Greece’s economy expanded more slowly than the European Union and the eurozone in the second quarter of 2026, underscoring a loss of momentum even as the country continued to outperform much of Europe on an annual basis.
Seasonally adjusted Greek gross domestic product rose 0.3% from the first quarter, according to Eurostat data released Monday. That was half the eurozone’s 0.6% expansion and well below the 0.7% growth recorded across the EU.
The comparison looks more favorable over a longer horizon. Greece’s economy was 1.9% larger than in the second quarter of 2025, compared with annual growth of 1.2% in the eurozone and 1.4% across the EU.
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The figures present a mixed picture for an economy that has spent recent years growing faster than many of its European peers. Greece continues to outperform the region on a year-over-year basis, but its latest quarterly reading suggests that the gap is narrowing as growth moderates.
The slowdown is visible in the recent trajectory of GDP. Greece’s economy expanded 0.6% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter of 2025 and 0.7% in the fourth quarter, before growth slowed to 0.2% in the first three months of 2026. The second-quarter increase of 0.3% represents only a modest acceleration from that pace.
Annual growth has also eased. The economy expanded 1.9% from a year earlier in the second quarter, down from 2% in the first quarter and 2.3% in the final three months of 2025.
Greece’s performance sits roughly in the middle of a European economy marked by unusually wide differences among member states. Ireland posted by far the strongest quarterly expansion, at 10.2%, followed by Slovenia at 1.8% and Lithuania at 1.7%. Austria was the only EU member state to record a contraction, with GDP declining 0.1%.
Several southern and eastern European economies also grew faster than Greece. Malta expanded 1.1% from the previous quarter and Poland 1%, while Cyprus and Portugal each grew 0.8%. Spain, Bulgaria and Latvia recorded growth of 0.7%.
Greece’s 0.3% quarterly expansion matched Germany, Denmark and Estonia. It nevertheless exceeded Italy’s 0.2% growth and France’s flat reading.
On a year-over-year basis, Greece compares more favorably with the eurozone’s biggest economies. Its 1.9% expansion was almost twice the 1% rates recorded in Germany and Italy and substantially stronger than France’s 0.5%.
But Greece continued to lag some of Europe’s faster-growing economies. Spain expanded 2.7% from a year earlier, Cyprus 3.3%, Lithuania and Poland 3.8% each and Slovenia 4.8%.
The more concerning signal came from the labor market.
Employment in Greece declined 0.4% from the previous quarter, the second-steepest fall among EU countries for which data were available. Only Finland performed worse, with employment falling 0.8%. Portugal recorded the strongest increase, at 1%, followed by the Czech Republic and Malta, both at 0.9%.
The contrast with the broader European labor market was notable. Employment increased 0.1% quarter-on-quarter in both the eurozone and the EU during the second quarter.
Compared with a year earlier, employment in Greece remained marginally higher, rising 0.1%. That was well below the 0.5% increase recorded across the eurozone and the 0.4% gain in the EU.
