Greece

LOCATED IN THE underdeveloped Balkan region of southeastern Europe, Greece is home to 10,668,354 people. About 68 percent of the labor force work in the service sector, which constitutes an increasingly large share of Greece's economy. Approximately 20 percent of Greece's labor force are in industry, the other 12 percent in agriculture. The nation's principal industry is tourism, followed by food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, metal products, and petroleum. Agricultural products include wheat, corn, barley, sugar beets, olives, tomatoes, wine, tobacco, potatoes, beef, and dairy products.

Greece experienced considerable turmoil in the mid-20th century when it was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II, and then was wracked by a brutal civil war. The democratic republic that emerged from those years was overthrown by a military dictatorship in 1967, but the military regime was itself overturned in 1974 and civilian, democratic rule was reestablished. The Socialist Party (PASOK) has ruled for most of the last quarter century, beginning with its victory in the 1981 elections. The conservatives (ND) were elected in 2004.

In 1981, Greece joined the European Economic Community and adopted the euro as its currency at the [Page 443]beginning of 2002. Despite an economic downturn in the early 1990s and a burgeoning national debt since the 1980s, Greece's economy has grown fivefold over the last 20 years, and for five years at the turn of the century outperformed the average growth rate of the European Union (EU), according to World Bank statistics and G. Pagoulatos. Yet Greece's per capita income is roughly 56 percent of the EU's average, according to D. Sotiropoulos.

The Statistical Office of the European Communities (EUROSTAT) documents and reports economic statistics of EU members. In 2000 EUROSTAT reported that Greece had a poverty rate of 21 percent, second in the euro-zone only to Portugal's 22 percent. In mid-2005, EUROSTAT reported that 14 percent of Greece's population were “at persistent risk of poverty,” compared to nine percent for the entire euro-zone. Greece's National Center for Social Research (EKKE) determined that 20 percent of Greece's people were in poverty, and that 7.2 percent subsist on an income of less than 10.5 euros per day.

The National Center for Social Research used Greece's official criteria for poverty. As of 2002, poverty was defined as an income of under 4,800 euros a year for one-member households, 8,640 euros for a couple with one child, and 10,080 euros for four-mem-ber families. This report also determined that 28.1 percent of Greeks over the age of 65 are poor, as are 15.7 percent of employed workers.

In September 2005 the EKKE estimated that 21 percent of the Greek population were “bordering on extreme poverty.” Another report, by M. Matsaganis et al., indicated that elderly citizens were at the greatest risk, with 14.2 percent of them living in “extreme poverty.” Greece also has a high level of income inequality at 6.6; as in many negative statistics, Greece ranks second in the EU behind Portugal in this regard, according to EUROSTAT. EUROSTAT explains this statistic as “the ratio of total income received by the 20 percent of the population with the highest income (top quintile) to that received by the 20 percent of the population with the lowest income (lowest quintile). Income must be understood as equivalised disposable income.” Further, Greece is the only country in the EU that does not have a minimum-income guarantee, as noted by Sotiropoulos.

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