New research from members of ISER’s EUROMOD project shows that levels of poverty among the Greek population have risen alarmingly since the financial crisis hit last year. The research concludes that policies to reduce Greece’s deficit need to be redesigned and stresses the importance of fighting tax evasion.

The research by Manos Matsaganis and Chrysa Leventi from the Athens University of Economics and Businessshows that as a result of the austerity measures and the wider recession in Greece, relative poverty (as measured conventionally, by reference to a poverty threshold of 60% of median incomes) has increased from 20.1% in 2009 to 20.9% to 2010. Extreme poverty (measured by reference to a threshold of 40% of median incomes) has followed a similar pattern, rising from 7.3% to 8.0%.

The researchers say that while these figures may appear unimpressive, poverty was shown to have risen to 25.5% if anchored in pre-crisis terms (measured by reference to a threshold of 60% of median incomes in 2009, adjusted for inflation). They argue that the latter indicator is better suited to periods of rapid change in living standards, better approximating the experience of impoverishment when nominal incomes fall and prices rise (as was the case in Greece in 2010 relative to 2009).

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