PIIGS

It’s an unflattering acronym for an unfortunate set of circumstances. In fact, it’s so unflattering—and, according to some, mildly racist—that use of the term has been banned in some publications, and is highly frowned upon in many polite societies.

So...what is it? In 2007, thanks to their extreme levels of debt and financial insolvency, the countries of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain became known as the PIIGS. (Fun fact: it was just “PIGS” when the diss was first coined in the ‘70s, but then in 2008, Ireland’s economy hit the fan as well, granting it membership into this economically weak little club.)

Why are these guys doing so much worse than their other EU buddies, like France and Germany? Well, one argument says that low interest rates back in the early-to-mid-2000s allowed these countries to borrow a lot more money than they could ever afford to pay back. Then, when the financial crisis hit, it was like a double whammy: they were already on shaky financial ground, and now the bottom had fallen out of the world economy, exacerbating the problem by a factor of ten.

But here’s the good news: as of 2018, these nations seem to be showing signs of recovery. If things keep going the way they are, they might even be able to crawl out from underneath the legacy of their unbecoming nickname.