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Greece Is Now A Full-Blown Humanitarian Crisis - In 9 Charts
The people of Greece are facing further years of economic hardship following a Eurozone agreement over the terms of a third bailout. The deal included more tax rises and spending cuts, despite the Syriza government coming to power promising to end what it described as the "humiliation and pain" of austerity. With the country having already endured years of economic contraction since the global downturn, The BBC asks, just how does Greece's ordeal compare with other recessions and how have the lives of the country's people been affected?
The long recession
It is now generally agreed that Greece has experienced an economic crisis on the scale of the US Great Depression of the 1930s.
According to the Greek government's own figures, the economy first contracted in the final quarter of 2008 and - apart from some weak growth in 2014 - has been shrinking ever since. The recession has cut the size of the Greek economy by around a quarter, the largest contraction of an advanced economy since the 1950s.
Although the Greek recession has not been quite as deep as the Great Depression from peak to trough, it has gone on longer and many observers now believe Greek GDP will drop further in 2015.
Dwindling jobs
Jobs are increasingly difficult to come by in Greece - especially for the young. While a quarter of the population are out of work, youth unemployment is running much higher.
Half of those under 25 are out of work. In some regions of western Greece, the youth unemployment rate is well above 60%.
To make matters worse, long-term unemployment is at particularly high levels in Greece.
Being out of work for significant periods of time has severe consequences, according to a report by the European Parliament. The longer a person is unemployed, the less employable they become. Re-entering the workforce also becomes more difficult and more expensive.
Young people have been particularly affected by long-term unemployment: one out of three has been jobless for more than a year.
After two years out of work, the unemployed also lose their health insurance.
This persistent unemployment also means pension funds receive fewer contributions from the working population. As more Greeks are without jobs, more pensioners are having to sustain families on a reduced income.
According to the latest figures from the Greek government, 45% of pensioners receive monthly payments below the poverty line of €665.
Plummeting income
The Greek people are also facing dropping wages.
In the five years from 2008 to 2013, Greeks became on average 40% poorer, according to data from the country's statistical agency analysed by Reuters. As well as job losses and wage cuts, the decline can also be explained by steep cuts in workers' compensation and social benefits.
In 2014, disposable household income in Greece sunk to below 2003 levels.
Rising poverty
Like during all recessions, the poor and vulnerable have been hardest hit.
One in five Greeks are experiencing severe material deprivation, a figure that has nearly doubled since 2008.
Almost four million people living in Greece, more than a third of the country's total population, were classed as being 'at risk of poverty or social exclusion' in 2014.
According to Dr Panos Tsakloglou, economist and professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business, the crisis has exposed Greece's lack of social safety nets.
"The welfare state in Greece has historically been very weak, driven primarily by clientelistic calculations rather than an assessment of needs. In the past this was not really urgent because there were rarely any particularly explosive social conditions. The family was substituting the welfare state," he told the BBC.
Typically, if a young person lost his or her job or could not find a job after graduating, they would receive support from the family until their situation improved.
But as more and more people have become jobless and with pensions slashed as part of the austerity imposed on Greece from its creditors, ordinary Greeks are feeling the impact.
"This has led to many more unemployed people falling into poverty much faster," Dr Tsakloglou said.
Cuts to essential services
Healthcare is one of the public services that has been hit hardest by the crisis. An estimated 800,000 Greeks are without medical access due to a lack of insurance or poverty.
A 2014 report in the Lancet medical journal highlighted the devastating social and health consequences of the financial crisis and resulting austerity on the country's population.
At a time of heightened demand, the report said, "the scale and speed of imposed change have constrained the capacity of the public health system to respond to the needs of the population".
While a number of social initiatives and volunteer-led health clinics have emerged to ease the burden, many drug prevention and treatment centres and psychiatric clinics have been forced to close due to budget cuts.
HIV infections among injecting drug users rose from 15 in 2009 to 484 people in 2012.
Mental wellbeing
The crisis also appears to have taken its toll on people's wellbeing.
Figures suggest that the prevalence of major depression almost trebled from 3% to 8% of the population in the three years to 2011, during the onset of the crisis.
While starting from a low initial figure, the suicide rate rose by 35% in Greece between 2010 and 2012, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal.
Researchers concluded that suicides among those of working age coincided with austerity measures.
Greece's public and non-profit mental health service providers have been forced to scale back operations, shut down, or reduce staff, while plans for development of child psychiatric services have been abandoned.
Funding for mental health decreased by 20% between 2010 and 2011, and by a further 55% the following year.
The brain drain
Faced with the prospect of dwindling incomes or unemployment, many Greeks have been forced to look for work elsewhere. In the last five years, Greece's population has declined, falling by about 400,000.
A 2013 study found that more than 120,000 professionals, including doctors, engineers and scientists, had left Greece since the start of the crisis in 2010.
A more recent European University Institute survey found that of those who emigrated, nine in 10 hold a university degree and more than 60% of those have a master's degree, while 11% hold a PhD.
Foteini Ploumbi was in her early thirties when she lost her job as a warehouse supervisor in Athens after the owner could no longer afford to pay his staff.
After a year looking for a new job in Greece, she moved to the UK in 2013 and immediately found work as a business analyst in London.
"I had no choice but leave if I wanted to work, I had no prospect of employment in Greece. I would love to go back, my whole life is back there. But logic stops me from returning at the moment," she said.
"In the UK, I can get by - I can't even do that in Greece."
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Fuck the EU and its elites.
UK needs to get the fuck out of the EU.
If I borrowed WAY more than I could pay back then decided to not pay it back I'd be a "humanitarian crisis" as well. GREECE: GROW UP AND BE ADULTS. (Same for the U.S.)
We print the money.
We loan you the money.
You pay us back with your country. - Signed "The ECB"
When a bank loans someone more than they a can ever pay back it is the BANK that is supposed to take the loss. They are not supposed to use it as a means to institute debt slavery.
Only Golden Dawn can end Greece's humiliation as Greece arms itself and allies with the East.
No sympathy for the Greeks. Default & GREXIT or STFU
and they had plenty of chances to do it clean
SPECIAL REPORT: European Commission interfering with the Greek banking system
The problem is that I have not seen a clear and detailed definition of what "Greek exit" actually means.
The biggest issue I see is the potential conversion of Euros to Drachma in bank accounts. Most methods of doing this would be unfair to some groups. For example, if you forcibly convert all accounts in Greek banks to Drachma, what about holdings by Greek citizens in non-Greek banks, or in trading accounts or brokerage accounts? What about holdings of non-Greek citizens in Greek banks?
I suppose if I were Greek and had money in Euros, I would be buying stock in U.S. or German corporations just to get my money out of the system and avoid potential confiscation.
My proposal is: no forcible conversions of Euros to drachma for anyone. There is no need or good reason to do so, and any decisions on who gets "hit" would be unfair and cause controversy.
So where do the new drachmas come from? They will come from government spending on pensions and salaries mostly, and perhaps routine government expenditures. The Euro would continue to exist in Greece and be used just as another foreign currency, no different from U.S. dollars or Chinese banknotes.
80% of bailout money 'given' to greece goes straight to banks of other EU countries. And you cant blame a people who are begging to be declared bankrupt when TPTB refuse to consider bankruptcy.
Debt slavery is real, here and now. So fuck off Creepy Cracker, millions are suffering
Nuff said.
Yes, you make a good point. Everyone should elect politicians to spend irresponsibly, running their city/state/country into bankruptcy, creating a "humanitarian crises." How else would one want to live? LOL!!!
Oh, and sooooo cute that you used the eff word.
gracious response. You may respectibly unfuck off
Great exchange. That IS the fulcrum of the problem and the main point of democracy. It is not representation, which is a completle lie and a myth that even kids recognize, but it's responsibility that defines a democracy as such.
When the US wages wars in the middle east it is obvious that it's not representing the american people, but the american people forever carry the responsibility of electing a government which would create such a war.
Likewise, when the greek government sells of their country, it should be obvious, no, it is obvious that the greeks are responible. Even more, they're responsible for voting OXI and then not rebelling when the government betrays them!
The massive problem is that greeks believe they are being (very poorly) represented and their duty is done, but in a Democracy a citizen's duty starts AFTER voting, in the ultimate responsibility to see their choices carried out appropriately! Voting is just an unnecessary chore that gives an illusion of duty! Since the dawn of man the only effective force of governance for populations numbering above a few dozen is the threat of violence.
Democracy is therefore by definition a brutal mob tyranny, and it does not exist without a mob to actively enforce it!
This is why there is turnover in the regime of every single nation that has ever graced the earth... they all fail, eventually. Humans' natural states are apathy and laziness. We elect governments so that we do not have to remain vigilent, remain on the cusp of anarchy on a daily basis. We can then go about our otherwise scheduled programming. Eventually, the accumulation of our "representatives'" bad decisions lead to boom and bust cycles and the collapse of the nation... sometimes the world.
An ounce of prevention, a pound of cure.
Grow up, kiddo. If you're not mature enough to even say 'fuck', there's sincere doubt that you can comprehend what you're failing to discuss here.
LOL!!! So cute! Thanks for that response.
That one can't make a point without using the word fuck is in itself quite a statement. Go government "schools," go!
"GROW UP AND BE ADULTS"
What are you saying? That they should "man up" and pay the debts? Be responsible? Do the "right" thing? You mean the debt that the politicians stole and payed themselves and the corrupt banker elite all the money and saddled the people with the debt? You mean that? How is it that you lurk here and then don't understand that? Never mind. Fuck off!
I think I know that guy... yes, yes! He was driving a speed boat earlier if you missed it here it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21ij4BtHsxw
I am still laughing about how that guy uses the throttle as a gear shift... perfect! Correct me if I am wrong but that one was throttle on the left.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IShkL0LtyBI
Said with all the intelligence of someone who got their economic education from talk radio. You have NO CLUE do you...the money you are talking about does not prop up the peoPle ..it goes to the bankers and oligarchs. SAME THING THEY DID TO THE BALKANS IN THE 90S THEY ARE DOING TO GREECE
I heard a cargo ship loaded with hemp rope is being unloaded at the port of Milos. And I am pretty sure it will not be used for mooring purposes...
Everybody need to get out of the EU.
Greece is good at raising its taxes, it has done so multiple times. What it is lousy at is collecting said taxes.
And the claim of austerity from a country that spends 56% of it's budget on government is laughable.
Greece made a deal with devil long ago, and the devil always collects his debts.
Fuck the stupid people who allowed the banksters to exploit the nation in exchange for living beyond their means for a decade.
So i suppose you are running to your local chase branch tomorrow with a pitch fork??? Or writing your trusted congress person to rein in the big banks and the Fed :)
Food and water must be stored now.
The government better move its ass before the mobs start moving.
You don't want YouTube videos of mass executions.
Off topic: But the California wild-fire in Cajon Pass is not so far away.
Anyone wonder what would happen if a fedex truck burned with all that important stuff in it?
http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20150717/watch-here-for-live-updates-on-the-north-fire-burning-the-cajon-pass?source=topstoriesrot
hey its okay, the euro and the german banks are okay. let them eat cake. party on garth
Scooby misses Riot Dog. RIP Loukanikos.
UK needs to get the fuck out of the EU.
"UK needs to get the fuck out of the EU"
Too true.
But that would simply allow the previous tyranny to re-instate itself. Recall the current calls from Cameron & Co to abandon the ECHR legislation which has given them so much aggro.
Yes, we do need to leave the EU as it is but we also need to have a solid written Constitution that is drafted and owned by the people, not by The State.
UK needs to implement real money like bitcoin. :)
ScamFiat is the very root of the problems. Without scamfiat the bankers have no leverage over the people expect direct violence.
And in the US, they scoffed at Perot years back when he was running for president, for suggesting a $0.50 a gallon tax to pay off the deficit when it was 4 trillion. Our only hope is a person that is not a government eco-brain. Maybe Trump can do it. Certainly none of those other clowns except Walker and Paul would even try. Spend, spend, spend the politicians do. Spend. That's all they know. Apparently it's a worldwide infection.
Do you really think that the debt will ever be brought under control? As long as borrowing can continue debt will be piled on. Raising taxes just encourages more irresponsible (and unconstitutional - e.g. wealth transfers) gubmint spending as well.
It's a debt based monetary system. Every dollar you see was borrowed into existence. When that dollar of debt is paid it goes out of circulation and is no longer in the economy. As the number of dollars in circulation decreases their value increases and you end up with Deflation. If the debt ever got completely paid off there wouldn't be enough money left over to have an economy and it would collapse.
Debt based money and fractional reserve banking make our monetary system a ponzi scheme. It has to grow forever or it will collapse.
So you better hope it never gets paid off.
Remember the simple formula: Up is down and down is up.
Just keep that as your guiding light, and you'll do okay.
No one wants real solutions as they cost and are painful. We want the easy button, and we end up in shit.
We have spent the last few decades living on credit, hiding from our insolvencies.
Its really going to suck.
Replace the USD with a new global currency. All current debts are payable in USD. No dollar, no debt.
Bitcoin.
Scooby rescues USA!
Exactly what they are hoping for. A single world currency that only a single world elite can control.No currency exchanges where values can vary between traders relative to their actual worth. And they can print till the end of time and no one will know or care...forever.
No. It will still eventually hit the debt limit and blow up again. It just might take another hundred years or so but it will happen. It is a mathematical certainty.
off your meds again?? walker....paul.....please...the clown car???? Please God Save America from FOOLS, they are as thick as fleas! walker paul you need to start using drugs or something walker fuck paul....lame
Fuck Hillery, oh wait bad visual.
Very bad visual. Lets try to stop doing that.
the need obamacare death panels...everyone sing kumbya now
The USA needs Hillary... in order for the existing governing system to be completely discredited, as quickly as possible.
Jeb would be even better. Win-Win!
I said they were going to be calling it humanitarian aid.
CHARITY.
Greece will never be fixed with a Greek in charge.
Little-known fact: Alexander the Great was Macedonian.
Nobody to blame but themselves. They insist on staying in the EU. How's that socialism working out for you?
Probabbly about as good as that fuck evereybody as fast as your can Demothuglinism called the US Government and market and Federal reserve. How's that workin out for you eienstien? You slugs see it coming in the tunnel just like everyone else does and the world knows that the US IS, WAS and HAS as long as theses cocksuckers can hold on, the biggest worthless pieces of theiving shit in the history of the ufuckingniverse, you'r probably all tied in with some shitty stocks or bonds and think your sombody.....go vote for walker or paul...bunch a lame fucks here. Send your Social Security check back your patriotic slug. Better yet, send it to Bernie Sanders. I
investor.....where?
walker? paul? TRUMP I hope he spanks your worthless know nothing asses! He's got balls, some brains and a MOUTH go DONALD tell theses slugs some truth! assholes
I'm pushing for Trump/Sanders with Warren as Attorney General!
your picks speak volumes -----troll
good .........cum rag
I hope that all of you pause for a moment ^^ and take a good hard look at a Trump fan...... just sayin. Do you belong there? Doubt it!
YES, and PROUD of an idiot who has the courage to call out all of you worthless whinin "investor" social security suckin slugs! You bitches couldn't invest your way out of a wet paper bag! High falutin opinions about as worthless a a piece of shit......losers.
All you got is sittin in your Depends tryin not to shit yourself before lunch....and typin spew at your spew suckin buddies.......like I said, they want you boxed....won't be long worm food, the rigged markets won't miss you and neither will the othe billions of slugs just like you, Enerybody an expert.......fuck....walker....paul...stupidity rules this pit!
II actually liked the Donald ...thanks you just cured me. That nasty mouth of yours better off on some youtube video bitching about whatever trolls bitch about. Takevit elsewhere ..there are others who cuss with class ..got a feeling your one of the trolls the Tylers axed.
Holy shit, the look in that old mans eyes speaks more than words ever could. That look reminds me of the iron will of my Scotch-Irish grandfather and father. Would you fuck with a guy with eyes like that? I sure as hell never did.
Don't think that Greece will pay for all of our sins... you'll get your chance.
The Greeks are the ghost of christmas future.
At this point if they fought it off by themselves (improbable if not impossible) I would be a little disappointed. We would be like the Athenian "boy lovers" showing up in the last round. Wait a minute when did we enter WWII?
Depends on what he's carrying.
Is it time for the guillotines yet?
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.
Guillotines: A pol, crat or bankster goes in, Liberty and prosperity come out.
But Greeks are demanding tyranny.
And really,,,, aren't we all (or at least the voting majority)?
"The true goal of lending money to the debtor is not to get the debt reimbursed with a profit, but the indefinite continuation of the debt that keeps the debtor in permanent dependency and subordination. For most of the debtors, for there are debtors and debtors. Not only Greece but also the US will not be able even theoretically to repay its debt, as it is now publicly recognised. So there are debtors who can blackmail their creditors because they cannot be allowed to fail (big banks), debtors who can control the conditions of their repayment (US government), and, finally, debtors who can be pushed around and humiliated (Greece)."
- Slavoj Zizek
Breath of fresh air in here! Take a deep breath, slugs, clear your snail like minds. This is skool....
walker....paul....christie..911 this is jersey shore emergency OD at DA DONUT SHOP! IT'S THE GOVERNOR! HE OD'D ON CREAM FILLED WHAT EVERS! If you haven't seen your dick in a coupla decades, says something about your self control.
Trump is the commentator of the best show of 2015-16 The Clown Car Adventures 2016! YOU CAN"T FIRE HIM!
and YOU KNOW IT!!! Best Comedy of the DECADE! now if we can just expose the ICE QUEEN hitlery...America might have a chance again.
TRUMP/SANDERS/WARREN 2016
Stop talking that sensiness Reader, it only confuses and scares people. Don't mind that guy up there ^^ I think he is on drugs but we all did that a tad when we were twenty-something. I wonder if he has any???
Drugs? of course! I'm 60somethin and STILL smokin weed, drinkin good gin, between women just now, but in the hunt. I like em christian, the corruption is godlike, and fine, latinas to the front!
I like em smart too, ain't many runnin here, I guess. This is gutter entertainment for me until I get tired of welll...just tired.....HA!
And here I'm thinking there might be intellectual discourse, yes sorta like in the barn. However there are glimmers of thought that manifest themselves, but are so ofter smothered by bullshit that it reveals the mindset of the rabbit warren here. Your all scared that they might come and eat you.
Shit, I have been accused of alot of things but being a perfect christian has never been one of them. I wanted to laugh at your description of the intellectual barn but I can't because I have experienced it on at least two occasions... That I remember anyway. "Latinas to the front" that's so weird... I live AZ too.
Ms, my apoligies for being crude, that's what men mostly are,but please know my expereinces have been mostly with wonderful, perfect, ladies who are still deserving of my deep affection, except for that hot crazy New York/Puerto Rican bitch that sucker punched me through the window of my truck! Carzy Bitch! Those were THE days! SDRR sex, drugs and rock and roll. I have the degree!
The making of another Yemen.
Stupid Greeks should have monetized their currency raise prime interest rate to 5-7%! Idiots!
In this play, Act one was the original Greek gvt getting pushed around by the bunch of tough european elite. In act two the Greeks elected syriza a tough new gvt to test to see how far the thugs would go, then syriza rolls over and the Greeks now know this is for all the marbles. Now for act 3. gvt gets all the ducks in a row for local currency and debt jubiliee. It will be hard as the dracma will lose value in international exchage, but at least the Greeks will decide that. It seems like the only way for that old man in the pic to make it.
In short the Greek people are fucked.
There is the end game of Socialism for you ...
Coming to the USofA soon.
It's not as bad as 1930s America, when millions died.
America did not run out off food in the 1930s .... maybe you are thinking of the Ukraine under Stalin ? (edit: I think I was SARKed !)
Ok...the situation is bleak...any solutions..yes I have one...there is a worldwide market for marijuana..use the excellent climate and modern farming techniques to become the world's largest marijuana exporter. the workers could sneak a little aside for themselves and it would be "happy days again"..
No we're saving that for Mexico and Central America!
Syria, Zimbabwe, Libya, Ukraine, Bosnia, Yemen .... OK .... Greece has too many BMWs .... to be in a FULL BLOWN CRISIS ?
Borrowing money can get you into trouble .... it also has great benefits .... you can move into a finished house .... and start enjoying it !
Thank you for saying exactly what I was thinking. I'm sure any debt refinancing scheme that Goldman Sux came up with was as easy to understand as the Affordable Care Act. Fuckers.
This is bullshit. You have no clue about "hardship". Greeks still live a better life than many east europeans. They have at least twice big pensions, still way higher salaries and more socialism. Many people in east europe work and yet still live at or near poverty level despite that. THATS a hardship. The difference here is that in those countries, people work hard and almost dont strike. This create business and more importantly investment friendly environment which helps a lot, after all east european EU countries are able to continuously keep at or even surpass german growth year by year. Unemployment in east europe is also high, somewhere between EU average and Greece. Greece is also much richer country when it come to natural resources and tourism, if they did right decisions they could have been in much better shape today even with euro. If you want to talk about humanitarian crisis you need to also take into account east, balkans and especially how much damage did country to itself by own stupid actions. Also term "I have to leave to find a work" - ROFL thats what east EU people were doing since ever! Majority of young work in the west where they are usually very successful. But of course they are far from home.
"the latest figures from the Greek government, 45% of pensioners receive monthly payments below the poverty line of €665."
What a bunch of whiners!
The average pension in Cuba is $20.00 per month!
"Socialism or Death" Fidel Castro
Or is it, "Socialism is Death"?