For the first time during 1952-63, an urbanization procedure was brought about in the Greek population, during which the ratio rural-urban sector outweighed in favour of the latter. The main place of assimilation was the urban complex of Athens. At the same time, the influx from the country to the cities was accompanied by a rapid growth of the emigration flow. The structural changes that were brought about, were revealed through labour (forms of occupation), consumption and government measures concerning the stabilization and growth of economy.

The devaluation of the currency in 1953 (Spyridon Markezinis) created a new financial hierarchy: increase of imports, boost in commercial consumption, combating against inflation, but also a deficit in the balance of trade. The expansion of public investments, despite their often confined orientation, was a decision of historical importance made by the Karamanlis governments. The growth rate of the GNP with the contribution of invisible resources was explosive (7% annually), but did not reflect phenomena like industrial stagnancy and the lack of central programming in agriculture.

One of the primary concerns for the governments of the period 1956-61 was how to deal with productivity, underemployment and sufficiency of resources. Despite the fact that agriculture continued to be the largest productive sector, the rural world had undergone radical changes in relation to the interwar period. The growth of communication networks, the diffusion of cinema, the emergence of tourism brought wider social strata closer to the way of living of industrial societies.