000 arrivals were counted in 2021, compared to over 18 million arrivals recorded by Greece as a whole. Western Macedonia attracts less than a fifth of the tourist flows that affect neighbouring Greek regions.Photo: © Heracles Kritikos/Shutterstock
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Western Macedonia is the only Greek region without access to the sea. Some go there to visit the mountains, especially the ski destinations in the winter season.Photo: © kokixx/Shutterstock