Rise in single-person households

The traditional Greek family has changed over the years of the crisis, with single-person households accounting for nearly one in three of all homes, according to recent figures released by the European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat. 

The number of single-person households in Greece increased by four percentage points to 31 percent between 2007 and 2017. 

The next largest group is married couples without children, who account for 25.2 percent of all households (up from 24.1 percent). They are followed by married couples with children, who account for 21.9 percent of the total (down from 23.2 percent in 2007). 

In fourth place, accounting for 15.7 percent of the total, are unmarried couples without children. 

The number of marriages dropped from 62,195 in 1993 to 50,138 in 2017, according to figures from the Hellenic Statistical Authority, ELSTAT while divorces increased from 7,725 in 1993 to 13,494 in 2005, rising to around the 15,000 level during the years of the crisis. 

Civil weddings also became more popular, with 25,854 ceremonies recorded in 2016 compared to 23,788 religious weddings. 

Meanwhile, the number of cohabitation agreements soared – from 581 in 2013 to 4,921 in 2017, ELSTAT figures showed. 

Births outside of wedlock also increased – accounting for 9.4 percent of the total in 2015 compared to 5.1 percent of the total in 2004. 

Single-parent families increased too during the same period – from 1.8 percent to 2.3 percent of the total.