Greece - Korina Miller [32]
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THE GOOD LIFE
Greece remains one of Europe’s friendliest, safest and most relaxed countries. In the evenings, especially in summer, you will see people of all ages out on their volta (evening walk), walking along seafront promenades or through town centres, dressed up and refreshed from their afternoon siesta (albeit a dying institution). Restaurants, cafes, theatres, cinemas, bars and live-music venues seem to thrive and the lively street life in Athens and most major towns is something that strikes most visitors. Another is that children are out late at night, socialising with their parents or playing nearby.
Summer holidays are the highlight of the year and the country virtually shuts down mid-August when most people take off for the islands, beaches or their ancestral villages. One of the peculiarly Greek social talking points is how many swims you’ve had each summer.
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Greece has compulsory 12-month military service for all males aged 19 to 50. Women are accepted into the Greek army, though they are not obliged to join and rarely do so.
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While some things haven’t changed, the standard of living for the average Greek has changed beyond all recognition, especially in the past two decades. Greeks are visibly wealthier, as the new generation of Athenian yuppies in designer clothes, clutching the latest mobile phones and driving new cars will attest. Well-to-do farmers drive the latest 4WD pick-up truck and the shepherds have mobile phones. More Greeks are now travelling and studying abroad. Greek children, meanwhile, are now the fattest in the EU and many teenagers are addicted to internet games.
High levels of home ownership, generational wealth and family support structures – plus a decade of economic boom times – go a fair way to explaining a lifestyle that is pretty much out of sync with average incomes. Greek wages remain among the lowest in the EU, yet the cost of living has risen dramatically, particularly since the introduction of the euro in 2002.
But after 10 years of economic boom times, Greece was conceding a slide into recession by 2009 (ironically having been propped up by a black-market economy estimated by various studies at up to 30% of the country’s GDP). Greek households have also been living beyond their means, with the use of credit cards, loans and dosis (instalment schemes) skyrocketing.
Overeducated middle-class youth, dubbed the €700 generation (the average postgraduation monthly wage), remain highly dependent on family and largely disenchanted by career prospects, having lost the sense of possibility engendered by the 2004 Olympics. Youth disenchantment, along with a general political malaise, partly fuelled the social unrest and rioting following the police shooting of a teenager in December 2008.
Huge disparities in the overall standard of living and a stark rural–city divide persist. There has also been a perceptible increase in the number of junkies, homeless people and beggars on the streets of Athens and other major towns.
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PEOPLE & SOCIETY
Greece’s population was estimated at 11.2 million in 2009, with a third of the population living in the Greater Athens area. Greece has become a largely urban society, with more than two-thirds of the population living in cities and less than 15% living on the islands.
However, regional development, decentralisation and the improved lot of many regional communities has stemmed the tide of people moving to Athens (other than new immigrant arrivals). Young people are less likely to leave major regional growth centres such as Larisa, Iraklio or Ioannina, while people are also