Greece is among the 40 best countries worth living and working. In fact it ranks 20th in the list by “Market Australia,” a company that analyzes rates.
It is surprising that the first 20 positions on the list are covered entirely by European countries.
The first place is occupied by Spain, which offers workers 30 days of paid annual leave and six or more weeks of paid sick leave, while at the same time parents are paid 100% of their wages by the duration of their leave.
Furthermore, Spain gives mothers 16 weeks of leave and fathers 12 weeks, and gives significantly more leave to fathers than the rest of the countries.
The second place is occupied Luxembourg and the third by France, while the Netherlands and Finland complete the top five.
Greece is right in the middle of the list, i.e. in the 20th place:
Spain
Luxembourg
France
Netherlands
Finland
Bulgaria
Slovenia
Estonia
Lithuania
Austria
Portugal
Sweden
Denmark
Poland
Italy
Romania
Belgium
Hungary
Latvia
Hellas
According to the survey, the countries in the top 20 offer 20 to 30 days of paid leave during the year, while Bulgaria is the one that offers the most maternity leave. In Greece there is no paternity leave at all, while the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and Romania only offer one week.
Germans, whose country is not on the said list, work the fewest hours per year, an average of 1,340.9.
Next are workers in Denmark, with 1,371.6 hours of work and Norwegians with 1,424.6 hours. American countries are absent from the list, as Colombia, Mexico and Chile have taken the top three positions with the longest working hours.
PS then why are we so miserable? Because employers do not stick to the rules, pay less, demand back the Christmas & Easter bonues? Because public services, incl health are going down… and down… and life has become unaffordable? Because the sun is round, the sea is wet and tzatziki has too much garlic?
one of the best countries to live and work? maybe if you’re a jet-set expat for whom greece is just another trip destination, where you dont _really_ have to live and work here, you might think it was all wonderful. or maybe if you’re in the connected 1% who profits from the suffocating system here. then i’m sure it’s all peachy.
The survey probably applied to politicians, their families and friends, certainly not the unfortunate citizens trying to survive on €4 per hour, if they’re lucky to be paid at all.
I came to Greece to work 27 years ago and then stayed here as a retiree. I would rate Greece as the worst place to work in the developed world for the simple reason that Greek employers manage cash flow problems by simply not paying their employees. I was never paid my salary in full, often not at all, and never on time. I think it is estimated that around a third of Greek employees suffer serious payment anomalies, e.g excessively late payment or serious underpayment or both. During 30 years working in the UK I can only remember one single month when employees salaries were paid one day late due to an administrative error and there was almost a riot.
As a retiree however I would rate Greece as one of the best places to live in the developed world providing you have a stable pension income, e.g. from another country. Not so good for Greek pensioners.
I doubt the authors have ever set a foot on Greece.
Greece is very fine to live in, if
– you don’t have to earn your livings here
– you don’t have to deal with the beaurocracy
– you don’t get sick
– you like to be ruled by ignorant and clueless politicians (well, this one applies to most countries)
Everyone else…not so much.
Who writes this nonsense? I agree with all the above comments and Michael you hit the nail on the head. When I came here 50 years ago Greece was paradise. Now? If it is such a wonderful place to live and work in, why have more than half a million young educated people left, never to come back? Including my three daughters!
I know a Greek-German, who happened to be in Austria when he suffered a heart attack in the Alps. A medic-helicopter was immediately dispatched, and they started treating him in the air on his way to a hospital for surgery. He lives half of the year there and half the year in Greece. I told him he is so lucky it happened there. If he had a heart attack on the mountains in Greece, he probably would have been dead. As it is, people wait hours for ambulances in cities. No matter how much money you have, if the healthcare system is awful and something happens to you, you’re screwed.