20 August 2026
A wage in euros tells half the story. The question everyone understands is simple: how many gyros does the wage buy.
The problem with euros
Greece's 1985 minimum wage was 84.78 € net per month in today's currency; in 2026 it is 792.40 €. At first glance that is a huge raise. In reality it says nothing, because prices moved too.
Official inflation solves this, but abstractly: indices, baskets, weights. Few people can say off the top of their head what "CPI rose 3.1%" means in practice.
Why a gyro works as a unit
The pita gyro is close to an ideal comparison currency: every age group and income bracket buys it, it exists in every neighbourhood, and the product has stayed recognisably the same for decades.
It also bundles most of the economy's costs: meat, energy, shop rent, staff wages, VAT. When its price moves, something real has changed.
What the index shows
The Pita-Gyro Index is one division: net minimum wage divided by the average gyro price. In 1985 that gave 482 gyros a month, in 2002 528, and in 2026 162.
It is not a nutrition metric. It is a purchasing-power metric expressed in a unit people already carry in their heads.
Where the limits are
The index tracks the minimum wage, not the average one. It ignores housing, income tax beyond social contributions, and local price differences.
That is why Gyronomics always shows three price-scenario variants alongside it, so you can see how much the answer depends on the assumptions.
See the same numbers live in the interactive dashboard.