The political importance given to the phenomenon of irregular migration may be disproportionately high in relation to the actual size of the irregular migrant population in Greece and to the chronic problems of the Greek economy and its fiscal sustainability. This development is not surprising in a society in seek of stability, security and cohesion where the discourse of migration is one of the very few that can attract fanatic support and votes from the right and the left camps. In this context, Maroukis’s estimates of the irregular migrant stock in Greece in 2010 and 2011 interestingly indicate a substantial shift in the composition of the irregular migrant resident population rather than its size. His working paper is available here.