Ten years that changed us.

2015–2020 · Society

The refugee years

A country at Europe's edge, and what it taught us about measuring public mood

In 2015, more than 850,000 people crossed the sea to Greece, according to UNHCR. Most landed on a handful of islands (Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros), communities of a few tens of thousands that suddenly found themselves at the centre of a global crisis. About a third of those arriving were children.

For five years, the story moved in waves. The EU–Turkey statement of March 2016 sharply reduced arrivals but left thousands waiting in island camps for months or years. Moria, on Lesvos, became a symbol of that wait, until fire destroyed it in September 2020.

Two moods at once

What struck us as researchers was that Greek society held two moods at the same time. On one side, extraordinary solidarity: fishermen, grandmothers and volunteers who became a global image of compassion. On the other, a fatigue that grew quietly, especially on the islands, where local economies depended on tourism and residents felt the burden was theirs alone.

A single national poll could never capture this. The same person could say, in one breath, that Greece had a duty to help and that their island had been forgotten by Europe. Opinions shifted by region, by month and by how close people lived to the camps.

What it meant for business

The crisis also touched brands and organisations directly:

• Tourism: island destinations had to manage their image abroad, often against headlines they did not control.
• Retail and services: local businesses served a temporary population with very different needs, languages and budgets.
• NGOs and donors: needed evidence of what worked, beyond good intentions.

Lessons for research

• Track over time, not once. Public sentiment on sensitive issues moves fast. A tracker tells you far more than a snapshot.
• Go local. National averages hid what was happening on Lesvos or Samos. Regional samples and on-the-ground interviews mattered.
• Listen beyond the survey. On polarising topics, people often give the "acceptable" answer. Qualitative depth and careful listening to public conversation reveal what lies underneath.

A decade later, migration remains one of Europe's most divisive questions. The method lesson stays the same: when emotions run high, measure carefully, locally and over time.

Sources: UNHCR, Greece 2015 year-end report; CARE International, EU–Turkey deal timeline; bpb, Greece's refugee and asylum policy.

Published November 2026 · Looking back at 2015–2020

2016–2026 · Media

Always on

Ten years of social media overexposure, and why Greece is now drawing a line

When we wrote about mobile surveys in 2016, the smartphone was a promising research tool. Ten years later, it is where daily life happens, especially for the young.

A 2024 study by the Center for Social Action and Innovation (KMOP) among Greek children aged 9 to 12 found that nearly 60% use social media every day, and more than three in four go online on their own devices. One in five had seen content about suicide, drugs or extreme dieting. Nearly half did not know how to block or report another user.

The cost of the endless scroll

Over the decade, the conversation shifted from opportunity to concern: sleep, attention, body image, bullying and anxiety. Parents, teachers and doctors began to describe the same pattern, and governments started to listen.

What it means for brands and researchers

• Social media is not society. Online conversation is loud, young-skewed and shaped by algorithms. As we have long said: reality is not what it looks like on social media. Listening tools, including our own DF Decoding Fame, measure the public conversation, and good research always checks it against what people actually think and do.
• Trust is the new currency. Audiences who feel manipulated by feeds are quicker to punish brands that seem to exploit them.
• Age matters more than ever. Marketing to teenagers through social platforms is becoming harder, both legally and ethically.

Sources: KMOP study via Kathimerini/Millet News (January 2025); Reuters via Cyprus Mail, "Greece passes social media ban for children under 15" (October 2026); The Next Web (2026).

Published November 2026 · Looking back at 2016–2026

2016–2025 · Food & drink

Small batch, big shift

Craft beer, specialty coffee, organic food and the new way Greece eats and drinks

Walk through any Greek city today and the change is visible: a specialty coffee roaster where a traditional kafeneio once stood, a local craft beer on the bar menu, organic and small-producer products on supermarket shelves, and menus that name the farm, village or island the ingredients came from.

Craft beer shows the pace. In 2010, Greece had six microbreweries. By 2025 it had more than 72, plus at least 35 "gypsy" brewers who brew on other people's equipment, together producing over 700 different beers, according to the Greek microbreweries' association (SMAZE), as reported by To Vima. Microbreweries still hold less than 10% of the market, while two international groups control more than 80%. But the direction is clear: according to the association, 64% of 18–35-year-olds drink more craft beer than they did two years earlier.

Coffee followed a similar path. Since the first Athens Coffee Festival in 2016, specialty or "third wave" coffee has moved from a niche to the high street, with local roasters, single-origin beans and baristas who talk about origin and roast the way sommeliers talk about wine.

On the land, Greece is ahead of much of Europe. About 17% of its agricultural area is farmed organically, against an EU average of around 10%, according to the European Environment Agency. The national goal is 25% by 2030, in line with the EU target.

What is driving it

• Quality and origin. People want to know where food comes from and who made it. In a January 2026 survey by the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB), 76% of Greeks said they prefer Greek products when available, and 87% want "Made in Greece" labels.
• Experience. Eating and drinking out is about discovery and story, not only taste.
• Tourism. Visitors look for local flavour, and hospitality businesses use craft and local products to stand out.
• Health and environment. Organic, less processed and more sustainable choices are part of a wider wellness trend.

The paradox: pay more, or pay less?

The same households are under pressure. In the AUEB survey, more than half said they had cut back and were choosing cheaper products, and private label now accounts for nearly four in ten items bought. In an IELKA survey in early 2025, around two in three consumers said environmental issues in food matter, but only 17% were willing to pay more for products made with eco-friendly methods.

Our reading: Greek consumers are not trading up across the board. They save on the basics and spend selectively on small, meaningful pleasures: a good coffee, a local beer, a product with a story. Knowing where that line falls, for whom and in which category, is the key question for brands.

What it means for business

• Retailers: local and premium ranges now sit alongside a strong private label. The shelf has to work for both.
• Large brands: craft competitors win on story and authenticity. Consumers notice which responses feel genuine and which feel borrowed.
• Hospitality: hotels, restaurants and cafés can turn local sourcing into a reason to visit, but only if it is real and visible.
• Small producers: growth means understanding buyers beyond the first loyal fans.

Lessons for research

• Separate intention from behaviour. What people say they value and what they pay for often differ. Combine attitudes with purchase data.
• Segment by occasion, not only by person. The same consumer buys private label pasta and a specialty coffee on the same day.
• Listen to the language. Words like "craft", "local" and "authentic" carry meanings that qualitative research can unpack, and that brands can easily misuse.

Sources: To Vima, "Greek craft beer disrupting big beer industry?" (June 2025, citing SMAZE and Brewers of Europe); European Environment Agency, Area under organic farming: Greece; AUEB survey via Greek City Times (February 2026); IELKA survey via ESM Magazine (May 2025); Athens Coffee Festival.

Published November 2026 · Looking back at 2016–2025

2020–2022 · Health & society

When the world stopped

COVID-19, globally and in Greece: what changed, and what stayed

In March 2020, Greece locked down early and was praised abroad for keeping the first wave under control. The months that followed were harder. By December 2021, the country had passed 20,000 COVID-19 deaths, a loss felt in almost every family.

The economic blow fell hardest on the sector Greece relies on most. In 2020, international arrivals fell by 78% to 7.4 million, and travel receipts dropped by 76% to €4.3 billion, according to Bank of Greece data reported by GTP.

A crash course in digital life

Almost overnight, Greeks, including older generations, learned to work, shop, bank, see doctors and deal with the state online. Public digital services expanded rapidly, and habits that would normally take a decade formed in months.

What stayed

• Health on the agenda: self-care, immunity, OTC products and wellness gained a lasting place in household spending.
• Home as a hub: more time and money spent on the home, from cooking to home offices.
• Digital by default: e-commerce, online banking and digital public services kept much of their new audience.
• Trust, divided: confidence in science and institutions rose for some and fell sharply for others, a split still visible in public conversation.

What it meant for research

Research itself moved online. Face-to-face interviews gave way to video interviews, online communities and mobile diaries. We learned that online qualitative work can be deep and intimate, sometimes more so, because people speak from their own homes. We also learned its limits: older and less connected groups need other routes in.

Lessons for research

The pandemic showed how quickly behaviour can change, and how important it is to tell temporary shifts from permanent ones. The question we keep asking clients is simple: which of today's habits will still be here in three years?

Sources: GTP, final 2020 arrivals and receipts data (Bank of Greece); To Vima, Greece passes 20,000 COVID-19 deaths (December 2021).

Published November 2026 · Looking back at 2020–2022

2019–2023 · Health

The quiet burden

Mental health in Greece, measured in healthy years lost

In May 2026, the latest Global Burden of Disease study (GBD 2023), published in The Lancet by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the University of Queensland, put a number on something many people in Greece already felt. In 2023, mental disorders cost the country about 325,000 years of healthy life, measured as disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). That is 3,005 healthy years lost per 100,000 people, above the Western European average of 2,744 and well above the global average of 2,070.

Mental disorders now account for 8.5% of all health loss in Greece, the fifth largest cause. Since 1990, the burden has risen by 135.5%, and the number of people living with a mental disorder has grown from about 14,200 to 19,600 per 100,000 (age-standardised). Anxiety disorders and major depression account for most of it.

A global trend, sharpened by recent years

Worldwide, around 1.2 billion people live with a mental disorder. Since 2019, cases of major depression have risen by about a quarter and anxiety disorders by almost half. Only 9% of people with major depression receive minimally adequate treatment.

In Greece, the pressures of the past few years are easy to list, and several appear in this series: the pandemic, wildfires and eco-anxiety, housing costs, and a childhood spent online. The data do not point to a single cause, but they show clearly where the strain has landed.

What it means for business

• Healthcare and pharma: rising need for diagnosis, treatment and support, and a wide treatment gap. Understanding the patient journey, from first symptoms to asking for help, is essential.
• Employers: anxiety and depression are major drivers of absence and lost productivity. Wellbeing programmes need evidence, not slogans.
• Insurers: mental health cover is becoming a deciding factor for customers.
• Brands: wellbeing messages are everywhere, and audiences can tell care from opportunism.

Lessons for research

• Design for sensitivity. Stigma means people under-report. Anonymous online methods and skilled, empathic qualitative interviewing help people speak honestly.
• Look behind the averages. Age, gender, region and income change the picture.
• Combine scale and experience. Studies such as GBD show how big the burden is. Research shows how people live with it, and what would help.

Sources: The Lancet, GBD 2023 study of mental disorders (IHME and University of Queensland, 2026), as reported by To Vima and Politis (May 2026).

Published November 2026 · Looking back at 2019–2023

2021–2025 · Climate

Living with heat

Wildfires, heatwaves, floods and eco-anxiety: Greece on the front line of climate change

Few Europeans have felt climate change as directly as Greeks in the past five years. In 2021, fires devastated large parts of Evia and the outskirts of Athens. In July 2023, about 19,000 people, many of them tourists, were evacuated from Rhodes in the country's largest wildfire evacuation. A month later, the fire in Evros burned more than 810 square kilometres, the largest wildfire ever recorded in the EU, and at least 20 people died. Weeks after that, Storm Daniel flooded the plain of Thessaly, Greece's farming heartland.

From headlines to everyday anxiety

These are no longer seen as rare disasters but as part of each summer. A UNICEF U-Report poll published in 2025 found that 90% of young people in Greece say they have directly experienced the effects of climate change, and about a quarter report increased anxiety because of it. In some regions, nearly half call it a major source of stress.

What it means for business

• Tourism: peak-summer heat and fire risk are pushing demand toward spring and autumn. Destinations that adapt their offer and communication early will benefit.
• Insurance and property: risk perception is rising faster than cover. Many households and small businesses remain uninsured.
• Agriculture and food: floods and drought hit supply chains and prices, from Thessaly's crops to supermarket shelves.
• Brands: consumers are both more concerned and more sceptical. Green claims without proof quickly backfire.

Lessons for research

• Measure feelings, not only opinions. Eco-anxiety affects decisions, from where to holiday to whether to have children. It needs careful qualitative work, not only agree/disagree scales.
• Separate concern from action. Many people say they care. Fewer change behaviour. The gap is where brands and policymakers can make a difference.
• Watch the conversation in real time. During a disaster, public sentiment about brands, destinations and authorities can turn within hours.

Sources: Al Jazeera, "Greece blaze is largest wildfire ever recorded in EU" (August 2023); AP via Boston Globe, Rhodes evacuation (July 2023); UNICEF Greece, "We're not ready: climate anxiety grows among young people in Greece" (2025).

Published November 2026 · Looking back at 2021–2025

2018–2025 · Housing

Home, unaffordable

Airbnb, golden visas, digital nomads, and a generation priced out

Greece now has the highest housing cost burden in Europe. According to Eurostat, 26.4% of people in Greece spend more than 40% of their disposable income on housing, against an EU average of 7.7%. The year before, the figure was 28.9%.

Rents are rising fastest. In 2025, rents in Greece rose by 10.1%, the second highest increase in the EU, against an EU average of 3.2%, according to a KEFiM study based on Eurostat and Bank of Greece data. In Athens, a two-bedroom flat can now cost an entire monthly salary. Young Greeks leave the family home at around 31, among the latest in the EU.

How did we get here?

Several forces met at the same time:

• Short-term rentals. Platforms such as Airbnb turned thousands of central flats into tourist accommodation. From January 2025, Athens banned new short-term rental licences in its three central districts, a ban now extended to the end of 2026.
• Golden visas. For years, a €250,000 property purchase gave non-EU buyers residence. In March 2024, the threshold rose to €800,000 in Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and larger islands, and €400,000 elsewhere. Golden visa homes can no longer be let short-term.
• Digital nomads. Greece introduced a digital nomad visa in 2021, attracting remote workers with foreign salaries to Athens and the islands.
• Too few new homes. After a decade of crisis, construction almost stopped, and supply has not caught up.

A socioeconomic fault line

Housing is becoming a divide between generations, between owners and renters, and between those earning in Greece and those earning abroad. It shapes when people form families, where they work and whether young graduates stay in the country.

What it means for research and business

• Banks and developers need to understand who can still buy, and what compromises they will make.
• Brands should note that high housing costs leave less room for other spending, especially among under-35s.
• Policymakers need evidence on how renters actually live, not only on prices.

Sources: Eurostat via Euronews and Greek City Times (2026); KEFiM, Housing Prices and Rents in Greece and the EU (2026); Greek City Times on the golden visa changes (2024) and the Athens short-term rental ban (2026); To Vima, Eurostat data on leaving the parental home; Greek Reporter on Athens rents (April 2026).

Published November 2026 · Looking back at 2018–2025

2017–2026 · Real estate

The property boom: will it last?

Eight years of rising prices, and what the data says about what comes next

From their low point in 2017, Greek home prices have risen by 86%, according to Bank of Greece data. In the third quarter of 2025, they were still growing by 7.7% a year. Thessaloniki led with 9.6%, while Athens rose by 6.6%. Interestingly, older homes are rising faster than new ones (8.5% against 6.6%), a sign that buyers priced out of new builds are turning to older stock.

Back to the peak, or not?

In nominal terms, prices are now 7.1% above their 2008 peak. But adjusted for inflation, they are still 17.2% below it. In real terms, the market has not fully recovered from the crisis, even if it feels like a boom to anyone trying to buy.

What has driven the rise

• A long shortage of new homes after the crisis years.
• Foreign demand, from golden visa buyers to second-home owners.
• Tourism, with short-term rentals turning homes into investments.
• Recovering incomes and better access to credit.

What could slow it

• Affordability. Greek incomes have not kept pace, and Greece already has the highest housing cost burden in Europe.
• Policy. Higher golden visa thresholds and limits on short-term rentals reduce some investment demand.
• Interest rates and the wider economy. Any slowdown in tourism or credit would cool demand.

The latest quarterly figures already show the pace easing: prices rose 1.5% in the third quarter of 2025, against an average of 2.6% per quarter earlier in the year.

What research can add

Price indices tell us what has happened. They do not tell us what buyers will do next. Research among potential buyers (their intentions, budgets, fears and trade-offs) is the best early warning of a turning point. For developers, banks and investors, understanding the person behind the purchase is the difference between riding the market and being caught by it.

Sources: Bank of Greece data via Proto Thema (December 2025); Eurostat via Euronews (2026).

Published November 2026 · Looking back at 2017–2026