Greece Is Now A Full-Blown Humanitarian Crisis – In 9 Charts
The people of Greece are facing further years of economic hardship following a Eurozone agreement over the terms of a third bailout. The deal included more tax rises and spending cuts, despite the Syriza government coming to power promising to end what it described as the “humiliation and pain” of austerity. With the country having already endured years of economic contraction since the global downturn, The BBC asks, just how does Greece’s ordeal compare with other recessions and how have the lives of the country’s people been affected?
The long recession
It is now generally agreed that Greece has experienced an economic crisis on the scale of the US Great Depression of the 1930s.
According to the Greek government’s own figures, the economy first contracted in the final quarter of 2008 and – apart from some weak growth in 2014 – has been shrinking ever since. The recession has cut the size of the Greek economy by around a quarter, the largest contraction of an advanced economy since the 1950s.
Although the Greek recession has not been quite as deep as the Great Depression from peak to trough, it has gone on longer and many observers now believe Greek GDP will drop further in 2015.
Dwindling jobs
Jobs are increasingly difficult to come by in Greece – especially for the young. While a quarter of the population are out of work, youth unemployment is running much higher.
Half of those under 25 are out of work. In some regions of western Greece, the youth unemployment rate is well above 60%.
