Greece

Greece: steady but modest growth, 1980–2025

A severe 2010-18 sovereign-debt crisis, the deepest of the eurozone crisis era, forced repeated bailouts and harsh austerity that shrank the economy by roughly a quarter before a slow recovery took hold. Between 1980 and 2025, Greece's GDP per capita grew from $5,812 to $26,948 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 3.5% — steady but modest growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 1.1% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 3.8 points, reflecting relatively stable macroeconomic conditions. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 6.9% to 3.6% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 64.5% to 67.4% of GDP, underscoring a shift toward a services-driven economy. On human development, life expectancy rose from 74.5 to 81.8 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 52.7% to 165.1%, while the urban population share grew from 69.5% to 79.2%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions fell from 5.54 to 5.05 tonnes CO2e per person; income inequality (Gini index) narrowed from 36.5 to 33.4; the poverty headcount ratio fell from 1.2% to 0.6%.