More than half of Greek high school teachers are aged 50 or older, making Greece’s secondary school workforce one of the oldest in the European Union, according to the latest figures from Eurostat.
The 2024 data show that 58.1% of the roughly 79,500 teachers in Greek secondary schools have passed 50. That is well above the EU average of 42% and second only to Lithuania, at 58.7%. Portugal and Latvia follow close behind at 58% and 57.3%.
The pattern holds at both levels of secondary school. In lower secondary, 57.8% of teachers are over 50, the third-highest share in the EU. In upper secondary, the figure reaches 58.3%, trailing only Lithuania.
Young teachers are rare. Just 1.5% of Greece’s secondary teachers are under 30, the lowest share of any EU country. Across the bloc, the figure is 7.1%. In lower secondary schools, Greece counted only 16 teachers under the age of 25.
Older Greek high school teachers contrast with younger primary staff
The data also point to a large group of older Greek high school teachers. About 40% of them, or nearly 31,700 people, are 55 or older, compared with 26.6% across the EU. More than 2,600 are 65 or older.
In 2024, 40.4% of teachers were aged 50 years or over. 👩🏫📚
Highest shares in:
🇱🇹Lithuania (58.4%)
🇵🇹Portugal (55.6%)Lowest in:
🇮🇪Ireland (20.8%)
🇲🇹Malta (20.9%)Read more 👉https://t.co/Wjmmz51KUf#WorldTeachersDay pic.twitter.com/ZHPSOinCTL
— EU_Eurostat (@EU_Eurostat) October 5, 2026
Men in Greek secondary schools tend to be older than women. About 65% of male teachers are over 50, compared with about 54% of female teachers.
The picture is different in primary schools, which employ about 77,600 teachers. There, 40.7% are 50 or older, only slightly above the EU average of 37.7%. Younger staff are also more common, with 15.2% under 30, well above the EU’s 9.6%.
Women make up most of Greece’s teaching staff. They account for 77% of primary teachers, 70% in lower secondary and 60% in upper secondary. Even so, the share of women in Greek primary schools is lower than the EU average of 86%.
Some countries have a much younger secondary workforce. In Malta, fewer than 23% of secondary teachers are over 50. Luxembourg stands at 26% and Croatia at just under 30%.
Across all three school levels, Greece has about 157,100 teachers. Nearly half of them, 49.5%, are 50 or older, compared with 40.4% across the EU.
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