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23.1% or 3.9 million Greeks are at risk of poverty, as shown by the Hellenic Statistical Institute data. According to them, the number of people who cannot respond to up to 4 of the 9 basic needs has increased and the percentage of socially excluded is 35.7%. This places Greece second in the European ranking after Bulgaria, where the relevant percentage is 48%.

Furthermore, in 2013 the incomes of 20% of the richest Greeks were 6.6 times higher than the incomes of 20% of the poorest Greeks. The Greek media are commenting that this inequality was the highest in Europe.

According to the Hellenic Statistical Institute, the list of difficulties in responding to the basic goods and services includes the following:

1. Difficulties in paying bills (rents or mortgage loan instalments, electricity, water, natural gas and other bills, monthly charges to cover credit card payments or instalments for loans obtained for the purchase of domestic equipment, leaves, etc.).
2. Financial inability for a one-week leave. 57.9% of the poor in Greece respond that they are not able to cover such costs.
3. Financial inability to provide a diet that includes meat, fish or vegetables with high nutritional value every second day - 41.5% of the people indicate that they cannot cover these costs. For comparison, the corresponding percentage of the Greeks who are not part of the poor population is 4.7%.
4. Financial inability to cover urgent but necessary expenses that amount to about 550 euro - 79.1% of the poor population and 39.1% of the rest of the Greeks are unable to respond to such urgent needs.
5. Financial inability to maintain a telephone connection (landline or mobile).
6. Financial inability to buy a colour TV.
7. Financial inability to purchase a washing machine.
8. Financial inability to purchase a car.
9. Financial inability to provide sufficient heating - 29.4% of the total population in Greece, or one in three persons, cannot afford it.

In particular, the statistics related to the poor population show the following:

The data of the Greek Statistical Institute for the poor make it clear that

- 23.3% are children under 18 years

- 35.2% belong to the 18-59 age group and have primary education

- 21.6% belong to the 18-64 age group

- 9.4% belong to the 18-59 age group and have university education

- 13.7% are aged over 65 years

- 15% are women and 12.1% men.

The percentage of those Greeks who in 2013 lived in a smaller house that did not correspond to their needs was 27.3% of the total population. According to the respondents, the average net monthly income required to cover the needs of a household was 1,784 euro. Poor households state that their requirements amounted to 1,428 euro per month whereas the households outside this category needed 1,879 euro.

According to the same data, the annual poverty line in Greece in 2013 was 5,023 euro per person and 10,547 euro per family with 2 parents and 2 children under 14 years. Five years earlier, in 2008, the poverty line was 6,897.30 euro per person per year.