Expenditures for Greece’s social security system have increased by 15 percent at present due to an increase in the average life expectancy in the country and a simultaneous decrease in the number of births, according to results of a study unveiled by the Labor Institute, the research arm of Greece’s largest trade union umbrella group (GSEE).

 

A continuing reduction in mortality rates over the coming years could increase social security expenditures by 27 percent – of GDP allocated for sector -- over the next 35 years, until 2050.

 

The study comes on the heels of a dire warning by the IMF, which points to a slow-burning “time-bomb” for the Greek economy and society from an increasingly aging population, in tandem with persistent double-digit unemployment.

 

The IMF states that despite the recent increase in retirement ages, the Greek social security system’s future viability remains tenuous.

 

The Washington-based Fund extended the same warning to the Eurozone as a whole, saying that aging populations negatively affect productivity and growth in the euro area, with repercussions the greatest in the less developed members, i.e. Greece.