Greece’s Statistical Authority’s (ELSTAT) latest data reveal that the country’s unemployment rate is declining, while its annual GDP growth is increasing. Despite these positive trends, the statistics show that Greece is not narrowing the gap with the European average in terms of standard of living. In fact, the disparity has notably expanded over recent years.

More specifically, according to ELSTAT unemployment for November 2024, stood at 9.6% marking a decrease of 7.9 percentage points compared to July 2019.

During this period, 385,000 new jobs were created, with the number of employed individuals rising to 4.286 million, up from 3.901 million in July 2019.

At the same time, figures indicate that the number of unemployed individuals decreased by 370,000, dropping from 825,000 in July of 2019 to 455,000 in November of last year.

This 15,000-person difference between the number of new jobs and the decline in unemployment is attributed to new entrants into the labor force, a fact that is supported by ELSTAT’s statistics, indicating that the country’s labor force in November 2024 increased by 15,000 people.

Despite however, this significant reduction recorded in unemployment, Greece still lags behind the European average, where the unemployment rate is 5.9%, and remains roughly double the rate of countries such as Bulgaria (4%), Romania (5.5%), Hungary (4.3%), Croatia (4.9%), and Slovakia (5.3%).

In addition to the gap in unemployment compared to other European countries (62% higher unemployment), Greece also experienced a significant rise in income disparities during the 2019-2024 period.

Specifically, the country’s average annual GDP growth rate over these five years was 2%, nearly double the European Union average of 1.2%.

Given these facts, while one would expect that the reduction in unemployment and the above-average annual GDP growth rate compared to Europe would improve the standard of living for Greeks and bring it closer to that of European countries, the exact opposite was observed.

In 2019, the average annual salary in Greece, according to Eurostat data, was 15,967 euros, placing the country in the 8th position from the bottom, with Bulgaria in last place with an annual salary of 8,966 euros.

Similarly, in 2023, while one might have expected Greece to improve its position and approach European income levels, it is found that the average annual salary in real terms has not improved, with Greece’s ranking worsening compared to 2019, as it now ranks third from the bottom, surpassing only Hungary and Bulgaria.

Furthermore, it is observed that during the period 2019–2023, the income gap between Greece and Europe widened even more. The average annual salary in Europe increased by 15.5% in real terms reaching 37,863 euros, while in Greece it rose by only 6.5% reaching 17,013 euros.

Furthermore, if the cost of living is taken into consideration, Greece ranks last in terms of income, with an average annual salary in purchasing power parity of 20,525 euros.