Commission: Social inequalities in Greece are rising – At a serious delay 30% of its citizens in 2022

While in the European Union (EU), the previous years took the downside, in Greece, as in France, internal inequalities were strengthened because the increase in per capita GDP in the poorest regions was particularly low, according to its 9th Cohesion Report. In addition to Greece and France, the Commission notes, in some other Member States, such as Portugal, the reduction in regional disparities is due to the relatively low performance of some developed, previously dynamic regions, while in countries such as Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania increases in social inequalities are due to very high growth rates in the most developed regions (usually in the capital region). In addition, Greece, together with Romania and Bulgaria, is the countries that in 2022, 30% of its citizens in various regions experienced serious material and social deprivation, with the rest of the EU ranging from 6.7% of citizens. Overall, 10 years after the 2009 financial crisis, over a quarter of the EU population still lived in areas where real GDP per capita had not returned to pre-crisis levels. This includes the total population of Greece and Cyprus, 80% of Italy’s population and one third of Spain’s population, as well as 75% of Finland’s population and more than one third of Austria’s population. In general, the report points out that economic inequalities remain large throughout the continent, although decreasing at European level. More than one in four EU residents (28%) live in an area with per capita GDP below 75% of the EU average. Most of them live in the eastern Member States, but also in Greece, Portugal, Spain, southern Italy and the outermost regions. Since 2001, real GDP per capita growth has been negative in several regions, particularly Greece and Italy, although recently recovered. Furthermore, in 2021 about a third of the EU regions – with a similar share of the EU population, about 150 million people in total – have per capita GDP that has not yet returned to the 2008 level. These regions are equally divided between less developed, transitional and more developed regions and exist in 11 Member States: Italy, Spain, Greece, France, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Austria and Belgium.