Greece has suffered from recession, massive public debt, and poverty has increased. Those living in extreme poverty rose to 15% in 2015, up from 8.9% in 2011, and a huge increase from 2009 when it wasn’t more than 2.2%. Those people at risk for poverty or social exclusion was one in three or 35.7%. The rate among children 0-17 is 17.6% and for young people 18-29 the rate is 24.4%. With unemployment on the rise, those without jobs are at the highest risk at 70-75%, up from less than 50% in 2011. With jobs harder and harder to come by, a quarter of the population is out of work, and for people under 25 the rate is 50%. In some harder hit areas of western Greece, the younger generation unemployment rate is more than 60%. When people are out of work for more than two years, they lose their health insurance, further increasing the problems of those in poverty. When younger people are out of work, they rely on the older generations of their families to provide for them to get them through the hard times. However, long term unemployment across the country causes pension funds to decrease because they are getting less money from the working population, so those older generations are getting less money to provide for the younger generations and their entire families, putting more of them in poverty. Many aspects of the economic problems add to the problem. The Greeks people have continued job loss and wage cuts, as well as deep cuts in workers compensation and social welfare benefits. For those who are working, their wages have dropped. From 2008 to 2013, Greeks have become 40% poorer on average, and in 2014 saw their disposable household income drop below 2003 levels. The Economic Survey of Greece 2016 shows optimism in a stronger recovery in 2017 by using things like the reforms in place and outside investment in jobs to help change the course of the high levels of poverty.

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