Economy of Greece

| labor =

| occupations =

| export-partners =

Greece is a developed country with a mixed economy. The Greek economy is the 50th-largest by nominal gross domestic product (GDP) and 54th-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). It is the 16th-largest economy in the European Union and eleventh largest in the eurozone. Greece is a welfare state and ranks relatively highly among OECD nations in terms of social spending, which stood at 23.7% of GDP in 2024. It has the largest debt-to-GDP ratio in the EU, standing at 146% in 2025. The economy is based on the service (78%), industrial (18%) and agricultural (4%) sectors.

The Greek economy was devastated by World War II (1939–1945), but expanded rapidly from 1950 to 1980 in what is commonly known as the Greek economic miracle. The subsequent Great Recession and Greek government-debt crisis, a central focus of the wider euro area crisis, plunged the economy into a sharp downturn in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The tourism boom of recent years has helped drive a strong recovery, with Greece setting new records in arrivals (38 million) and revenue (€23.6 billion) in 2025 as one of the most visited countries in the world.

Significant Greek industries include tourism and shipping. The Greek merchant navy is the largest in the world, with Greek-owned vessels accounting for 21% of global deadweight tonnage as of 2021; the total capacity of the Greek-owned fleet has increased by 45.8% compared to 2014. Greece has the largest economy in Southeast Europe and contributes extensively to regional investment. Greece has free trade agreements with many nations and is a founding member of the OECD (1961), the European single market (1993) and the World Trade Organization (1995), among others.

History

thumb|200px|Export of raisin from the port of [[Patras, late 19th century]]

thumb|right|Historical GDP per capita development

The evolution of the Greek economy during the 19th century (a period that transformed a large part of the world because of the Industrial Revolution) has been little researched. Recent research from 2006 examines the gradual development of industry and further development of shipping in a predominantly agricultural economy, calculating an average rate of per capita GDP growth between 1833 and 1911 that was only slightly lower than that of the other Western European nations. Industrial activity, (including heavy industry like shipbuilding) was evident, mainly in Ermoupolis and Piraeus. Nonetheless, Greece faced economic hardships and defaulted on its external loans in 1843, 1860 and 1893.

Other studies support the above view on the general trends in the economy, providing comparative measures of standard of living. The per capita income (in purchasing power terms) of Greece was 65% that of France in 1850, 56% in 1890, 62% in 1938, 75% in 1980, 90% in 2007, 96.4% in 2008 and 97.9% in 2009.

The country's post-World War II development has largely been connected with the Greek economic miracle. During that period, Greece saw growth rates second only to those of Japan, while ranking first in Europe in terms of GDP growth.

! Country

! Average Public Debt-to-GDP (% of GDP)

| United Kingdom

| style="padding-left: 2em" | 104.7

| Belgium

| style="padding-left: 2em" |86.0

| Italy

| style="padding-left: 2em" |76.0

| Canada

| style="padding-left: 2em" |71.0

| France

| style="padding-left: 2em" | 62.6

| Greece

| style="padding-left: 2em" | 60.2

| United States

| style="padding-left: 2em" | 47.1

| Germany

| style="padding-left: 2em" | 32.1

thumb|Greece entered the [[Eurozone in 2001]]

Greece was accepted into the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union by the European Council on 19 June 2000, based on a number of criteria (inflation rate, budget deficit, public debt, long-term interest rates, exchange rate) using 1999 as the reference year. After an audit commissioned by the incoming New Democracy government in 2004, Eurostat revealed that the statistics for the budget deficit had been under-reported. However, even after all corrections that followed, the reference year budget deficit did not exceed the allowable upper limit (3%) according to the Eurostat accounting method in force at the time of application, and thus Greece had still met all critiera for Eurozone entry (details given below).

Most of the differences in the revised budget deficit numbers were due to a temporary change of accounting practices by the new government, i.e., recording expenses when military material was ordered rather than received. However, it was the retroactive application of ESA95 methodology (applied since 2000) by Eurostat, that finally raised the reference year (1999) budget deficit to 3.38% of GDP, thus exceeding the 3% limit. This led to claims that Greece (similar claims have been made about other European countries like Italy)

had not actually met all five accession criteria, and the common perception that Greece entered the Eurozone through "falsified" deficit numbers.

In the 2005 OECD report for Greece, it was clearly stated that "the impact of new accounting rules on the fiscal figures for the years 1997 to 1999 ranged from 0.7 to 1 percentage point of GDP; this retroactive change of methodology was responsible for the revised deficit exceeding 3% in 1999, the year of [Greece's] EMU membership qualification". The above led the Greek minister of finance to clarify that the 1999 budget deficit was below the prescribed 3% limit when calculated with the ESA79 methodology in force at the time of Greece's application, and thus the criteria had been met.

The original accounting practice for military expenses was later restored in line with Eurostat recommendations, theoretically lowering even the ESA95-calculated 1999 Greek budget deficit to below 3% (an official Eurostat calculation is still pending for 1999).

An error sometimes made is the confusion of discussion regarding Greece's Eurozone entry with the controversy regarding usage of derivatives' deals with U.S. Banks by Greece and other Eurozone countries to artificially reduce their reported budget deficits. A currency swap arranged with Goldman Sachs allowed Greece to "hide" 2.8 billion Euros of debt, however, this affected deficit values after 2001 (when Greece had already been admitted into the Eurozone) and is not related to Greece's Eurozone entry.

A study of the period 1999–2009 by forensic accountants has found that data submitted to Eurostat by Greece, among other countries, had a statistical distribution indicative of manipulation; "Greece with a mean value of 17.74, shows the largest deviation from Benford's law among the members of the eurozone, followed by Belgium with a value of 17.21 and Austria with a value of 15.25".

2010–2018 government debt crisis

upright=1.364|290px|thumb|Greece's debt percentage since 1977, compared to the average of the [[Eurozone]]

Historical Debt

Greece, like other European nations, had faced debt crises in the 19th century, as well as a similar crisis in 1932 during the Great Depression. In general, however, during the 20th century it enjoyed one of the highest GDP growth rates on the planet

(for a quarter century from the early 1950s to mid 1970s, second in the world after Japan). Average Greek government debt-to-GDP for the entire century before the crisis (1909–2008) was lower than that for the UK, Canada, or France, - a value lower than that for Italy (107%) and Belgium (110%) during the same 15-year period, In addition, being a member of the Eurozone, the country had essentially no autonomous monetary policy flexibility.

Finally, there was an effect of controversies about Greek statistics (due the aforementioned drastic budget deficit revisions which lead to an increase in the calculated value of the Greek public debt by about 10%, i.e., a public debt to GDP of about 100% until 2007), while there have been arguments about a possible effect of media reports. Consequently, Greece was "punished" by the markets which increased borrowing rates, making impossible for the country to finance its debt since early 2010, exacerbating the euro area crisis.

The Greek economy faced its most-severe crisis since the restoration of democracy in 1974 as the Greek government revised its deficit forecasts from 3.7% in early 2009 and 6% in September 2009, to 12.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) in October 2009.

The aforementioned budget deficit and debt revisions were connected with findings that, through the assistance of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and numerous other banks, financial products were developed which enabled the governments of Greece, Italy and many other European countries to hide parts of their borrowing. Dozens of similar agreements were concluded across Europe whereby banks supplied cash in advance in exchange for future payments by the governments involved; in turn, the liabilities of the involved countries were "kept off the books".

According to Der Spiegel, credits given to European governments were disguised as "swaps" and consequently did not get registered as debt because Eurostat at the time ignored statistics involving financial derivatives. A German derivatives dealer had commented to Der Spiegel that "The Maastricht rules can be circumvented quite legally through swaps," and "In previous years, Italy used a similar trick to mask its true debt with the help of a different US bank." In May 2010, the Greek government deficit was again revised and estimated to be 13.6% which was among the highest relative to GDP, with Iceland in first place at 15.7% and the United Kingdom third with 12.6%. Public debt was forecast, according to some estimates, to hit 120% of GDP during 2010.

[[File:Greek bonds.webp|thumb|300px|Greek bonds

]]

As a consequence, there was a crisis in international confidence in Greece's ability to repay its sovereign debt, as reflected by the rise of the country's borrowing rates (although their slow rise – the 10-year government bond yield only exceeded 7% in April 2010 – coinciding with a large number of negative articles, has led to arguments about the role of international news media in the evolution of the crisis). In order to avert a default (as high borrowing rates effectively prohibited access to the markets), in May 2010 the other Eurozone countries, and the IMF, agreed to a "rescue package" which involved giving Greece an immediate € in bail-out loans, with more funds to follow, totaling €. In order to secure the funding, Greece was required to adopt harsh austerity measures to bring its deficit under control. Their implementation was to be monitored and evaluated by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF.

The 2008 financial crisis – particularly the austerity package put forth by the EU and the IMF – has been met with anger by the Greek public, leading to riots and social unrest, while there have been theories about the effect of international media. Despite - others say because of - the long range of austerity measures, the government deficit has not been reduced accordingly, mainly, according to many economists, because of the subsequent recession.

Public sector workers have come out on strike in order to resist job cuts and reductions to salaries as the government promises that a large scale privatisation programme will be accelerated. Immigrants are sometimes treated as scapegoats for economic problems by far-right extremists.

In 2013, Greece became the first developed market whose stock market was reclassified as an emerging market by different financial rating companies, only starting to be reclassified back as a developed market, first by FTSE Russell in October 2025, followed by other rating companies.

By July 2014 there were still anger and protests about the austerity measures, with a 24-hour strike among government workers timed to coincide with an audit by inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and European Central Bank in advance of a decision on a second bailout of one billion euros ($1.36 billion), due in late July.

Greece exited its six-year recession in the second quarter of 2014, but the challenges of securing political stability and debt sustainability remained.

A third bailout was agreed in July 2015, after a confrontation with the newly elected leftist government of Alexis Tsipras. In June 2017, news reports indicated that the "crushing debt burden" had not been alleviated and that Greece was at the risk of defaulting on some payments. The International Monetary Fund stated that the country should be able to borrow again "in due course". At the time, the Euro zone gave Greece another credit of $9.5-billion, $8.5 billion of loans and brief details of a possible debt relief with the assistance of the IMF. On 13 July, the Greek government sent a letter of intent to the IMF with 21 commitments it promised to meet by June 2018. They included changes in labour laws, a plan to cap public sector work contracts, to transform temporary contracts into permanent agreements and to recalculate pension payments to reduce spending on social security.

Greece's bailouts successfully ended (as declared) on 20 August 2018.

In May 2026, Greece announced the early repayment of a further €6.9 billion of Greek Loan Facility (GLF) debt linked to the first bailout package, as part of a broader effort to improve its financial standing and public debt profile. This follows a number of early repayments to EU creditors, as well as the full repayment of Greece's debt to the International Monetary Fund two years ahead of schedule in 2022. The early debt repayments, part of a plan to pay off the first bailout loans ten years ahead of schedule, are seen as a sign of the country's remarkable recovery following the end of the crisis. As a result of its improved finances, Greece is expected to have a lower debt-to-GDP ratio than Italy by the end of 2026, three years earlier than previously forecast.

Effects of the bailout programmes on the debt crisis

There was a 25% drop in Greece's GDP, connected with the bailout programmes. This had a critical effect: the Debt-to-GDP ratio, the key factor defining the severity of the crisis, would jump from its 2009 level of 127% to about 170%, solely due to the GDP drop (i.e., for the same Debt). Such a level is considered unsustainable. Reports show that, for government debt, the threshold for unhealthy Debt-to-GDPT ratio is around 85%. In a 2013 report, the IMF admitted that it had underestimated the effects of so extensive tax hikes and budget cuts on the country's GDP and issued an informal apology. In 2011, the country's government debt reached €356 billion (172% of nominal GDP). After negotiating the biggest debt restructuring in history with the private sector, which sustained losses in the order of €100 billion for private bond investors, Greece reduced its sovereign debt burden to €280 billion (137% of GDP) in the first quarter of 2012. Greece achieved a real GDP growth rate of 0.8% in 2014—after five consecutive years of economic decline—but the economy contracted by 0.2% in 2015 and recorded zero growth in 2016. The country returned to modest growth rates of 1.5% in 2017, 2.1% in 2018 and 2.3% in 2019.

Post-COVID recovery

Greece has recovered significantly since the early 2020s, On 20 August 2022, Greece formally exited the EU's "enhanced surveillance framework", which had been in place since the conclusion of the third bailout programme exactly four years earlier. On 2 December 2022, Berlin-based credit rating agency Scope assigned a positive outlook to Greece's BB+ rating, presaging the country's return to investment grade. On 31 July 2023, Greece's investment-grade status was restored by Japanese credit rating agency R&I. Scope, DBRS, S&P and Fitch followed suit on 4 August, 8 September, 20 October and 1 December 2023 respectively, but Moody's delayed doing so until 14 March 2025. The Economist ranked Greece the world's top economic performer for 2022 and 2023, citing significant improvements in five key economic and financial indicators.

Strengths and weaknesses

Greece enjoys a high standard of living and very high Human Development Index, being ranked 32nd in the world in 2019. However, the severe recession of recent years saw GDP per capita fall from 94% of the EU average in 2009 to 67% between 2017 and 2019. During the same period, Actual Individual Consumption (AIC) per capita fell from 104% to 78% of the EU average.

Greece is ranked 56th in the world, and 21st among EU member states, on the Corruption Perceptions Index. Thus, it has roughly returned to its ranking prior to the 2010–2018 debt crisis. However, Greece still has the EU's lowest Index of Economic Freedom and second lowest Global Competitiveness Index, ranking 113th and 59th in the world respectively.

thumb|350px|GDP growth rates of the Greek economy between 1961 and 2010

After fourteen consecutive years of economic growth, Greece went into recession in 2008. This, combined with rapidly rising debt levels (127.9% of GDP in 2009) led to a precipitous increase in borrowing costs, effectively shutting Greece out of the global financial markets and resulting in a severe economic crisis.

Greece was accused of trying to cover up the extent of its massive budget deficit during the 2008 financial crisis. The allegation was prompted by the massive revision of the 2009 budget deficit forecast by the new PASOK government elected in October 2009, from "6–8%" (estimated by the previous New Democracy government) to 12.7% (later revised to 15.7%). However, the accuracy of the revised figures has also been questioned, and in February 2012 the Hellenic Parliament voted in favor of an official investigation following accusations by a former member of the Hellenic Statistical Authority that the deficit had been artificially inflated in order to justify harsher austerity measures.

{| class="wikitable floatright" style="width: 220px; font-size: 85%; text-align: left;"

|+Average GDP growth by era

! style="text-align:left; background:#f0f0f0; vertical-align:top;" | 1961–1970

| style="background:#f0f0f0; vertical-align:top;" | 8.44%

! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;" |1971–1980

| valign="top" | 4.70%

! style="text-align:left; background:#f0f0f0; vertical-align:top;" |1981–1990

| style="background:#f0f0f0; vertical-align:top;" | 0.70%

! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;" |1991–2000

| valign="top" |2.36%

! style="text-align:left; background:#f0f0f0; vertical-align:top;" |2001–2007

| style="background:#f0f0f0; vertical-align:top;" | 4.11%

! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;" |2008–2011

| valign="top" |−4.8%

! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;" |2012–2015

| valign="top" |−2.52%

!2016-2019

|1.05%

!2020-2022

|1.78%

The Greek labor force, which amount around workers, average 2,032 hours of work per worker annually in 2011, is ranked fourth among OECD countries, after Mexico, South Korea and Chile. The Groningen Growth & Development Centre has published a poll revealing that between 1995 and 2005, Greece was the country whose workers have the most hours/year work among European nations; Greeks worked an average of 1,900 hours per year, followed by Spaniards (average of 1,800 hours/year).

As a result of the ongoing economic crisis, industrial production in the country went down by 8% between March 2010 and March 2011, The volume of building activity saw a reduction of 73% in 2010. Additionally, the turnover in retail sales saw a decline of 9% between February 2010 and February 2011.

Between 2008 and 2013 unemployment skyrocketed, from a generational low of 7.2% in the second and third quarters of 2008 to a high of 27.9% in June 2013, leaving over a million jobless. Youth unemployment peaked at 64.9% in May 2013. Unemployment figures have steadily improved in recent years, with the overall rate falling to 7.9% and youth unemployment dropping to 14.3% in December 2025. Male and female unemployment stood at 5.9% and 13.7% in April 2026, the thirteenth-highest and highest in the European Union respectively.

Primary sector

Agriculture and fishery

Vineyard in Naoussa, Central Macedonia, Greece.jpg|A vineyard in Naoussa, central Macedonia

Fava (3711746562).jpg|Sacks with Fava Santorinis

Olive 60 C 0801.JPG|Olive oil production

</gallery>

In 2010, Greece was the European Union's largest producer of cotton (183,800 tons) and pistachios (8,000 tons) and ranked second in the production of rice (229,500 tons) tomatoes (1,400,000 tons) ranked third with 85,493 tons,

Secondary sector

Industry

Industrial activity was evident in Greece, since at least the second half of the 19th century (including heavy industry such as shipbuilding), mainly centered in Ermoupolis and Piraeus. The value added by the manufacturing sector as a percentage of GDP in Greece has remained lower than in most European countries (see Table)

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;float:right;margin:1em;"

|+ Value added by the manufacturing sector as % of GDP (Greece vs main European economies, 2023)

! Country

! Value added by manufacturing (% of GDP)

| Germany

| style="padding-left: 2em" | 18.36

| Italy

| style="padding-left: 2em" |15.26

| Spain

| style="padding-left: 2em" |10.89

| Netherlands

| style="padding-left: 2em" |10.84

| France

| style="padding-left: 2em" | 9.73

| Greece

| style="padding-left: 2em" | 8.73

| United Kingdom

| style="padding-left: 2em" | 8.28

In 2024 the main sectors (in terms of value of manufactured products) of manufacturing in Greece were refined petroleum products (29.32%), food products (22.21%), basic metals (10.03%), machinery, including electric and electronic equipment and transport equipment (5.28%), chemicals (4.78%) and pharmaceuticals (4.12%).

Between 2005 and 2011, Greece has had the highest percentage increase in industrial output compared to 2005 levels out of all European Union members, with an increase of 6%. Eurostat statistics show that the industrial sector was hit by the Greek government-debt crisis throughout 2009 and 2010, but its productivity-per-hour-worked was 74% that the Eurozone average. In recent years, Greece has become a leader in the construction and maintenance of luxury yachts.

Polemistis (P 61).jpg|HSY-55-class gunboat Polemistis, built by Hellenic Shipyards Co. for the Hellenic Navy

Dassault nEUROn.jpg|The fuselage for the Dassault nEUROn stealth jet is produced in Greece by the Hellenic Aerospace Industry

</gallery>

Mining

Aluminium de Grece.jpg|Aluminium of Greece facilities

GR Thasos 81 Grube E1 01.jpg|Gold mine in Thasos

Yerakini Mine Pits.png|Gerakini mine

Skouries July 2013.JPG|Skouries mine

Quarry on Sifnos.JPG|Marble quarry in Sifnos

Kalk-kefalonia.jpg|Calcium carbonate loaded at the port of Argostoli

</gallery>

Tertiary sector

Maritime industry

thumb|The [[Port of Thessaloniki]]

thumb|[[Neorion shipyard, located in Ermoupolis]]

thumb|23.2% of the world's total [[merchant fleet is owned by Greek companies, making it the largest in the world. They are ranked in the top 5 for all kinds of ships, including first for tankers and bulk carriers.]]

Shipping has traditionally been a key sector in the Greek economy since ancient times. In 1813, the Greek merchant navy was made up of 615 ships. Its total tonnage was 153,580 tons and was crewed with 37,526 sailors and 5,878 cannons.

During the 1960s, the size of the Greek fleet nearly doubled, primarily through the investment undertaken by the shipping magnates Onassis, Vardinoyannis, Livanos and Niarchos. The basis of the modern Greek maritime industry was formed after World War II when Greek shipping businessmen were able to amass surplus ships sold to them by the United States Government through the Ship Sales Act of the 1940s.

In terms of ship categories, Greek companies have 22.6% of the world's tankers employs about 160,000 people (4% of the workforce), and represents 1/3 of the country's trade deficit.

Counting shipping as quasi-exports and in terms of monetary value, Greece ranked 4th globally in 2011 having exported shipping services worth 17,704.132 million $; only Denmark, Germany and South Korea ranked higher during that year. Similarly counting shipping services provided to Greece by other countries as quasi-imports and the difference between exports and imports as a trade balance, Greece in 2011 ranked in the latter second behind Germany, having imported shipping services worth 7,076.605 million US$ and having run a trade surplus of 10,712.342 million US$. In 2022, Greek used vessel sales were second only to China's.

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Greece, shipping services

!Year!!2000!!2001!!2002!!2003!!2004!!2005!!2006–2008!!2009!!2010!!2011

|colspan="11"|

|- style="text-align:center;"

!Exports:

|colspan="10"|

|- style="text-align:center;"

!Global ranking

|137,930.1||146,427.6||156,614.3||172,431.8||185,265.7||193,049.7b||n/a||231,081.2p

|222,151.5p||208,531.7p

|colspan="11"|

| style="text-align:left;" colspan="10"|b source reports break in time series; p source characterises data as provisional; e reported data may be erroneous because of relevant break in "Imports" time series

Telecommunications

thumb|[[OTE headquarters in Athens]]

Between 1949 and the 1980s, telephone communications in Greece were a state monopoly by the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization, better known by its acronym, OTE. Despite the liberalization of telephone communications in the country in the 1980s, OTE still dominates the Greek market in its field and has emerged as one of the largest telecommunications companies in Southeast Europe. Since 2011, the company's major shareholder is Deutsche Telekom with a 40% stake, while the Greek state continues to own 10% of the company's shares. a penetration of 180%.

Greece has tended to lag behind its European Union partners in terms of Internet use, with the gap closing rapidly in recent years. The percentage of households with Internet access more than doubled between 2006 and 2013, from 23% to 56% respectively (compared with an EU average of 49% and 79%). At the same time, there was a massive increase in the proportion of households with a broadband connection, from 4% in 2006 to 55% in 2013 (compared with an EU average of 30% and 76%).

Tourism

thumb|200px|[[Porto Carras resort, Chalkidiki]]

thumb|200px|The island of [[Santorini, popular tourist destination.]]

Tourism in the modern sense only started to flourish in Greece in the years post-1950, Since the 1950s, the tourism sector saw an unprecedented boost as arrivals went from 33,000 in 1950 to 11.4 million in 1994.

Greece attracts more than 16 million tourists each year, thus contributing 18.2% to the nation's GDP in 2008 according to an OECD report. The same survey showed that the average tourist expenditure while in Greece was $1,073, ranking Greece 10th in the world. a major increase from the 17.7 million tourists the country welcomed in 2008. With 31.3 million international tourists in 2019, Greece was the 7th-most-visited country in the European Union and 13th in the world, marking a steady increase from 18 million tourists in 2013.

Among the member states of the European Union, Greece was the most popular destination for residents of Cyprus and Sweden in 2011.

The ministry responsible for tourism is the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, while Greece also owns the Greek National Tourism Organization which aims in promoting tourism in Greece. while in 2011 the island of Santorini was voted as the best island in the world by Travel + Leisure. The neighbouring island of Mykonos was ranked as the 5th best island Europe. with companies such as Hellenic Petroleum having made important strategic investments. the third in Bulgaria, in the top-three in Romania and Serbia and the most important trading partner and largest foreign investor in North Macedonia.

Greece invested €1.38 billion in Bulgaria between 2005 and 2007 and many important companies (including Bulgarian Postbank, United Bulgarian Bank Coca-Cola Bulgaria) are owned by Greek financial groups. Romanian statistics from 2016 show that Greek investment in the country exceeded €4 billion, ranking Greece fifth or sixth among foreign investors. Greece has been the largest investor in Albania since the fall of communism with 25% of foreign investments in 2016 coming from Greece, in addition business relations between both are extremely strong and continuously rising.

Trade

During the debt crisis and subsequent COVID-19 recession, Greece's negative balance of trade decreased significantly–from €44.3 billion in 2008 to €18.15 billion in 2020–due to a substantial drop in imports. However, the trade boom of recent years has seen the balance approach pre-crisis levels. Exports increased by 30.9% in 2021 and 38.3% in 2022, while imports rose by 34.6% and 43.6% during the same period. This was followed by a correction in 2023, with exports and imports decreasing by 8.5% and 12.1% respectively. In 2024, exports decreased by 2% and imports increased by 3%. In 2025, exports and imports decreased by 2.7% and 3.7% respectively. and the largest export partner of Palau (82.4%).

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:700px;"

|+Imports and exports in 2012

|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center; vertical-align:middle;"

! !!colspan="3"|Imports!! !!colspan="3"|Exports

!Rank data-sort-type="text" |Rank !!data-sort-type="text"|Origin!!Rank data-sort-type="number"|Value (€ mil)

!Rank data-sort- type="number" style="width:80px;"|Value (% of total)!!Rank data-sort-type="text"|Rank

!Rank data-sort-type="text"|Destination!!Rank data-sort-type="number"|Value (€ mil)

!Rank data-sort- type="number" style="width:80px;"|Value (% of total)

|- style="display:none;"

|0||a||0||||-1||0||a||0||-1

|- style="text-align:center;"

||1|| style="text-align:left;"|||5,967.20132||12.6|| style="text-align:center;"|1|| style="text-align:left;"|||2,940.25203||10.8

|- style="text-align:center;"

||2|| style="text-align:left;"|||4,381.92656||9.2|| style="text-align:center;"|2|| style="text-align:left;"|||2,033.77413||7.5

|- style="text-align:center;"

||3|| style="text-align:left;"|||3,668.88622||7.7|| style="text-align:center;"|3|| style="text-align:left;"|||1,687.03947||6.2

|- style="text-align:center;"

||4|| style="text-align:left;"|||2,674.00587||5.6|| style="text-align:center;"|4|| style="text-align:left;"|||1,493.75355||5.5

|- style="text-align:center;"

||5|| style="text-align:left;"|||2,278.03883||4.8|| style="text-align:center;"|5|| style="text-align:left;"|||1,319.28598||4.8

|- style="text-align:center;"

||6|| style="text-align:left;"|||2,198.57126||4.6|| style="text-align:center;"|6|| style="text-align:left;"|||1,024.73686||3.8

|- style="text-align:center;"

||7|| style="text-align:left;"|||1,978.48460||4.2|| style="text-align:center;"|7|| style="text-align:left;"|||822.74077||3

|- style="text-align:center;"

||#α|| style="text-align:left;"|OECD||23,849.94650||50.2|| style="text-align:center;"|#α|| style="text-align:left;"|OECD

|13,276.48107||48.8

|- style="text-align:center;"

||#β|| style="text-align:left;"|G7||11,933.75417||25.1|| style="text-align:center;"|#β|| style="text-align:left;"|G7||6,380.86705||23.4

|- style="text-align:center;"

||#γ|| style="text-align:left;"|BRICS||8,682.10265||18.3|| style="text-align:center;"|#ε|| style="text-align:left;"|BRICS

|1,014.17146||3.7

|- style="text-align:center;"

||#δ|| style="text-align:left;"|BRIC||8,636.02946||18.2|| style="text-align:center;"|#ζ|| style="text-align:left;"|BRIC||977.76016||3.6

|- style="text-align:center;"

||#ε|| style="text-align:left;"|OPEC||8,090.76972||17|| style="text-align:center;"|#γ|| style="text-align:left;"|OPEC

|2,158.60420||7.9

|- style="text-align:center;"

||#ζ|| style="text-align:left;"|NAFTA||751.80608||1.6|| style="text-align:center;"|#δ|| style="text-align:left;"|NAFTA

|1,215.70257||4.5

|- style="text-align:center;"

||#a|| style="text-align:left;"| 27||21,164.89314||44.5|| style="text-align:center;"|#a|| style="text-align:left;"| 27

|11,512.31990||42.3

|- style="text-align:center;"

||#b|| style="text-align:left;"| 15||17,794.19344||37.4|| style="text-align:center;"|#b|| style="text-align:left;"| 15

|7,234.83595||26.6

|- style="text-align:center;"

||#3|| style="text-align:left;"|Africa||2,787.39502||5.9|| style="text-align:center;"|#3|| style="text-align:left;"|Africa

|1,999.46534||7.3

|- style="text-align:center;"

||#4|| style="text-align:left;"|America||1,451.15136||3.1

||#4||align="left"|America||1,384.04068||5.1

|- style="text-align:center;"

||#2|| style="text-align:left;"|Asia||14,378.02705||30.2|| style="text-align:center;"|#2

| style="text-align:left;"|Asia||6,933.51200||25.5

|- style="text-align:center;"

||#1|| style="text-align:left;"|Europe||28,708.38148||60.4|| style="text-align:center;"|#1|| style="text-align:left;"|Europe

|14,797.20641||54.4

|- style="text-align:center;"

||#5|| style="text-align:left;"|Oceania||71.70603||0.2|| style="text-align:center;"|#5|| style="text-align:left;"|Oceania||169.24085||0.6

|- style="text-align:center;"

||#|| style="text-align:left;"|World||47,537.63847||100|| style="text-align:center;"|#|| style="text-align:left;"|World

|27,211.06362||100

|- style="display:none;"

|24||z||1000000000000000000||101||24||z||1000000000000000000||101

|- class="sortbottom"

| colspan="8" span style="font-size:70%;"|the International Organisations or Country Groups list and ranking presented above (i.e. #greek_letters and/or #latin_letters), is not indicative of the whole picture of Greece's trade; this is instead only an incomplete selection of some major and well known such Organisations and Groups; rounding errors possibly present

Transport

thumb|The [[A2 motorway (Greece)|Egnatia Odos, part of European route E90.]]

thumb|200px|[[Corinth Canal]]

thumb|200px|[[Hellenic Railways Organisation|OSE HQs]]

As of 2012, Greece had a total of 82 airports, but 15 offer international services. and also has two gold and one silver awards by the ERA, as well as a "Condé Nast Traveller 2011 Readers Choice Awards: Top Domestic Airline" award.

The Greek road network is made up of 116,986 km of roads, The Port of Thessaloniki comes second with 15.8 million tons,

In 2010 Piraeus handled 513,319 TEUs, followed by Thessaloniki, which handled 273,282 TEUs. In the same year, 83.9 million people passed through Greece's ports, 12.7 million through the port of Paloukia in Salamis, while the number fell to 77.3% in 2010. and another 20% from natural gas. a rise from the 7.2% it accounted for in 2006, while most comes from biomass and waste recycling. In 2013 and for several months, Greece produced more than 20% of its electricity from renewable energy sources and hydroelectric power plants. Greece currently does not have any nuclear power plants in operation, however in 2009 the Academy of Athens suggested that research in the possibility of Greek nuclear power plants begin.

Greece had 10 million barrels of proven oil reserves as of 1 January 2012. with an estimated output of 250 to 300 million barrels over the next 15 to 20 years. The Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Climate Change announced that there was interest from various countries (including Norway and the United States) in exploration,

A number of oil and gas pipelines are currently under construction or under planning in the country. Such projects include the Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy (ITGI) and South Stream gas pipelines. EuroAsia Interconnector is specially important for isolated systems, like Cyprus and Crete. Crete is energetically isolated from mainland Greece and Hellenic Republic covers for Crete electricity costs difference of around €300 million per year.

In April 2026 following the energy crisis, due to the 2026 Iran war, the government introduced a €300 million fuel subsidy package. It aimed to help households and farmers with the rising energy prices. The package includes cuts to diesel prices, fuel vouchers for consumers, and financial support for farmers and ferry operators. By this the hope to ease the cost of living within Greece.

Amyndeo, Florina prefecture, Greece - Lignite power station and lignite mines - 01 cropped.jpg|Amyntaio Power Plant

AHS AgDimitrios2.JPG|Agios Dimitrios Power Plant

Θέα προς ΒΑ από την κορυφή του Παναχαϊκού... - panoramio.jpg|View of a wind farm, Panachaiko mountain

Kavala-oil.jpg|Prinos oil field near Kavala

Plastira dam DJI 0043v.jpg|Plastiras Hydroelectric Dam

</gallery>

Taxation and tax evasion

thumb|Revenues of Greece between 1999 and 2010 as a percentage of GDP, compared to the EU average.

Greece has a tiered tax system based on progressive taxation. Greek law recognizes six categories of taxable income: immovable property, movable property (investment), income from agriculture, business, employment, and income from professional activities. Greece's personal income tax rate, until recently, ranged from 0% for annual incomes below €12,000 while further future changes, for example abolition of this ceiling, are already being planned.

Greece's corporate tax dropped from 40% in 2000 with minor exceptions, 13% reduced for some basic foodstuffs which will be soon abolished and everything, as it seems, will soon go to 24% in order to fight the phantom of tax evasion.

The Ministry of Finance expected tax revenues for 2012 to be €52.7 billion (€23.6 billion in direct taxes and €29.1 billion in indirect taxes), an increase of 5.8% from 2011. while in January 2006 it fell to 41.6%. A study by researchers from the University of Chicago concluded that tax evasion in 2009 by self-employed professionals alone in Greece (accountants, dentists, lawyers, doctors, personal tutors and independent financial advisers) was €28 billion or 31% of the budget deficit that year.

Greece's "shadow economy" was estimated at 24.3% of GDP in 2012, compared with 28.6% for Estonia, 26.5% for Latvia, 21.6% for Italy, 17.1% for Belgium, 14.7% for Sweden, 13.7% for Finland, and 13.5% for Germany, and is certainly related to the fact that the percentage of Greeks that are self-employed is more than double the EU average (2013 est.). The former Finance Minister of Greece, Evangelos Venizelos, was quoted as saying, "Around 15,000 individuals and companies owe the taxman 37 billion euros". Additionally, the TJN put the number of Greek-owned off-shore companies at over 10,000.

In 2012, Swiss estimates suggested that Greeks had some 20 billion euros in Switzerland of which only one percent had been declared as taxable in Greece. Estimates in 2015 were even more dramatic. They indicated that the amount due to the government of Greece from Greeks' accounts in Swiss banks totaled around 80 billion euros.

A mid-2017 report indicated Greeks have been "taxed to the hilt" and many believed that the risk of penalties for tax evasion were less serious than the risk of bankruptcy. One method of evasion is the so-called black market, grey economy or shadow economy: work is done for cash payment which is not declared as income; as well, VAT is not collected and remitted. A January 2017 report by the DiaNEOsis think-tank indicated that unpaid taxes in Greece at the time totaled approximately 95 billion euros, up from 76 billion euros in 2015, much of it was expected to be uncollectable. Another early 2017 study estimated that the loss to the government as a result of tax evasion was between 6% and 9% of the country's GDP, or roughly between 11 billion and 16 billion euros per annum.

The shortfall in the collection of VAT (sales tax) is also significant. In 2014, the government collected 28% less than was owed to it; this shortfall was about double the average for the EU. The uncollected amount that year was about 4.9 billion euros. The DiaNEOsis study estimated that 3.5% of GDP is lost due to VAT fraud, while losses due to smuggling of alcohol, tobacco and petrol amounted to approximately another 0.5% of the country's GDP. The Ministry of Finance stated that Greeks with Swiss bank accounts would either be required to pay a tax or reveal information such as the identity of the bank account holder to the Greek internal revenue services.

In 2016 and 2017, the government was encouraging the use of credit cards or debit cards to pay for goods and services in order to reduce cash only payments. By January 2017, taxpayers were only granted tax-allowances or deductions when payments were made electronically, with a "paper trail" of the transactions that the government could easily audit. This was expected to reduce the problem of businesses taking payments but not issuing an invoice; that tactic had been used by various companies to avoid payment of VAT (sales) tax as well as income tax.

By 28 July 2017, numerous businesses were required by law to install a point of sale device to enable them to accept payment by credit or debit card. Failure to comply with the electronic payment facility can lead to fines of up to 1,500 euros. The requirement applied to around 400,000 firms or individuals in 85 professions. The greater use of cards was one of the factors that had already achieved significant increases in VAT collection in 2016.

Living standards in Greece have been shaped by long-term trends in wages, poverty, social exclusion, and demographic change. These factors continue to influence the economic well-being of households across the country.

Wages and purchasing power

Nominal wages in Greece have increased in recent years, although real incomes remain below the European Union average. According to the ERGANI labour-market information system, the average gross monthly salary rose from €1,046 in 2019 to €1,342 in 2024. The smallest regional economies were those of the North Aegean (€2.934 billion) and Ionian Islands (€4.111 billion).

In terms of GDP per capita, Attica (€29,732) far outranks any other Greek region, representing approximately 140% of the national average.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0; border: 2px solid #0056b3; border-radius: 12px; width: 100%; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Roboto, sans-serif; box-shadow: 0 4px 15px rgba(0,0,0,0.1); overflow: hidden;"

|+ style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 120%; padding: 15px; color: #0056b3; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 1px;" | Regional Economic Profile of Greece (2023)

|- style="background: linear-gradient(90deg, #0056b3 0%, #007bff 100%); color: white; text-align: center;"

! scope="col" style="padding: 12px; border-bottom: 2px solid #ffffff33;" | Rank

! scope="col" style="padding: 12px; border-bottom: 2px solid #ffffff33; text-align: left;" | Region

! scope="col" style="padding: 12px; border-bottom: 2px solid #ffffff33;" | GDP (€ bn)

! scope="col" style="padding: 12px; border-bottom: 2px solid #ffffff33;" | Share (%)

! scope="col" style="padding: 12px; border-bottom: 2px solid #ffffff33;" | GDP per Capita (€)

! scope="col" style="padding: 12px; border-bottom: 2px solid #ffffff33;" | vs National Mean

|- style="text-align: center; transition: background 0.3s;"

| 1 || style="text-align: left; font-weight: bold;" | Attica || style="background: #e6ffed; border-left: 4px solid #28a745; font-weight: bold;" | 109.117 || 48.8% || style="background: #e6ffed; font-weight: bold; color: #155724;" | 29,732 || 139.6%