Nearly nine in ten people in Greece (87.1%) struggled to make ends meet in 2025, the highest share recorded anywhere in the European Union, according to new figures released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU. The finding places Greece far above the EU average of 42.5%, underscoring the depth of financial strain facing households in the country.
The data, published in Eurostat’s European Living Conditions 2026 edition, measured the share of people reporting at least some difficulty covering household expenses. Bulgaria followed Greece with the second-highest rate, at 76.9%. By contrast, Germany and the Netherlands reported the lowest shares in the bloc, at 18.3% and 19.8%, respectively.
Eurostat researchers grouped six response categories into two broader groups, those with difficulty making ends meet and those without, to calculate the figures. Across the EU as a whole, 17.6% of people said they faced difficulty or great difficulty affording basic costs in 2025, while 26.4% said they could make ends meet very easily or easily. The remaining 56.1% fell in between, either managing fairly easily or facing some difficulty.
Housing costs and cold homes deepen financial pressure
Greece’s economic strain extended beyond household budgets. The report found that 26.4% of people in Greece lived in households spending 40% or more of their disposable income on housing, the highest housing cost overburden rate in the EU.
Denmark ranked second at 23.4%, while Cyprus recorded the lowest rate, at just 2.4%. Researchers noted that housing overburden in the EU overall was highest in cities, at 9.6%, and lowest in rural areas, at 5.6%, though Greece’s rate remained elevated regardless of location.
The country also posted the highest share of people unable to keep their homes adequately warm, at 18.1%, compared with an EU average of 8.8%. Finland reported the lowest share, at just 2.6%. Researchers linked the ability to heat a home to factors including building conditions, geographic location and energy costs.
Material deprivation, income gaps and EU poverty goals
Severe material and social deprivation, a separate measure tracking whether people can afford basic necessities, also ranked high in Greece, at 14.9%, behind only Romania and Bulgaria. Slovenia recorded the lowest rate in the EU, at 1.9%.
Eurostat officials noted that median disposable income remained comparatively low in Greece at 13,612 purchasing power standards per inhabitant in 2025, among the lowest in the EU alongside Hungary and Romania. Luxembourg, Austria and the Netherlands reported the highest median incomes in the bloc.
The figures form part of Eurostat’s broader effort to track poverty and living standards across the EU, informing policy targets under the European Pillar of Social Rights, which aims to reduce the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million by 2030.
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