A deep structural contradiction characterizes the Greek social protection system, as the country spends proportionally more than any other EU state on pension benefits, yet the majority of pensioners continue to live on low incomes.
The latest data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), combined with Eurostat data and the recent OECD report on pensions, reveal that in recent years, pension poverty has not only not been eliminated, but has also made a dynamic comeback.
That’s despite the fact that the domestic social security system is characterized as particularly generous and Greece has one of the highest public expenditures on pensions. In 2023, total social protection expenditure amounted to 52.37 billion euros, up 5.4% compared to 2022. More than half of this expenditure – specifically 52.2% – was channeled to old-age benefits – i.e. main and supplementary pensions and related benefits. This is the largest individual function of the social protection system, by far from the following categories, such as sickness (23.1%) and bereavement benefits (10.1%), which are also provided through the social security system. Simply put: Out of every €10 spent by the state on social protection, more than €6 go to pensions.
Of course, in the other EU countries – whose members as a whole spend much larger amounts, as a percentage of GDP, than Greece, having a stronger and broader “social safety net” – the structure of expenditure is common, with a large share in pensions and health. Greece is not in a deviating logic from the rest of Europe, but it suffers in the planning and allocation of resources.
In the EU, social expenditure for pensions and protection of widows and widowers constitutes on average 47% of total expenditure, with health expenditure following with 29.6%, when in Greece the corresponding expenditure is close to 62% and 23%.
The largest percentage of expenditure in Greece concerns old-age benefits, which for 2023 constituted 52.2% of total social protection expenditure and showed an increase of 6.4% from 2022. Next, in descending order, are the expenses for sickness benefits, which for 2023 constituted 23.1% of total expenses, and bereavement benefits, at 10.1%.