- 1 million people live under the poverty line
- the unemployment rate has increased to 27.6%
The economy in Greece goes from bad to worse and the economic crisis is getting stronger and stronger. While the International Monetary Fund is insisting that Greece needs to adopt new austerity measures to the tune 6.7 billion Euros from 2014 to 2016 bearing in mind that should 1 million people live under the poverty line. According to the Hellenic Statistics Authority (ELSTAT), Greece’s unemployment rate is continuing to increase, reaching 27.6 % percent in July 2013. It is very sad that 21,000 people are homeless, the vast majority of them is young people of working age. According to Kiel Institute the unemployment in Greece will be augmented reaching the 31% in 2014.
Sociologists and political scientists argue that a country with this percentages goes to chaos and social turmoil. Moreover, the increased number of suicides in Greece in the three-year period between 2009 and 2011 represents a trend that shows no sign of economic development. Tragic dimension takes the phenomenon of suicides in Greece because of the crisis, according to official figures from the Ministry of Citizen Protection during the period 1.1.2009 - 28.8.2012 the activity carried suicides and attempts amounted to 3,124 nationwide. However, it is worth noting that, despite the new negative inflation, the market basket will be heavier from 1 January 2014 while thousands of our fellow citizens are unable to buy basic consumer goods. Although new taxes to be imposed have been voted out last year and calculated the new state budget, it does not exclude the possibility of increases and new taxes or , if not met the fiscal targets or has not been voted in its entirety the budget.
Citizens try to survive in a blurred economic and political scenery and they claim that is not fair for a country which is in the 28th place of Gross National Product to suffer from such an economic crisis. According to Mahatma Gandhi poverty is the worst form of violence and sure it is. I am afraid that there is no light at the end of the tunnel and that for Greece the development and economic growth is still an utopia, a far dream rather than a reality.
