In 2023, Greek households spent nearly €614 million on private tutoring for general education—a dramatic increase that underscores the country’s heavy reliance on supplementary education and the growing financial burden on families.
Despite public education being officially free, these figures reveal a parallel reality where access to academic success often comes at a steep price.
The latest data, published by the Centre for the Development of Educational Policy (KANEP-GSEE), reveals that tutoring—commonly referred to as "shadow education" in Greece—has become a near-essential investment, particularly for students preparing for the highly competitive university entrance exams. After a steady decline in spending between 2013 and 2020, the last two years have seen a sharp 36% increase in tutoring costs, even after adjusting for inflation.
Most of the spending—an overwhelming 94.6%—goes toward secondary education, where pressure to perform well in national exams is intense. Although smaller in scale, tutoring in primary education has grown rapidly, with spending quadrupling over the past decade due to the rise of after-school study centers. In contrast, spending on tutoring for university students remains minimal.
The financial strain is not evenly distributed.
Urban households spend significantly more than rural ones, and wealthier families have far greater access to tutoring services.
In fact, the richest households allocate more than three times the percentage of their budget to tutoring compared to the poorest ones. Profession also plays a role: clerks and retail workers are among those spending the most on tutoring, even more than some top-tier professionals, possibly because higher-income groups often opt for private one-on-one lessons instead of organized centers.
Family structure is another key factor. Households with two children under 16 tend to spend the most, while larger families often cut back due to limited resources. Single-parent families face a particularly heavy burden, with tutoring expenses taking up a higher share of their total budget than two-parent households.
