More than one in three residents in Greece lives in conditions of poverty or social exclusion – using EU standards – whereas the EU medium is one in four, according to figures for 2015 released on Monday by Eurostat.
The figure translates into 35.7 percent of the population, or 3.8 million people, significantly up from 28.1 percent in 2008, the year before the economic crisis commenced.
On an EU-wide level, the percentage returned to the 2008 level, 23.7 percent, or 118.8 million people.
Of course, in terms of the Greek statistics, the Eurostat figures does not take into account the widespread existence of a “black” or “grey” economy, as well as billions in untaxed income kept “off the books”.
