Greece employs more firefighters as a share of its workforce than any other country in the European Union (EU), according to new Eurostat data, with 20,500 firefighters recorded in 2025.
That figure equals 0.47% of total employment in Greece, more than double the EU average of 0.18%. Greece counted 4.34 million people in total employment last year, meaning its 20,500 firefighters made up a comparatively larger slice of the workforce than in any other member state.
Croatia came closest to Greece’s rate, at 0.43%, though Eurostat flagged that figure as low reliability. Portugal followed among countries with solid data, at 0.33%, then Czechia at 0.31% and Romania at 0.28%. Across the EU as a whole, 372,400 people worked as firefighters in 2025, out of a total workforce of more than 208 million.
Greece’s firefighter numbers outpace the EU but wildfires rage
Greece’s outsized share of firefighters within the EU comes as the country faces increasingly destructive wildfire seasons. In 2025 alone, more than 6,000 fires broke out nationwide, including 69 major blazes covering at least 30 hectares each.
Total burned land ranged from roughly 47,800 to more than 50,000 hectares, or about 123,000 acres, with just 18 large fires accounting for 87% of that damage, according to data compiled by WWF Greece and the National Observatory of Athens. The carbon emissions from 2025 fires were the seventh-highest recorded in Greece since 2003.
The 2025 fires killed one person and injured more than 60 others. More than 10,000 residents were evacuated across the mainland and the islands, and the damage to infrastructure and restoration costs topped €165 million.
Power grid faults and extreme heat behind Greece’s fires
The North Aegean region suffered its worst fire damage since 2006, losing 14,358 hectares. Epirus lost 6,886 hectares, and Western Greece lost 5,954 hectares. In Feneos, in the Corinthia region, fires destroyed fir forests that are not expected to grow back.
Researchers said sparks, sagging power lines and other faults in Greece’s aging electrical grid caused 60% of the major fires and 55% of the total burned area.
Extreme weather made the damage worse, with heat waves topping 45 degrees Celsius, severe drought, and sudden bursts of high wind fueling the blazes.
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