Human Capital
During the previous decades, Greece’s integration into the E.U., demographic changes and globalization trends, reshaped the economic landscape. The human resources of the country adapted accordingly, in order to be able to meet the needs of today’s economy that is based on services and knowledge. Greece has a remarkable number of highly skilled workers, able to efficiently support any investment effort.
Turn to services
The Greek economy has demonstrated significant structural reforms during the previous years, and as a result approximately 73,2% of the workforce during the 4th quarter of 2021 was employed in the service sector, 15,3% in the secondary sector and 11,5% in the primary sector. Modern trends have significantly altered the employment of the workforce compared to 30 years ago, whereas education and training are increasingly oriented to meet the needs of the modern globalized economy.
Languages
The tourism sector, with a share exceeding 20% of the GDP during the previous years, has undoubtedly contributed to the increased employment of the workforce. Many of the secondary and higher education institutions of the country offer specialized training in the subject of tourism, with a focus in teaching foreign languages. As a result, Greece has a large number of individuals that speak foreign languages, and has a high EU ranking in this area.
English is the most popular foreign language in Greece and is now used extensively, especially in multinational companies, often on a daily basis.
Intellectual Capital
Education has been recognized as the most valued resource that an individual possesses in order to progress and Greeks are willing to invest in the education of their children. In practice, Greece – per capita – sends more students to study abroad, compared to many countries. The universities of the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France and the USA host a large number of students from Greece, many of whom achieve high academic performance in their studies.
During the academic year 2019-2020, the students enrolled in higher educational institutions in Greece, at the undergraduate level, amounted to 679.537 (including the Open University and the Technical Universities). During the previous years, the number of postgraduate students was significantly increased, amounting to 84.077 enrolled in postgraduate studies programs and 31.167 in doctoral studies programs, for the academic year 2019-2020. Greek students express high interest in medicine, sciences, new technologies and economic and legal studies, especially during the last years, since these sectors offer new programs and more opportunities for studies abroad.
The “intellectual capital” of Greece will continue to constitute a strong advantage of the country and investors searching for specialized individuals will find a multitude of competitive advantages by selecting Greece as a place to invest.
Representative Data
Number of employed by sector of economic activity
(In thousands and %), 2021 (4th quarter)
