Monday, April 10, 2006

[Greece] Greeks moving out of poverty

from Kathimerini

The number of people living in poverty in Greece dropped between 1988 and 2003, with some regions experiencing a dramatic reduction in the number of families below the official poverty line, according to a report made public yesterday.

However, the study by the National Center for Social Research (EKKE) also indicates pockets of deep poverty still persisting in certain regions.

The EU measures poverty as a household earning below 60 percent of the country’s median income. In 2003 Greece’s average household income was just under 17,000 euros.

According to the report, areas traditionally suffering from low incomes, such as Thessaly, Western Macedonia and the Ionian Islands, have seen more than 30 percent of their population emerge from poverty during that 15-year period.

Nevertheless, these regions have far to go to match the prosperity of Attica, in which a steady 12 percent of residents were living in poverty between 1988 and 2003. On the Ionian Islands, for example, 29 percent of people live in poverty.

Although the Ionian has one of the highest poverty rates, EKKE’s study found that some places within specific regions have more than double the national average of 20 percent of people living in poverty.

The prefecture of Fokida, Central Greece, has a poverty rate of 57.5 percent — the highest in Greece — whereas 32 percent of inhabitants in the region of Central Greece were recorded as living in poverty in 2003.

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