Greek Reporter — The Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) released the results of the 2015 Survey on Income and Living Conditions of Household for the income period of the year 2014. The survey is the main source of comparable statistics on income distribution and social exclusion at a European level.
The results show that 35.7 percent of the total Greek population is at risk of poverty, though the percentage is slightly lower than it was in the previous year. Greek nationals in danger of poverty and social exclusions are 37.4 percent, whereas 64.3 percent of foreign nationals residing in Greece face problems. Another 8.4 percent of the population are not at risk of poverty but are severely materially deprived, whereas a 4.8 percent of the population are not severely materially deprived but living in a household with low work intensity.
The poverty threshold amounts to 4,512 euros per person per annum and 9,475 euros for households with two adults and two children under 14 years of age. In 2015, 21.4 percent of the total population was at risk of poverty when the poverty threshold was 60 percent of the median of the total equivalized disposable household income.
Income inequality
Statistics show that 25 percent of the population with the lowest income (1st quartile) holds 8.9 percent of the total national disposable income, recording a decrease of 0.1 percentage points, in comparison with 2014. It was found that 25 percent of the population with the highest income (4th quartile) holds 47.2 percent of the total national disposable income, recording a decrease of 0.4 percentage points in comparison with 2014. Half of the middle-income population (2nd and 3rd quartile) holds 43.9 percent of the total national disposable income, recording an increase of 0.5 percentage points in comparison with 2014.
Materially Deprived
On the basis of the available Living Conditions indicators for the Greek population, it is
concluded that material deprivation (i.e. enforced inability to pay unexpected expenses, afford a one-week annual holiday away from home, a meal involving meat, chicken or fish every second day, adequate heating of a dwelling, durable goods like a washing machine, colour television, telephone or car, being confronted with payment arrears — mortgage or rent, utility bills, hire purchase instalments or other loan payments), concerns not only the poor population, but also part of the non-poor population.
