Economy of Greece
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The economy of Greece is the 54th largest in the world, with a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of $250.276 billion per annum.[6] In terms of purchasing power parity, Greece is the world's 55th largest economy, at $430.125 billion per annum.[6] As of 2023, Greece is the sixteenth largest economy in the European Union and eleventh largest in the eurozone.[38] According to the International Monetary Fund's figures for 2024, Greece's GDP per capita is $23,966 at nominal value and $41,188 at purchasing power parity.[6]
Currency | Euro (EUR, €) |
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Calendar year[1] | |
Trade organisations | EU, WTO, OECD, BIS, BSEC[1] |
Country group |
|
Statistics | |
Population | 10,413,982 (1 January 2023)[5] |
GDP | |
GDP rank | |
GDP growth | |
GDP per capita | |
GDP per capita rank | |
GDP by sector |
|
Population below poverty line | 26.1% at risk of poverty or social exclusion (2023)[10] |
31.8 medium (2023)[11] | |
| |
Labour force | |
Labour force by occupation |
|
Unemployment | |
Average gross salary | €17,514 (2023; annual)[17] |
€13,784 (2023; annual, equivalised)[18] | |
Main industries | shipping and shipbuilding (4th; 2011),[19][20] tourism, food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, metal products; mining, petroleum[1] |
External | |
Exports | €50.9467 billion ( −8.6%; 2023 est.)[21] |
Export goods |
|
Main export partners | |
Imports | €82.7795 billion ( −12.5%; 2023 est.)[21] |
Import goods |
|
Main import partners | |
FDI stock | $65.12 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[1] |
−$3.114 billion (2019 est.)[1] | |
Gross external debt | €436.071 billion (Q2 2016, provisional)[25] |
−€234.542 billion (Q2 2016, provisional)[26] | |
Public finances | |
€356.695 billion ( 161.9% of GDP, 2023 est.)[27][28] | |
−€3.508 billion ( −1.6% of GDP, 2023 est.)[27][28] | |
Revenues | €107.835 billion ( 48.95% of GDP, 2023 est.)[27][28] |
Expenses | €111.343 billion ( 50.54% of GDP, 2023 est.)[27][28] |
Economic aid |
|
$14.447 billion (31 December 2021 est.)[1] |
Greece is a developed country with an economy based on the service (80%) and industrial sectors (16%), with the agricultural sector contributing an estimated 4% of national economic output in 2017.[1] Important Greek industries include tourism and shipping. With 31.3 million international tourists in 2019, Greece was the 7th most visited country in the European Union and 13th in the world.[39] marking a steady increase from 18 million tourists in 2013.[40] The Greek Merchant Navy is the largest in the world, with Greek-owned vessels accounting for 21% of global deadweight tonnage as of 2021; The total capacity of the Greek-owned fleet has increased by 45.8% compared to 2014.[41][42] The increased demand for international maritime transportation between Greece and Asia has resulted in unprecedented investment in the shipping industry.[43]
The country is a significant agricultural producer within the EU. Greece has the largest economy in the Balkans and is an important regional investor.[44][45] Greece was the largest foreign investor in Albania in 2013,[46] the third in Bulgaria, in the top-three in Romania and Serbia and the most important trading partner and largest foreign investor in North Macedonia.[47][48][49] The Greek telecommunications company OTE has become a strong investor in certain former Yugoslav and other Balkan countries.[47]
Greece is classified as an advanced,[50] high-income economy,[51] and was a founding member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). The country joined what is now the European Union in 1981.[52] In 2001 Greece adopted the euro as its currency, replacing the Greek drachma at an exchange rate of 340.75 drachmae per euro.[52][53] Greece is a member of the International Monetary Fund and of the World Trade Organization, and ranked 34th on Ernst & Young's Globalization Index 2011.[54]
World War II (1939–1945) devastated the country's economy, but the high levels of economic growth that followed from 1950 to 1980 have been called the Greek economic miracle.[55] From 2000 Greece saw high levels of GDP growth above the Eurozone average, peaking at 5.8% in 2003 and 5.7% in 2006.[56] The subsequent Great Recession and Greek government-debt crisis, a central focus of the wider European debt crisis, plunged the economy into a sharp downturn, with real GDP growth rates of −0.3% in 2008, −4.3% in 2009, −5.5% in 2010, −10.1% in 2011, −7.1% in 2012 and −2.5% in 2013.[6][57] In 2011, the country's public debt reached €356 billion (172% of nominal GDP).[58] After negotiating the biggest debt restructuring in history with the private sector, which sustained losses in the order of €100 billion for private bond investors,[59] Greece reduced its sovereign debt burden to €280 billion (137% of GDP) in the first quarter of 2012.[60] Greece achieved a real GDP growth rate of 0.5% in 2014—after 6 years of economic decline—but contracted by 0.2% in 2015 and by 0.5% in 2016.[6][57][61] The country returned to modest growth rates of 1.1% in 2017, 1.7% in 2018 and 1.9% in 2019.[6][57] GDP contracted by 9.3% in 2020 during the global recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[6][57] However, the economy rebounded by 8.4% in 2021, 5.6% in 2022 and 2% in 2023.[6][57] On 20 August 2022, Greece formally exited the EU's "enhanced surveillance framework", which had been in place since the conclusion of the third bailout programme exactly four years earlier.[62] According to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the event heralded "greater national leeway in our economic choices" and marked the end of a "12-year cycle that brought pain to citizens".[62] On 2 December 2022, Berlin-based credit rating agency Scope assigned a positive outlook to Greece's BB+ rating, presaging the country's return to investment grade.[63] On 31 July 2023, Greece's investment-grade status was restored by Japanese credit rating agency R&I.[34][64] Scope, DBRS, S&P and Fitch followed suit on 4 August, 8 September, 20 October and 1 December respectively.[37][65][31][66][67][32][68] The Economist ranked Greece the world's top economic performer for 2022 and 2023, citing significant improvements in five key economic and financial indicators.[69][70] Tourism reached an all-time record in 2023, with approximately 32 million tourists making Greece one of the most visited countries in the world.[71]