The man jumped at around 9 a.m., as tourists began arriving at Greece's most famous attraction the Acropolis. Photo by euratlas.net

A Greek bank worker plunged to his death from the Acropolis on Thursday in an apparent response to the hardship caused by the austerity crisis.

The man was in his 40s and worked at Greece's troubled state-owned agricultural lender, ATEbank. He took a break shortly after starting work in the morning but never returned, police said.

The man jumped at around 9 a.m., as tourists began arriving at Greece's most famous attraction. Some of them said they heard the man scream and later saw him lying dead on the ground.

According to health ministry data, the suicide rate jumped about 40% in the first five months of 2011 compared with a year earlier and the trend has accelerated in 2012.

Greece, which is at the center of Europe's debt crisis, has struggled with an unsustainable level of debt and an economy that has been in recession for years.

Unemployment and cuts to pay, pensions and social welfare provision have caused hardship for many people.