2024 has been a landmark period for Greece, marked by significant achievements in various sectors, alongside pressing social and environmental challenges.
Economically, the country reached key milestones, showcasing growth driven by robust tourism, and increased foreign investments. Politically, Greece has taken strides in improving relations with Turkey. Major infrastructure projects such as the Thessaloniki Metro underscored the nation’s progress in modernizing its resources.
However, alongside these advancements, 2024 also highlighted social and environmental negative trends. Many Greeks suffer from the rising cost of living. Prolonged heatwaves and widespread droughts significantly impacted agriculture, strained water resources, and underscored the escalating challenges posed by climate change.
Greece 2024: economic prosperity and financial hardships
In 2024 the Greek economy boomed, yet the increasing cost of living created a stark contrast between economic prosperity and the financial hardships faced by many.
The government is forecasting 2.2 percent growth for 2024 and 2.3 percent in 2025. This is well above the weak overall 0.8 percent IMF growth forecast for the eurozone, where industrial economies including Germany and Italy are struggling.
Greece was ranked among the world’s top five economic performers in 2024, according to The Economist.
The paradox is that as the Greek government boasts about Greece’s economic growth Greek citizens remain at the “bottom of Europe” in terms of real purchasing power. Despite the ongoing economic recovery, Greeks are becoming poorer, according to the latest OECD data.
While the Greek economy’s upturn has slightly raised living standards compared to the EU average, this improvement is minimal. It has not lifted Greece from its position as the poorest country in the Eurozone.
Greece’s political realignment in 2024
Society’s unease was highlighted in the elections for the European Parliament in June 2024.
The governing New Democracy party came first but ceded ground in terms of both popular vote and seats secured. The left-wing SYRIZA and PASOK parties came in second and third respectively.
Overall, those left-wing parties to earn representation won 10 seats and 40.36 percent of the vote; right-wing ones won 11 seats and 45.02 percent of the vote.
Developments in Greek politics that followed in autumn brought a reshuffle in parliament as the main opposition Syriza lost several MPs, ushering back the New Democracy-PASOK dipole.
The leftist party disintegration amidst leadership feuds and the Stefanos Kasselakis ousting saw several MPs leaving Syriza, allowing PASOK to rise to the main opposition post in the Greek Parliament.
Same-sex marriage and postal voting
In early 2024 two major reforms were approved by the Greek Parliament bringing Greece on a par with other major Western countries. Same-sex marriage and postal voting.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Greece since 16 February 2024. In July 2023, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced his government’s intention to legalize same-sex marriage. Its legalization was part of an action plan for LGBTQ equality, which was drafted by a special committee appointed by Mitsotakis in 2021.
Legislation was introduced to the Hellenic Parliament on 1 February 2024 and passed on 15 February by 176 votes to 76. The first same-sex marriage took place in Nea Smyrni, South Athens on 2 March 2024 between Stavros Gavriliadis and Dimitris Elefsiniotis.
Greece entered the postal vote era in 2024 allowing Greeks living abroad to vote for the European Parliament election.
The bill on postal voting was approved for the European elections during a parliamentary vote in late January.
“For the first time in the history of the Greek state, postal voting is introduced,” said Interior Minister Niki Kerameus. “The removal of all practical barriers for our fellow citizens in Greece and abroad to exercise their voting rights. Our democracy is expanding.”
Cyprus’ 50th anniversary of invasion and occupation
Greece and Cyprus marked the 50th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of the island by Turkey in July 1974 calling for the resumption of negotiations for a solution to the Cyprus issue.
“This is a difficult day for everyone,” Cyprus’ President Nikos Christodoulides said during a memorial service. “It has been 50 years, half a century since the Turkish invasion. Half a century of occupation, half a century under which we are living through the consequences of the barbaric Turkish invasion.”
Greece’s Mitsotakis remarked that the capital Nicosia, divided by a wall separating the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot sectors, remains Europe’s only divided capital.
Greece 2024: A year of drought and prolonged heatwaves
Greece experienced an extreme drought in 2024, with many regions receiving no rainfall, and most areas recording a fraction of the average rainfall over the past 15 years.
A year after the devastating floods caused by Storm Daniel in Thessaly, Greece was (and still is) grappling with prolonged dry conditions that are causing significant problems.
The situation was even worse in southern regions like the Aegean islands and Crete, where one-fifth of the average rainfall has disappeared.
Climate change is the main reason behind these water shortages. Furthermore, other factors such as the uncontrolled use of limited water resources to fill swimming pools and water grass in large resorts, added to the Greek habit of hosing down the paved areas, sidewalks and streets around their houses, exacerbated the situation.
Overall, the summer of 2024 in Greece was the warmest on record, surpassing the average temperature for the period 1991-2020 by +2.9 ° C and exceeding the previous warmest summer, in 2012, by +1 ° C.
Several tourists died of heatstroke during the punishing heat waves. American Albert Calibet who went missing during a hike on Amorgos and British TV Presenter Dr. Michael Mosley who died on the island of Symi, were two of the tragic incidents that made international headlines.
Positive momentum continues in Greece-Turkey relations
Relations between Greece and Turkey have improved significantly in 2024. This positive shift is evident through increased diplomatic engagements and cooperative initiatives.
Despite both being members of NATO, Greece and Turkey have been at loggerheads for decades over a long series of issues, including complex maritime boundary disputes that led them to the brink of war in 1987 and in 1996. In 2020, tension over drilling rights led to Greek and Turkish warships shadowing each other in the eastern Mediterranean.
Over the past 16 months, the two sides have made concerted efforts to reduce tensions, with the Greek and Turkish leaders meeting six times. Last December, the two countries signed more than a dozen cooperation deals during a meeting in Athens between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Greece 2024: Year in Review
In January 2024, after years of restoration work, Greece opened the Palace of Aigai, the “Parthenon of Macedonia,” where Alexander the Great was sworn in as king.
The Palace of Aigai, known today as Vergina, is considered not only the biggest but along with the Parthenon, the most significant building of classical Greece.
In April the Olympic Flame, the symbol of the Olympic Games, was lit in Ancient Olympia and began its long journey to Paris for the Summer Olympics.
Some 600 dignitaries attended the ceremony, headed by Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach.
In football Greek giants Olympiacos became the first Greek team to win a major European trophy beating Fiorentina 1-0 in the final that was held in Athens in May.
Greek jumper Militades Tentoglou became a legend in athletics after winning another gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. With his remarkable win, Miltos Tentoglou is the first Greek athlete to win a gold medal in two consecutive Olympics.
The wedding of the year was held in late August 2024 when Giannis Antetokounmpo tied the knot with Mariah Riddlesprigger at the Costa Navarino resort in the Peloponnese.
The joyous event was celebrated by 200 guests and 30 VVIPs from the sports world, including the families of the newlyweds, friends of the couple, and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis with his wife Mareva Grabowski.
Greece marks milestone with Thessaloniki Metro opening
The long-awaited Thessaloniki metro opened its doors to the public on November 30, marking a historic moment for Greece’s second-largest city.
This was achieved after eighteen years of construction and anticipation, with delays and postponements making the Thessaloniki metro a popular theme for jokes among Greeks.
The state-of-the-art metro system of Thessaloniki which is operated fully automatically by driverless trains, spans just short of 9.6 km (6 miles) and currently serves a total of thirteen stations, with plans for expansion to eighteen stations in the future.
One of the most remarkable features of the new Thessaloniki metro system is the display of spectacular and significant Roman and Byzantine discoveries, which have been unearthed during the long years of its construction.
Related: Top Archaeological Discoveries in Greece in 2024
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