Social Affairs and Social Solidarity Minister Theano Fotiou claimed during an interview with ANA that child poverty in Greece has returned to pre-crisis levels.
Fotiou said her claim is based on 2018 income figures, due for public release, that show "a huge drop in both poverty and child poverty".
Responding to stats from the OECD Fotiou clarified that "in times of prosperity, Greece was still among the first-ranking countries for child poverty and poverty in general. Child poverty in 2008 was extremely high at 23% meaning that before the crisis started the level was high. At that time poverty was at 28.1%, according to the Eurostat report [...] In 2008 the poverty level in Greece was an annual income of 6,480 euros and this threshold in 2016 has reached 4,500 euros - that is why we say that the middle classes have been impoverished" she said.
In this context, the Minister explained that when the SYRIZA government took over in 2015, based on OECD report data, child poverty was at 26.5% and within two years - based on 2015 and 2016 incomes - the figure dropped to 24.5%.
