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Child poverty and material deprivation

in Greece

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  3. Poverty and Adequate Standards of Living
  4. Child poverty and material deprivation

Children affected

  • Decrease in the rate of children (0-17) at risk of poverty or social exclusion from 37.8 per cent (710,000 children) to 28.1 per cent (491,000 children) between 2015 and 2022. However, Greece  remains one of four EU member states with the highest risk for children at risk of poverty or social exclusion.
  • The rate of children at risk of poverty is 22.4 per cent (2022) (EU 19.3 per cent).
  • The rate of children in severe material and social deprivation is 15.5 per cent (2022) (EU 8.4 per cent).
  • The rate of children in (quasi-)jobless households (with very low work intensity) is 4.7 per cent (2022) (EU 7.6 per cent).
  • Households with dependent children facing unemployment are particularly vulnerable to poverty with the at-risk-of-poverty rate being 78.6 per cent (2022).
  • The relative median at-risk-of-poverty gap for children is 24.9 per cent (2022) (EU 24.4 per cent).
  • The housing cost overburden rate of children (when total housing costs represent more than 40 per cent of disposable income) is 30 per cent (2022) (EU 7.1 per cent). For children at risk of poverty, the rate increases at 85.5 per cent (EU 25.9 per cent) (both rates are the highest in EU).
  • The severe housing deprivation rate (living in a dwelling which is considered as overcrowded, while also exhibiting at least one of the housing deprivation measures: a leaking roof, neither a bath, nor a shower, nor an indoor flushing toilet, or a dwelling considered too dark) of children is 8.9 per cent (2020) (EU 6.7 per cent). For children at risk of poverty or social exclusion the rate increases at 18.1 per cent.

Equity

Sub-national

  • In Attika and Central Macedonia regions – where approximately half of the country’s child population lives - 23.6 per cent and 20.7 per cent of children (0-17) respectively are at risk of poverty.
  • In 2022 rural areas had on average 49.5 per cent higher at risk of poverty rate compared to cities (24.7 per cent vs 14.9 per cent).
  • In-work poverty is higher among households with dependent children (13.6 per cent) compared to households without children (7.7 per cent) (2022).
  • Multi-family households (two adults with three or more dependent children) (30.3 per cent) and single-parent households (37.7 per cent) demonstrate persistently higher levels of poverty (2022).

Other

  • Roma children are particularly exposed to high levels of poverty (98 per cent) and severe material deprivation (87 per cent) (2021).
  • The housing deprivation (at least one of the following four dimensions should be met: accommodation is too dark, has problems with humidity, has no shower/bathroom inside the dwelling or has no indoor toilet) for Roma persons stood at 68 per cent (2021) (EU 10 countries 52 per cent).
  • The rate of children at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion whose parents have foreign citizenship (37.4 per cent) is almost double compared to Greek nationals (20.3 per cent) (2022).

Enabling Environment

Legislation, policy, resources, coordination, data

Bottlenecks

  • Absence of consistent, updated, quality, timely, and complete data on poverty rates of vulnerable groups (Roma, refugees and migrants, people with disabilities, etc.).
  • Gaps in analysis of income poverty for different groups compromise a thorough understanding of drivers and solutions as the current survey samples are very small.
  • Gaps in data on inescapable informal costs that households may face reduce the accuracy of data about who is in poverty and more importantly how are children experiencing poverty.

CRC Recommendations

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National Actions

  • Long-term and sustainable measures required to address child poverty, with efforts relying on strategic and durable investments, rather than short-term funding.
  • Initiate public debate on child poverty measurement approaches and implications (e.g. organization of annual Social Policy and Child Rights Forum) to enhance analytical commitment to child poverty.