More Greeks face poverty, Eurostat study shows

One in three Greeks were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2015, just below Romania (37.3 percent) and Bulgaria (41.3 percent), according to data released Monday by the European Union’s statistical agency, while Greece also showed the highest increase in the risk rate, which grew from 28.1 percent in 2008 to 35.7 percent in 2015, or 7.6 percent.

Eurostat’s study, published to coincide with International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, also found that in 2015, 22.2 percent of Greeks were severely materially deprived – meaning they could not afford to pay their bills, keep their homes warm or take a one-week holiday – compared with 0.7 percent in Sweden and 2 percent in Luxembourg.