Greek insurance market desperately lags OECD states

Greeks are particularly underinsured compared with other insurance systems in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The capitalization of the Greek private insurance system amounts to just 0.8 percent of the country's gross domestic product, against 140 percent in the OECD states.

This shortfall, according to the president of the Hellenic Association of Insurance Companies (EAEE), Alexandros Sarrigeorgiou, means that from the day a Greek worker retires he only has money saved to last him three days, against the average OECD country citizen whose savings in terms of system capitalization last for about a year and a half.

The huge distance Greece has to cover compared to the rest of Europe is illustrated by the low expenditure on insurance coverage - i.e. the average premium per head - that in Greece stands at just 368 euros against 2,030 in...