Greece’s Statistics Authority ELSTAT released on Monday its 2022 Survey on Income & Living Conditions of Households.
1 in 4 Greeks are at risk of social exclusion. Hundreds of thousands of families are not fed properly, and they are unable to pay bills on time – Risk of social exclusion for 1 in 4 Greeks
ELSTAT’s risk of poverty report says that the population at risk of poverty or social exclusion decreased by 2% compared to 2021, while the projected risk of poverty fell further by around 3% is at its lowest level since 2010.
A. Risk of poverty or social exclusion
Based on the data of the 2022 Household Income and Living Conditions Survey, the population at risk of poverty or social exclusion, according to the revised definition1, amounts to 26.3% of the country’s population (2,722,000 people), showing a decrease by 2.0 percentage points compared to 2021 (Graph 1).
The target set in social protection by the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan “EU 2030 targets” is: ‘The number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion should be reduced by at least 15 million, out of them, at least 5
million should be children’ by 2030.
Graph 1. Percentage of population at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion: 2015 – 2022
1 Revised definition – Population at risk of poverty or social exclusion: population at risk of poverty or with material and social deprivation (i.e., Proportion of the population experiencing an enforced lack of at least 7 out of 13 deprivation items) or living in households with very low work intensity – more information in explanatory notes.
The risk of poverty or social exclusion is higher in the case of children aged 17 and under (28.1%), decreased by 3.9 percentage points compared to 2021 (32.0%).
The percentage of the population aged 18-64 living in households with low work intensity is estimated at 10.9% of the total population of this age group, showing a decrease of 2.7 percentage points compared to the year 2021. The percentage for men amounts to 9.9% and for women to 12.0%
The poverty threshold amounted to 5,712 Euros per single person household annually and to 11,995 Euros for households with two adults and two dependent children under 14 years old.
By definition, it is set at 60% of the median of the total equivalised disposable household income, which was estimated at 9,520 Euros, whereas the mean annual disposable income of the households of the Country was estimated at 18,563 Euros.
- 84.1% of poor Greek households cannot afford 1 week of holidays
- 83.9% report financial difficulty in meeting exceptional but necessary expenditure of around €410
- 32.2% say they lack a diet that includes chicken, meat, fish or vegetables of equal nutritional value every other day
- 38.7% of poor Greek households report being unable to afford adequate heating in winter, compared to 14.1% of non-poor households.
ELSTAT Full Risk of Poverty Report in English here
