One in three Greeks is either poor, close to poverty, or facing unemployment, according to new figures by Eurostat.
The purpose of the particular survey by the European statistical authority was to determine the percentage of Europeans living in conditions of poverty and social exclusion.
In Greece, 22.1 percent of the population lives in poverty, 21.5 is in a condition of needfulness, while 17.2 percent of Greeks belong to families that no single member has a proper job.
The corresponding European Union percentages are 17.2 percent, 8.9 percent and 11.1 percent. In Greece 36 percent of the population (3.8 million people) belong to one of the three categories, while in Europe the corresponding percentage is 24.4 percent (122 million people).
Only Romania and Bulgaria are in worse shape than Greece with 40.2 percent and 40.1 percent of their population respectively, living in conditions close to poverty.
In 2008, before the economic crisis, 28.1 percent of Greece were in conditions of poverty and social exclusion, while the percentage in the EU stood at 23.8 percent.
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