Greece achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1830. During the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, it gradually added neighboring islands and territories, most with Greek-speaking populations. In World War II, Greece was first invaded by Italy (1940) and subsequently occupied by Germany (1941-44); fighting endured in a protracted civil war between supporters of the king and other anti-communist and communist rebels. Following the latter's defeat in 1949, Greece joined NATO in 1952. In 1967, a group of military officers seized power, establishing a military dictatorship that suspended many political liberties and forced the king to flee the country. In 1974 following the collapse of the dictatorship, democratic elections and a referendum created a parliamentary republic and abolished the monarchy. In 1981, Greece joined the EC (now the EU); it became the 12th member of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in 2001. Greece has suffered a severe economic crisis since late 2009, due to nearly a decade of chronic overspending and structural rigidities. Since 2010, Greece has entered three bailout agreements with the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB), the IMF, and with the third, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The Greek Government agreed to its current, $96 billion bailout in August 2015, which will conclude in August 2018.
Southern Europe, bordering the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea, between Albania and Turkey
39 00 N, 22 00 E
Europe
total: 131,957 sq km
land: 130,647 sq km
water: 1,310 sq km
slightly smaller than Alabama
total: 1,110 km
border countries (4): Albania 212 km, Bulgaria 472 km, Macedonia 234 km, Turkey 192 km
13,676 km
territorial sea: 12 nm
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
temperate; mild, wet winters; hot, dry summers
mountainous with ranges extending into the sea as peninsulas or chains of islands
mean elevation: 498 m
elevation extremes: lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m
highest point: Mount Olympus 2,917 m
lignite, petroleum, iron ore, bauxite, lead, zinc, nickel, magnesite, marble, salt, hydropower potential
agricultural land: 63.4%
arable land 19.7%; permanent crops 8.9%; permanent pasture 34.8%
forest: 30.5%
other: 6.1% (2011 est.)
15,550 sq km (2012)
severe earthquakes
volcanism: Santorini (elev. 367 m) has been deemed a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations; although there have been very few eruptions in recent centuries, Methana and Nisyros in the Aegean are classified as historically active
air pollution; water pollution
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds
strategic location dominating the Aegean Sea and southern approach to Turkish Straits; a peninsular country, possessing an archipelago of about 2,000 islands
noun: Greek(s)
adjective: Greek
10,773,253 (July 2016 est.)
population: Greek 93%, other (foreign citizens) 7% (2001 census)
note: data represent citizenship, since Greece does not collect data on ethnicity
Greek (official) 99%, other (includes English and French) 1%
Greek Orthodox (official) 98%, Muslim 1.3%, other 0.7%
0-14 years: 13.93% (male 772,973/female 727,720)
15-24 years: 9.68% (male 533,112/female 510,133)
25-54 years: 42.71% (male 2,291,355/female 2,309,664)
55-64 years: 13% (male 686,182/female 713,821)
65 years and over: 20.68% (male 975,819/female 1,252,474) (2016 est.)
total dependency ratio: 56.2%
youth dependency ratio: 22.8%
elderly dependency ratio: 33.4%
potential support ratio: 3% (2015 est.)
total: 44.2 years
male: 43.1 years
female: 45.3 years (2016 est.)
-0.03% (2016 est.)
8.5 births/1,000 population (2016 est.)
11.2 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.)
2.3 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)
one-third of the population lives in and around metropolitan Athens; the remainder of the country has moderate population density mixed with sizeable pockets of urban agglomeration
urban population: 78% of total population (2015)
rate of urbanization: 0.47% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)
ATHENS (capital) 3.052 million (2015)
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female
total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2016 est.)
3 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)
total: 4.6 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 5.1 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 4.2 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.)
total population: 80.5 years
male: 77.9 years
female: 83.3 years (2016 est.)
1.42 children born/woman (2016 est.)
8.1% of GDP (2014)
4.8 beds/1,000 population (2009)
improved:
urban: 100% of population
rural: 100% of population
total: 100% of population
unimproved:
urban: 0% of population
rural: 0% of population
total: 0% of population (2015 est.)
improved:
urban: 99.2% of population
rural: 98.1% of population
total: 99% of population
unimproved:
urban: 0.8% of population
rural: 1.9% of population
total: 1% of population (2015 est.)
0.26% (2015 est.)
16,200 (2015 est.)
300 (2015 est.)
25.1% (2014)
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 97.7%
male: 98.5%
female: 96.9% (2015 est.)
total: 17 years
male: 17 years
female: 17 years (2013)
31.2 (2010 est.)
total: 52.4%
male: 47.4%
female: 58.1% (2014 est.)
conventional long form: Hellenic Republic
conventional short form: Greece
local long form: Elliniki Dimokratia
local short form: Ellas or Ellada
former: Hellenic State, Kingdom of Greece
etymology: the English name derives from the Roman (Latin) designation "Graecia," meaning "Land of the Greeks"; the Greeks call their country "Hellas" or "Ellada"
parliamentary republic
name: Athens
geographic coordinates: 37 59 N, 23 44 E
time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
13 regions (perifereies, singular - perifereia) and 1 autonomous monastic state* (aftonomi monastiki politeia); Agion Oros* (Mount Athos), Anatoliki Makedonia kai Thraki (East Macedonia and Thrace), Attiki (Attica), Dytiki Ellada (West Greece), Dytiki Makedonia (West Macedonia), Ionia Nisia (Ionian Islands), Ipeiros (Epirus), Kentriki Makedonia (Central Macedonia), Kriti (Crete), Notio Aigaio (South Aegean), Peloponnisos (Peloponnese), Sterea Ellada (Central Greece), Thessalia (Thessaly), Voreio Aigaio (North Aegean)
3 February 1830 (from the Ottoman Empire); note - 25 March 1821, outbreak of the national revolt against the Ottomans; 3 February 1830, signing of the London Protocol recognizing Greek independence by Great Britain, France, and Russia
Independence Day, 25 March (1821)
history: many previous; latest entered into force 11 June 1975
amendments: proposed by at least 50 members of Parliament and agreed by three-fifths majority vote in two separate ballots at least 30 days apart; passage requires absolute majority vote by the next elected Parliament; entry into force finalized through a “special parliamentary resolution”; articles on human rights and freedoms and the form of government cannot be amended; amended 1986, 2001, 2008 (2016)
civil legal system based on Roman law
accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction
citizenship by birth: no
citizenship by descent only: at least one parent must be a citizen of Greece
dual citizenship recognized: yes
residency requirement for naturalization: 10 years
18 years of age; universal and compulsory
chief of state: President Prokopios (Prokopis) PAVLOPOULOS (since 13 March 2015)
head of government: Prime Minister Alexios TSIPRAS (since 21 September 2015); note - Vasiliki THANOU-CHRISTOFILOU served as interim prime minister beginning on 27 August 2015 after the resignation of Alexios TSIPRAS on 20 August 2015; she was Greece's first female prime minister
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister
elections/appointments: president elected by Hellenic Parliament for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 18 February 2015 (next to be held by February 2020); president appoints as prime minister the leader of the majority party or coalition in the Hellenic Parliament
election results: Prokopios PAVLOPOULOS (ND) elected president by Parliament - 233 of 300 votes
description: unicameral Hellenic Parliament or Vouli ton Ellinon (300 seats; 288 members directly elected in single- and multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote and 12 seats are filled from nationwide party lists; 50 seats allocated to the party with the highest total valid vote count and remaining seats are apportioned according to each party's or coalition's vote percentage; members serve up to 4 years)
elections: last held on 20 September 2015 (next to be held by 2019); note - snap elections were called because of upheaval in the governing SYRIZA party over a new bailout deal with international creditors
election results: percent of vote by party - SYRIZA 35.5%, ND 28.1%, Golden Dawn 7.0%, PASOK-DIMAR 6.3%, KKE 5.6%, To Potami (The River) 4.1%, ANEL 3.7%, EK 3.4%, other 6.3%; seats by party - SYRIZA 145, ND 75, Golden Dawn 18, PASOK-DIMAR 17, KKE 15, To Potami 11, ANEL 10, EK 9; note - only parties surpassing a 3% threshold are entitled to parliamentary seats; parties need 10 seats to become formal parliamentary groups but can retain that status if the party participated in the last election and received the minimum 3% threshold
highest court(s): Areios Pagos, the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court (consists of 56 judges); Council of State (supreme administrative court); Court of Auditors
judge selection and term of office: judges selected by the Supreme Judicial Council, which includes the president of the Supreme Court, other judges, and the prosecutor of the Supreme Court; judges appointed for life following a 2-year probationary period
subordinate courts: Courts of Appeal and Courts of First Instance(district courts)
Anticapitalist Left Cooperation for the Overthrow or ANTARSYA [collective leadership]
Coalition of the Radical Left or SYRIZA [Alexios (Alexis) TSIPRAS]
Communist Party of Greece or KKE [Dimitrios KOUTSOUMBAS]
Democratic Left or DIMAR [Athanasios (Thanasis) THEOCHAROPOULOS]
Independent Greeks or ANEL [Panagiotis (Panos) KAMMENOS]
Movement of Democratic Socialists or KIDISO [Georgios PAPANDREOU]
New Democracy or ND [Kyriakos MITSOTAKIS]
Panhellenic Socialist Movement or PASOK [Foteini (Fofi) GENIMMATA]
People's Association-Golden Dawn [Nikolaos MICHALOLIAKOS]
Popular Unity [Panagiotis LAFAZANIS]
To Potami (The River) [Stavros THEODORAKIS]
Union of Centrists or EK [Vasilis LEVENTIS]
Supreme Administration of Civil Servants Unions or ADEDY [Spyros PAPASPYROS]
Federation of Greek Industries or SEV [Dimitris DASKALOPOULOS]
General Confederation of Greek Workers or GSEE [Ioannis PANAGOPOULOS]
Australia Group, BIS, BSEC, CD, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECB, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, FATF, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD (partners), IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OIF, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, Schengen Convention, SELEC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
chief of mission: Ambassador Theocharis LALAKOS (since 27 June 2016)
chancery: 2217 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 939-1300
FAX: [1] (202) 939-1324
consulate(s) general: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Tampa (FL), San Francisco
consulate(s): Atlanta, Houston
chief of mission: Ambassador Geoffrey R. PYATT (since 24 October 2016)
embassy: 91 Vasillisis Sophias Avenue, 10160 Athens
mailing address: PSC 108, APO AE 09842-0108
telephone: [30] (210) 721-2951
FAX: [30] (210) 645-6282
consulate(s) general: Thessaloniki (2012)
nine equal horizontal stripes of blue alternating with white; a blue square bearing a white cross appears in the upper hoist-side corner; the cross symbolizes Greek Orthodoxy, the established religion of the country; there is no agreed upon meaning for the nine stripes or for the colors; the exact shade of blue has never been set by law and has varied from a light to a dark blue over time
Greek cross (white cross on blue field, arms equal length); national colors: blue, white
name: "Ymnos eis tin Eleftherian" (Hymn to Liberty)
lyrics/music: Dionysios SOLOMOS/Nikolaos MANTZAROS
note: adopted 1864; the anthem is based on a 158-stanza poem by the same name, which was inspired by the Greek Revolution of 1821 against the Ottomans (only the first two stanzas are used); Cyprus also uses "Hymn to Liberty" as its anthem
Greece has a capitalist economy with a public sector accounting for about 40% of GDP and with per capita GDP about two-thirds that of the leading euro-zone economies. Tourism provides 18% of GDP. Immigrants make up nearly one-fifth of the work force, main
The Greek economy averaged growth of about 4% per year between 2003 and 2007, but the economy went into recession in 2009 as a result of the world financial crisis, tightening credit conditions, and Athens' failure to address a growing budget deficit. By
In April 2010, a leading credit agency assigned Greek debt its lowest possible credit rating, and in May 2010, the International Monetary Fund and euro-zone governments provided Greece emergency short- and medium-term loans worth $147 billion so that the
In 2014, the Greek economy began to turn the corner on the recession. Greece achieved three significant milestones: balancing the budget - not including debt repayments; issuing government debt in financial markets for the first time since 2010; and gener
Despite the nascent recovery, widespread discontent with austerity measures helped propel the far-left Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) party into government in national legislative elections in January 2015. Between January and July 2015, frustrati
$290.5 billion (2016 est.)
$290.3 billion (2015 est.)
$291 billion (2014 est.)
note: data are in 2016 dollars
$195.9 billion (2015 est.)
0.1% (2016 est.)
-0.2% (2015 est.)
0.7% (2014 est.)
$26,800 (2016 est.)
$26,700 (2015 est.)
$26,600 (2014 est.)
note: data are in 2016 dollars
10.3% of GDP (2016 est.)
9.8% of GDP (2015 est.)
10.1% of GDP (2014 est.)
household consumption: 71.1%
government consumption: 19.8%
investment in fixed capital: 10.7%
investment in inventories: -2.3%
exports of goods and services: 29.1%
imports of goods and services: -28.4% (2016 est.)
agriculture: 4.1%
industry: 15%
services: 80.9% (2016 est.)
wheat, corn, barley, sugar beets, olives, tomatoes, wine, tobacco, potatoes; beef, dairy products
tourism, food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, metal products; mining, petroleum
-1% (2016 est.)
4.761 million (2016 est.)
agriculture: 12.6%
industry: 15%
services: 72.4% (30 October 2015 e)
24.6% (2016 est.)
25% (2015 est.)
36% (2014 est.)
lowest 10%: 1.7%
highest 10%: 26.7% (2015 est.)
36.7 (2012 est.)
35.7 (2011)
revenues: $93.34 billion
expenditures: $102.1 billion (2016 est.)
47.7% of GDP (2016 est.)
-4.5% of GDP (2016 est.)
181.6% of GDP (2016 est.)
177.4% of GDP (2015 est.)
calendar year
-0.2% (2016 est.)
-1.7% (2015 est.)
0.05% (31 March 2016)
0.15% (11 June 2014)
note: this is the European Central Bank's rate on the marginal lending facility, which offers overnight credit to banks in the euro area
5.7% (31 December 2016 est.)
5.89% (31 December 2015 est.)
$85.68 billion (31 December 2016 est.)
$86.69 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
note: see entry for the European Union for money supply for the entire euro area; the European Central Bank (ECB) controls monetary policy for the 18 members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU); individual members of the EMU do not control the quantity of
$260.9 billion (31 December 2014 est.)
$264.6 billion (31 December 2013 est.)
$250 billion (31 December 2016 est.)
$259.6 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
$42.08 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
$55.15 billion (31 December 2014 est.)
$82.59 billion (31 December 2013 est.)
-$70 million (2016 est.)
-$90 million (2015 est.)
$21.93 billion (2016 est.)
$27.5 billion (2015 est.)
food and beverages, manufactured goods, petroleum products, chemicals, textiles
Italy 11.2%, Germany 7.3%, Turkey 6.6%, Cyprus 5.9%, Bulgaria 5.2%, US 4.8%, UK 4.2%, Egypt 4% (2015)
$42.73 billion (2016 est.)
$46.62 billion (2015 est.)
machinery, transport equipment, fuels, chemicals
Germany 10.7%, Italy 8.4%, Russia 7.9%, Iraq 7%, China 5.9%, Netherlands 5.5%, France 4.5% (2015)
$6.026 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
$6.212 billion (31 December 2014 est.)
$506.6 billion (31 March 2016 est.)
$468.2 billion (31 March 2015 est.)
$22.15 billion (31 December 2016 est.)
$21.28 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
$29.67 billion (31 December 2016 est.)
$30.07 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
euros (EUR) per US dollar -
0.9214 (2016 est.)
0.885 (2015 est.)
0.885 (2014 est.)
0.7634 (2013 est.)
0.78 (2012 est.)
electrification - total population: 100% (2016)
48 billion kWh (2014 est.)
53 billion kWh (2014 est.)
600 million kWh (2014 est.)
9.5 billion kWh (2014 est.)
19 million kW (2014 est.)
70.4% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
0% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
11.4% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
15.1% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
1,077 bbl/day (2015 est.)
1,667 bbl/day (2015 est.)
549,500 bbl/day (2015 est.)
10 million bbl (1 January 2016 es)
587,700 bbl/day (2015 est.)
297,600 bbl/day (2015 est.)
316,100 bbl/day (2015 est.)
83,020 bbl/day (2015 est.)
5 million cu m (2014 est.)
2.924 billion cu m (2014 est.)
0 cu m (2014 est.)
2.931 billion cu m (2014 est.)
991.1 million cu m (1 January 2016 es)
78 million Mt (2013 est.)
total subscriptions: 5,177,090
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 48 (July 2015 est.)
total: 12.682 million
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 118 (July 2015 est.)
general assessment: adequate, modern networks reach all areas; good mobile telephone and international service
domestic: microwave radio relay trunk system; extensive open-wire connections; submarine cable to offshore islands
international: country code - 30; landing point for the SEA-ME-WE-3 optical telecommunications submarine cable that provides links to Europe, Middle East, and Asia; a number of smaller submarine cables provide connectivity to various parts of Europe, the Middle East, an (2015)
Broadcast media dominated by the private sector; roughly 150 private TV channels, about ten of which broadcast nationwide; 1 government-owned terrestrial TV channel with national coverage; 3 privately owned satellite channels; multi-channel satellite and (2014)
.gr
total: 7.202 million
percent of population: 66.8% (July 2015 est.)
number of registered air carriers: 9
inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 93
annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers: 12,583,541
annual freight traffic on registered air carriers: 27,452,961 mt-km (2015)
SX (2016)
77 (2013)
total: 68
over 3,047 m: 6
2,438 to 3,047 m: 15
1,524 to 2,437 m: 19
914 to 1,523 m: 18
under 914 m: 10 (2013)
total: 9
914 to 1,523 m: 2
under 914 m: 7 (2013)
9 (2013)
gas 1,329 km; oil 94 km (2013)
total: 2,548 km
standard gauge: 1,565 km 1.435-m gauge (764 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 961 km 1.000-m gauge; 22 km 0.750-m gauge (2014)
total: 116,960 km
paved: 41,357 km (includes 1,091 km of expressways)
unpaved: 75,603 km (2010)
6 km (the 6-km-long Corinth Canal crosses the Isthmus of Corinth; it shortens a sea voyage by 325 km) (2012)
total: 860
by type: bulk carrier 262, cargo 49, carrier 1, chemical tanker 68, container 35, liquefied gas 13, passenger 7, passenger/cargo 109, petroleum tanker 302, roll on/roll off 14
foreign-owned: 42 (Belgium 17, Bermuda 3, Cyprus 3, Italy 5, UK 6, US 8)
registered in other countries: 2,459 (Antigua and Barbuda 4, Bahamas 225, Barbados 14, Belize 2, Bermuda 8, Brazil 1, Cabo Verde 1, Cambodia 2, Cayman Islands 9, Comoros 4, Curacao 1, Cyprus 201, Dominica 4, Egypt 8, Gibraltar 8, Honduras 4, Hong Kong 27, Indonesia 1, Isle of Man 62, Italy 7 (2010)
major seaport(s): Aspropyrgos, Pachi, Piraeus, Thessaloniki
oil terminal(s): Agioi Theodoroi
LNG terminal(s) (import): Revithoussa
Hellenic Army (Ellinikos Stratos, ES), Hellenic Navy (Elliniko Polemiko Navtiko, EPN), Hellenic Air Force (Elliniki Polemiki Aeroporia, EPA) (2013)
19-45 years of age for compulsory military service; during wartime the law allows for recruitment beginning January of the year of inductee's 18th birthday, thus including 17 year olds; 18 years of age for volunteers; conscript service obligation is 1 year for the Army and 9 months for the Air Force and Navy; women are eligible for voluntary military service (2014)
2.46% of GDP (2015 est.)
2.2% of GDP (2014)
2.19% of GDP (2013)
2.26% of GDP (2012)
note: based on 2010 prices
Greece and Turkey continue discussions to resolve their complex maritime, air, territorial, and boundary disputes in the Aegean Sea; Greece rejects the use of the name Macedonia or Republic of Macedonia; the mass migration of unemployed Albanians still remains a problem for developed countries, chiefly Greece and Italy
refugees (country of origin): 9,101 (Syria); 5,411 (Tanzania); 5,223 (Afghanistan) (2015)
stateless persons: 198 (2015)
note: 1,033,169 estimated refugee and migrant arrivals by sea (2015 - November 2016)
a gateway to Europe for traffickers smuggling cannabis and heroin from the Middle East and Southwest Asia to the West and precursor chemicals to the East; some South American cocaine transits or is consumed in Greece; money laundering related to drug trafficking and organized crime
