Inflation in 2022 hit poorest households the hardest, deepening economic divide
A new economic study has revealed that the poorest households were hit significantly harder by inflation in 2022 than the wealthiest, highlighting the unequal burden of rising prices during the post-pandemic economic surge.
According to research by Giorgos Ioannidis, published in the Economic Developments journal of the Center for Planning and Economic Research (KEPE), inflation for the lowest 20% income group reached 10.4% in 2022—nearly two full percentage points higher than the 8.5% inflation experienced by the top 10% of earners. The national average inflation that year stood at 9.6%.
The study, titled “Income, Age, Consumption Practices and Inflation,” attributes this disparity to differences in spending patterns. Lower-income households spend a larger portion of their income on necessities such as food, energy, and housing—categories that saw some of the steepest price increases during the inflation spike.
While inflationary pressures eased in 2023 and 2024 and the gap between income groups narrowed to just 0.1%, Ioannidis warns that the damage has already been done.
“The inflationary shock of the 2021–2022 period consolidated a situation where the poorest households face a consistently higher average price level compared to the richest,” the report notes.
In short, the temporary equalization of inflation rates did not reverse the earlier harm; it simply locked in a new normal of persistent inequality in living costs.
Economists and policymakers have expressed concern that without targeted intervention—such as subsidies, tax relief, or revised social safety nets—lower-income households may continue to bear the brunt of economic shocks, even when inflation overall appears to be under control.
