A couple of days ago the General Federation of Professional Artisans and Merchants of Greece (ΓΣΕΒΕΕ) published their annual research (December 2013) into the income and spending habits of Greek households and how this affects their purchasing ability. The full report is in Greek, here I give a summary. I've rounded decimal figures up or down to nearest whole for ease of reading.
40% of Greek households (1.4 million households) have at least one unemployed member. Of these only 10% receive unemployment benefits.
44% owe money to banks. 10% have had to liquidate assets since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2010.
35% are late in payments for taxes, health and pension insurance, utilities, banks, loans etc even though some of these delays incur fines. 42% do not have enough income to cover such obligations
95% have seen a decrease in their income over the past four years. In the lower-middle income bracket (EUR 10,000 - 25,000 per annum) this approaches 97%.
Average loss of income is 40%. In Attica (where the country's capital and largest city, Athens, is located) this is 41%.
49% of households rely on pensions as their main or even sole source of income, 36% on salaries, 10% on business profits. The remaining 5% are supported by relatives, income from rent on properties (1.3%), benefits and their savings.
Pessimism pervades Greek households. 42% feel that they won't be able to honour their financial obligations next year. This rises to 51% in households with at least one unemployed family member.
The market continues to be in "hibernation" as 75% of potential consumers state that they wait for the biannual sales to buy basic goods.
Consumer spending has fallen considerably due the shrinking of their income. 64% have reduced their spending on food, over 75% have limited spending on heating and transport, around 90% have curtailed their outlay on clothing, shoes, outings to restaurants, bars, cinema and holidays. The only areas where more than half of the sample have not cut back are alcohol/tobacco (52%), education (84%) and health/medications (76%). (But this still means that nearly one in four have had to reduce their health spending, sometimes unable to afford preventative check-ups and even essential medication.)
The quality of life continues to be degraded as 37% buy goods of lower quality than they used to. In large families with more than five members, as well as the households in lower income brackets this rises to 45%.
One in three households fears that they will lose their home. While home ownership is 87% in Greece, 28% of households who live in their own home are still paying off the loan to purchase it. This translates to about one million households. Of these, 17% are regularly behind in payments, and another 22% are frequently late.
Last year 44% of home owners paid (or were asked to pay) property tax or "solidarity tax" up to EUR 500, 23% from EUR 501 - 1000, 23% over EUR 1000. This is controversially levied through the electricity bill.
The only positive element reported was that 56% would prefer the public health system, but my own interpretation of this is that this could simply be because they cannot afford private health care.
These statistics are not numbers, they are human beings. While Skai TV's news magazine was presenting some of the above research findings they were showing video of people rummaging in rubbish bins. Not homeless people, not professional rag-pickers (mainly Roma and Pakistani) who search through recycling bins for cartons and metal to sell to scrap merchants, or clothes to sell on the Sunday street markets. These were ordinary-looking Greeks in ordinary clothes, neither shabby nor unkempt. The presenter assured the viewers that these were genuine videos taken in an average urban suburb of Athens.
No need for such assurances, unfortunately I witness such scenes often. An old woman in black searching through a dumpster near the central market for wilted vegetables. Another old woman whom I saw from the bus window, inspecting a small red fish she had found in the bin to see whether it was still edible. A young man brushing dirt off half a cheese pie he had found dropped on the pavement, then eating it. People of all ages, going through the street at the end of the weekly farmers' market in every suburb, scavenging through what the stall-holders had left behind. Men picking up cigarette butts at the bus stops, often still lit as they are hastily dropped by the smoker when their bus arrives. People, even children, standing hopefully outside supermarket exits, waiting for charity. I won't even mention the numerous beggars and homeless people on the streets of the country which currently holds the presidency of the European Union.
The suburb where I live is considered underprivileged to the point where the Niarchos Foundation is providing free lunches at my son's school. According to their 2012 figures 60% of households face food insecurity, with 23% actually hungry. Children have fainted in classrooms because they go to school without breakfast, or have even gone without food for days. A friend who teaches in the state school system told me she and colleagues regularly baked cakes and brought food for the children in their classes in Athens because they were so hungry they could not pay attention to the lessons.
Yet even though most households in my neighbourhood would be classed in the lower socio-economic bracket, with many immigrants and Roma, I am amazed at how many valuable things are still being discarded in the rubbish bins in my street. I see the rag-pickers pull out clothes, metal and all sorts of things that are still be useful. A bakery fills a rubbish bin with yesterday's bread. It breaks my heart. I try to find recipients for useful things that I no longer need. If I can't I hang them in a bag outside the recycling bin and I have noticed that people do take the shoes, handbags, toys, an old but still working TV set, etc that I place there. I also collect aluminium cans separately from the rest of my recycling rubbish, and hang them outside the recycling bins in a transparent bag since I know that they are valuable scrap, thus helping the rag-picker who finds them as well as preserving finite natural resources.
I think the days of the throwaway society have to end. Before discarding something please think. Do you know someone who could still use it? If not, a quick internet search will reveal organisations which can make use of it, maybe even come and pick it up from you if you cannot deliver it yourself. Your child's school teacher knows needy children and can discreetly distribute outgrown clothes, toys, last year's school bag or pencil case. If none of these are convenient, at least please don't throw useful things in the rubbish bin. Hang them in a transparent bag on the outside of the recycling bin and at least there is a chance that someone needy will find them without needing to rummage through the bin.
And if you see someone standing at a supermarket exit, or your supermarket has the trolley or basket where they collect contributions for the soup kitchens, why not buy a couple of extra items to give away. If you are reading this you have a roof over your head, you can afford internet connexion so you are more fortunate than many. I am reluctant to give money, especially to children and drug addicts, but something they can eat or drink will help them, at least it won't go into the pockets of exploitative parents or traffickers and the drug dealers. When the supermarket has special offers on biscuits, croissants and other non-perishable, easily carried items I often buy some extra and carry a couple with me when I commute, along with a tin of cat food or a little bag of dog biscuits for a stray. I always find recipients and wish I could carry more. Tiny gestures of kindness, a drop in the ocean, but every little bit helps.
40% of Greek households (1.4 million households) have at least one unemployed member. Of these only 10% receive unemployment benefits.
44% owe money to banks. 10% have had to liquidate assets since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2010.
35% are late in payments for taxes, health and pension insurance, utilities, banks, loans etc even though some of these delays incur fines. 42% do not have enough income to cover such obligations
95% have seen a decrease in their income over the past four years. In the lower-middle income bracket (EUR 10,000 - 25,000 per annum) this approaches 97%.
Average loss of income is 40%. In Attica (where the country's capital and largest city, Athens, is located) this is 41%.
49% of households rely on pensions as their main or even sole source of income, 36% on salaries, 10% on business profits. The remaining 5% are supported by relatives, income from rent on properties (1.3%), benefits and their savings.
Pessimism pervades Greek households. 42% feel that they won't be able to honour their financial obligations next year. This rises to 51% in households with at least one unemployed family member.
The market continues to be in "hibernation" as 75% of potential consumers state that they wait for the biannual sales to buy basic goods.
Consumer spending has fallen considerably due the shrinking of their income. 64% have reduced their spending on food, over 75% have limited spending on heating and transport, around 90% have curtailed their outlay on clothing, shoes, outings to restaurants, bars, cinema and holidays. The only areas where more than half of the sample have not cut back are alcohol/tobacco (52%), education (84%) and health/medications (76%). (But this still means that nearly one in four have had to reduce their health spending, sometimes unable to afford preventative check-ups and even essential medication.)
The quality of life continues to be degraded as 37% buy goods of lower quality than they used to. In large families with more than five members, as well as the households in lower income brackets this rises to 45%.
One in three households fears that they will lose their home. While home ownership is 87% in Greece, 28% of households who live in their own home are still paying off the loan to purchase it. This translates to about one million households. Of these, 17% are regularly behind in payments, and another 22% are frequently late.
Last year 44% of home owners paid (or were asked to pay) property tax or "solidarity tax" up to EUR 500, 23% from EUR 501 - 1000, 23% over EUR 1000. This is controversially levied through the electricity bill.
The only positive element reported was that 56% would prefer the public health system, but my own interpretation of this is that this could simply be because they cannot afford private health care.
These statistics are not numbers, they are human beings. While Skai TV's news magazine was presenting some of the above research findings they were showing video of people rummaging in rubbish bins. Not homeless people, not professional rag-pickers (mainly Roma and Pakistani) who search through recycling bins for cartons and metal to sell to scrap merchants, or clothes to sell on the Sunday street markets. These were ordinary-looking Greeks in ordinary clothes, neither shabby nor unkempt. The presenter assured the viewers that these were genuine videos taken in an average urban suburb of Athens.
No need for such assurances, unfortunately I witness such scenes often. An old woman in black searching through a dumpster near the central market for wilted vegetables. Another old woman whom I saw from the bus window, inspecting a small red fish she had found in the bin to see whether it was still edible. A young man brushing dirt off half a cheese pie he had found dropped on the pavement, then eating it. People of all ages, going through the street at the end of the weekly farmers' market in every suburb, scavenging through what the stall-holders had left behind. Men picking up cigarette butts at the bus stops, often still lit as they are hastily dropped by the smoker when their bus arrives. People, even children, standing hopefully outside supermarket exits, waiting for charity. I won't even mention the numerous beggars and homeless people on the streets of the country which currently holds the presidency of the European Union.
The suburb where I live is considered underprivileged to the point where the Niarchos Foundation is providing free lunches at my son's school. According to their 2012 figures 60% of households face food insecurity, with 23% actually hungry. Children have fainted in classrooms because they go to school without breakfast, or have even gone without food for days. A friend who teaches in the state school system told me she and colleagues regularly baked cakes and brought food for the children in their classes in Athens because they were so hungry they could not pay attention to the lessons.
Yet even though most households in my neighbourhood would be classed in the lower socio-economic bracket, with many immigrants and Roma, I am amazed at how many valuable things are still being discarded in the rubbish bins in my street. I see the rag-pickers pull out clothes, metal and all sorts of things that are still be useful. A bakery fills a rubbish bin with yesterday's bread. It breaks my heart. I try to find recipients for useful things that I no longer need. If I can't I hang them in a bag outside the recycling bin and I have noticed that people do take the shoes, handbags, toys, an old but still working TV set, etc that I place there. I also collect aluminium cans separately from the rest of my recycling rubbish, and hang them outside the recycling bins in a transparent bag since I know that they are valuable scrap, thus helping the rag-picker who finds them as well as preserving finite natural resources.
I think the days of the throwaway society have to end. Before discarding something please think. Do you know someone who could still use it? If not, a quick internet search will reveal organisations which can make use of it, maybe even come and pick it up from you if you cannot deliver it yourself. Your child's school teacher knows needy children and can discreetly distribute outgrown clothes, toys, last year's school bag or pencil case. If none of these are convenient, at least please don't throw useful things in the rubbish bin. Hang them in a transparent bag on the outside of the recycling bin and at least there is a chance that someone needy will find them without needing to rummage through the bin.
And if you see someone standing at a supermarket exit, or your supermarket has the trolley or basket where they collect contributions for the soup kitchens, why not buy a couple of extra items to give away. If you are reading this you have a roof over your head, you can afford internet connexion so you are more fortunate than many. I am reluctant to give money, especially to children and drug addicts, but something they can eat or drink will help them, at least it won't go into the pockets of exploitative parents or traffickers and the drug dealers. When the supermarket has special offers on biscuits, croissants and other non-perishable, easily carried items I often buy some extra and carry a couple with me when I commute, along with a tin of cat food or a little bag of dog biscuits for a stray. I always find recipients and wish I could carry more. Tiny gestures of kindness, a drop in the ocean, but every little bit helps.
