The Greeks of diaspora made their presence felt in the social and economic life of the Greek state at the turn of the nineteenth century.

The Greeks of paroikies (mercantile communities) were not a homogeneous social class, but were differentiated according to their place of settlement and activity, their relations with the national centre and their special professional, cultural and social characteristics. Despite these differrences, the Greek Diaspora contributed decisively to the formation of a new economic, social and ideological climate that prevailed in Greek society in the crucial period of the beginning of the twentieth century and especially after the coup of 1909.

In the context of the decline of the Ottoman Empire, colonial expansion and the development of nationalistic movements in the Balkans, the Greeks paroikies went through a phase of decline. However, the political amd economic conjunction of circumstances contributed to the preservation of old or the creation of some new Greek communities in the early twentieth century.

After the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78 southern Russia was the field of numerous population changes that resulted in a considerable demographic revival. Thus, Greek homes emerged on the northern and eastern shores of the Black Sea. Later, the Greek communities of Transcaucasia were reinforced by the waves of Greeks who arrived there after the persecutions of the Young Turk regime and the withdrawal of the Russian troops from eastern Pontus in 1917.

The Greek paroikies of the Lower Danube and the wider area of the north-eastern Balkans were favoured by the strategically economic position of this geographic area.

The Greeks there positively responded to the favourable conditions created and successfully engaged in commercial and shipping activities.

In Egypt the Greek paroikia was, towards the end of the nineteenth century, the most numerous foreign community in Cairo and Alexandria. Its presence was considered dominant in the social, economic and political life of this country. The works of the Suez canal and especially the growth of the cultivation and trade of Egyptian cotton contributed decisively to this development. For all the above reasons the area became a centre of attraction for various classes of Greeks: workers, petty retailers, manufacturers and businessmen.

Lastly, and more recently paroikies were created and older ones revived in Great Britain and France, such as those in Manchester, Liverpool, London and Marseilles.