March 2026

New Retroactive Pension Payments for 37,000 in Greece

Anew round of retroactive pension payments is being implemented in Greece, targeting approximately 37,000 retirees, as the country’s main social security authority (e-EFKA) proceeds with gradual disbursements. The package concerns pending pension recalculations. Although pensions for these beneficiaries had already been recalculated, subsequent corrections and adjustments led to further increases. While the revised higher amounts were paid, the corresponding retroactive sums were not included at the time. These outstanding amounts will now be credited, covering the period from January 1,...

September 2025

Greece. Is this a country for young people?

“Life can only be understood by looking back,” Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once wrote, and looking back on my own life I realize how lucky my generation was, growing up in the 1970s and 80s to have lived in a more peaceful, safer, and more optimistic era than the present. On the contrary, our children’s generation will have to live in a much bleaker world: with wars on our doorstep, the specter of irreversible climate catastrophe looming, and the...

Economic and Distributional Effects of Demographic Shifts: Evaluating Pay-as-You-Go and Fully Funded Pension Schemes Based on the Greek Experience

By Zois Gerasimos Katsimigas, Christos Papatheodorou This paper examines economic and distributional consequences of demographic shifts by comparing pay-as-you-go (PAYG) and fully funded (FF) pension schemes in a macroeconomic framework, using Greece as a case study. Facing acute ageing and population decline, Greece provides a unique context to assess the performance of these schemes. We develop a post-Keynesian stock-flow consistent (SFC) model calibrated to the Greek economy to simulate the macroeconomic and distributional outcomes of both schemes under projected demographic...

August 2025

Economic and Distributional Effects of Demographic Shifts: Evaluating Pay-as-You-Go and Fully Funded Pension Schemes Based on the Greek Experience

By Zois Gerasimos Katsimigas & Christos Papatheodorou This paper examines economic and distributional consequences of demographic shifts by comparing pay-as-you-go (PAYG) and fully funded (FF) pension schemes in a macroeconomic framework, using Greece as a case study. Facing acute ageing and population decline, Greece provides a unique context to assess the performance of these schemes. We develop a post-Keynesian stock-flow consistent (SFC) model calibrated to the Greek economy to simulate the macroeconomic and distributional outcomes of both schemes under projected...

March 2025

Greece. BoG: The value of occupational pension fund assets increased by €80 million

The total value of Occupational Pension Fund (hereafter referred to as “Funds“) assets increased by €80 million compared to the previous quarter, reaching €2.508 billion at the end of Q4 2024. More specifically, the total deposits of the Funds saw a €7 million increase, reaching €73 million at the end of Q4 2024. The proportion of deposits in relation to total assets stood at 2.9%, compared to 2.7% in the previous quarter. The value of total investments in debt securities rose to €1.123 billion at the end of Q4 2024, up from €1.108 billion in the previous quarter....

February 2025

Greece. Pension boost for working retirees

Thousands of Greek retirees who continue working are seeing an increase in their pensions, as the country’s social security fund (EFKA) has started issuing adjusted payments. To prevent these new pensions from facing higher deductions under the Solidarity Contribution for Pensioners (EAS), the Ministry of Labor and Social Security is preparing a legislative amendment that could soon be introduced in Parliament. According to sources, the proposed amendment ensures that if a retiree’s primary pension is already subject to the EAS, the...

April 2024

Greece. Viable social security system, but only on low pensions

The sustainability of the social security system is considered assured until the distant 2070, according to a new study by the National Actuarial Authority submitted to the competent department of the European Commission. There is, of course, a very important and highly mandatory condition: That nothing changes in terms of the so-called “parametric changes,” i.e. retirement age limits, amount and method of calculating benefits, etc. And, of course, an equally disappointing finding, that Greece has a sustainable system, but insufficient...

November 2022

Inflation taking ever bigger bite out of Greek retirees’ pension income

Pensioners in Greece are struggling to make ends meet as galloping inflation and high energy prices take a toll on household budgets. After they lost an average of 25 percent of their income during the Greek debt crisis-related bailouts (2010-2018), the recent jumps in food and heating costs take their anxiety up a notch. During a recent interview granted to Xinhua in a cafe in central Athens, Christos Vassilopoulos, 82, was adding up his monthly bills while sipping his coffee. The...

September 2022

Greek PM says pensions to rise for first time in more than a decade

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Saturday the minimum wage would rise again next year and pensions would be increased for the first time since the financial crisis erupted more than a decade ago. During his annual economic policy speech from the northern city of Thessaloniki, Mitsotakis said about 1.5 million pensioners would benefit from the increase. Read also Demographic change impacting asset allocation The conservative premier, who faces parliamentary elections in 2023, also announced a 1.8 billion euros ($1.8 billion)...

July 2022

Greece to allow pension increases from 2023, first since debt crisis- PM

Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised pension increases for the first time in more than a decade next year, saying Greece had definitively turned a page from the financial chaos which required three international bailouts. During its decade-long financial crisis that broke out in 2009, Greece was forced by its international lenders to slash pensions more than 10 times to reduce state spending and meet its fiscal targets. "Everyone must benefit from growth without threatening the fiscal balance or the country's...