The ‘How’s Life?’ report, measuring well-being in OECD countries and other major economies, was published Tuesday. It measures well-being by “looking at people’s material living conditions and quality of life across the population”.  

From its snapshot of Greece, we see a country understandably in turmoil. According to the OECD report, the average Greek household has been severely affected by the crisis, “with impacts that are particularly visible when looking at household income, jobs, life satisfaction and civic engagement”. 

Disposable income down by 23 per cent

From 2007 to 2011 Greece recorded a cumulative decline in real household disposable income of around 23 per cent, the largest decline among the OECD countries. Between 2007 and 2010, market income inequality (before taxes and transfers) increased by 2 per cent, well above the OECD average of 1.2 per cent.  

The largest impact of the crisis on people’s well-being has come through lower employment and deteriorating labor market conditions. Between 2007 and 2012, the employment rate decreased by almost 10 percentage points in Greece, while the long-term unemployment rate increased by 10 percentage points. The unemployment rate is over 27 per cent today after years of recession.

Life / work satisfaction: what is that? 

The poor employment situation had a major impact on life satisfaction. From 2007 to 2011 the percentage of Greek people declaring being very satisfied with their lives fell from 59 to 34 per cent, the lowest share in the OECD area.

And those in work are finding life harder: in  2010, 31 per cent  Greek workers reported being in a poor working environment, a share significantly above the average in European countries. Low job quality impairs the physical and mental health of workers, according to the OECD.

The crisis also affects gender politics. Greek women have seen their condition improve these past years but they are still less likely than men to have a paid job or be elected to Parliament. There are over-represented among poor households. And they are more likely to feel insecure when walking alone at night.

Trust in government: bedtime for the cradle of democracy

People’s trust in institutions and in the way democracy works has also declined during the crisis. The percentage of Greek people reporting that they trust the government fell from 38 to 13 per cent between 2007 and 2012.

Over the same period, new forms of solidarity and engagement have emerged in crisis-hit OECD countries like Spain and Italy, but this trend is not evident in Greece. In Greece, the percentage of people reporting having helped someone and having volunteered their time decreased by 4 and 3 percentage points respectively, between 2007 and 2012, while these shares increased on average in the OECD.

Conclusions

Compared with other OECD countries, Greece performs well in only a few of the 11 dimensions that the OECD considers as essential to a good life: income and wealth; jobs and earnings; housing conditions; health status; work-life balance; education and skills; social connections; civic engagement and governance; environmental quality; personal security and subjective well-being.

Greece ranks above the OECD average in the dimensions of health status, work-life balance and personal security but below average in education and skills, income and wealth, civic engagement, jobs and earnings, social connections, housing, subjective well-being and environmental quality.