Greece Leads the EU in Financial Insecurity. Half the Country Can’t Cover a 500€ Emergency
More than half of Greeks, 50.5%, cannot cover an unexpected expense from their own resources, according to new Eurostat data for 2025. That figure jumped sharply from 43.9% in 2024 and is the highest rate in the entire European Union. The EU average sits at 29.2%.
The threshold Eurostat uses is roughly 500 euros, set against median income and the poverty line. For someone earning minimum wage in Greece, that bill simply cannot be paid without borrowing. Even for a median-wage worker, it represents close to half a month's income.
Greece's GDP per capita in purchasing power parity is the lowest in the EU, tied with Bulgaria, and sits 32% below the European average.
Greek households as a whole run negative savings, meaning they spend more than they earn on average. Only about two in ten Greek households manage to put any money aside each month at all.
The financial strain shows up across other indicators too. Nearly 46.6% of Greeks cannot afford even a single week of vacation, a figure that has crept higher since 2024. Greece also ranks second in the EU for the share of the population at risk of poverty or social exclusion, at 27.5%, behind only Bulgaria.
On purchasing power, the picture is even starker. Greece's GDP per capita in purchasing power parity is the lowest in the EU, tied with Bulgaria, and sits 32% below the European average. That number is actually slightly worse than it was in 2015, during the peak years of the austerity crisis.
Eurostat data also show Greece first in the EU for weekly working hours, weekend work, and long working hours, meaning Greeks are working more than almost anyone else in Europe while bringing home less.
Prices in Greece have been closing the gap with EU averages, reaching 84% of the bloc's price level in 2025. That convergence upward in prices, combined with stagnant purchasing power, is what is squeezing household budgets.
