economy of Greece

Greece is a developed country with a mixed economy. The Greek economy is the 50th-largest by nominal gross domestic product (GDP) and 54th-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). It is the 16th-largest economy in the European Union and eleventh largest in the eurozone. Greece is a welfare state and ranks relatively highly among OECD nations in terms of social spending, which stood at 23.7% of GDP in 2024. It has the largest debt-to-GDP ratio in the EU, standing at 146% in 2025. The economy is based on the service (78%), industrial (18%) and agricultural (4%) sectors.

The Greek economy was devastated by World War II (1939–1945), but expanded rapidly from 1950 to 1980 in what is commonly known as the Greek economic miracle. Greece also enjoyed a sustained period of growth rates above the EU average from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, peaking at 6.4% in 2006. The subsequent Great Recession and Greek government-debt crisis, a central focus of the wider euro area crisis, plunged the economy into a sharp downturn in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The tourism boom of recent years has helped drive a strong recovery, with Greece setting new records in arrivals (38 million) and revenue (€23.6 billion) in 2025 as one of the most visited countries in the world.