top of pageBackground: 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. Beginning in 2010, Greece entered three bailout agreements - with the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB), the IMF, and the third in 2015 with the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) - worth in total about $300 billion. The Greek Government formally exited the third bailout in August 2018.
Climate: temperate; mild, wet winters; hot, dry summers
Terrain: mountainous with ranges extending into the sea as peninsulas or chains of islands
ElevationHighest point: Mount Olympus 2,917
Lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m
Mean elevation: 498 m
Note: Mount Olympus actually has 52 peaks but its highest point, Mytikas (meaning 'nose'), rises to 2,917 meters; in Greek mythology, Olympus' Mytikas peak was the home of the Greek gods
Natural resources: lignite, petroleum, iron ore, bauxite, lead, zinc, nickel, magnesite, marble, salt, hydropower potential
GeographyNote: strategic location dominating the Aegean Sea and southern approach to Turkish Straits; a peninsular country, possessing an archipelago of about 2,000 islands
top of pagePopulationDistribution: one-third of the population lives in and around metropolitan Athens; the remainder of the country has moderate population density mixed with sizeable urban clusters: 10,569,703 (July 2021 est.)
Growth rate: -0.34% (2021 est.)
Below poverty line: 17.9% (2018 est.)
Ethnic groups: Greek 91.6%, Albanian 4.4%, other 4% (2011)
Note: data represent citizenship; Greece does not collect data on ethnicity
Languages: Greek (official) 99%, other (includes English and French) 1%
Major language samples:Το Παγκόσμιο Βιβλίο Δεδομένων, η απαραίτητη πηγή βασικών πληροφοριών. (Greek)
The Gheos World Guide, the indispensable source for basic information.
Religions: Greek Orthodox 81-90%, Muslim 2%, other 3%, none 4-15%, unspecified 1% (2015 est.)
Age structure0-14 years: 14.53% (male 794,918/female 745,909)
15-24 years: 10.34% (male 577,134/female 519,819)
25-54 years: 39.6% (male 2,080,443/female 2,119,995)
55-64 years: 13.1% (male 656,404/female 732,936)
65 years and over: 22.43% (male 1,057,317/female 1,322,176) (2020 est.)
Birth rate: 7.72 births/1000 population (2021 est.)
Death rate: 12.05 deaths/1000 population (2021 est.)
Population distribution: one-third of the population lives in and around metropolitan Athens; the remainder of the country has moderate population density mixed with sizeable urban clusters
EnvironmentCurrent issues: air pollution; air emissions from transport and electricity power stations; water pollution; degradation of coastal zones; loss of biodiversity in terrestrial and marine ecosystems; increasing municipal and industrial waste
International agreements party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands
International agreements signed but not ratified: Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Multi-effect Protocol, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds
top of pageCapitalName: AthensGeographic 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
Etymology: Athens is the oldest European capital city; according to tradition, the city is named after Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom; in actuality, the appellation probably derives from a lost name in a pre-Hellenic language
Administrative divisions: 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)
Independence: 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
ConstitutionHistory: 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, 2019
Suffrage: 17 years of age; universal and compulsory
Executive branchChief of state: President Ekaterini SAKELLAROPOULOU (since 13 March 2020)
Head of government: Prime Minister Kyriakos MITSOTAKIS (since 8 July 2019)
Cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister
Elections and appointments: president elected by Hellenic Parliament for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 22 January 2020 (next to be held by February 2025); president appoints as prime minister the leader of the majority party or coalition in the Hellenic Parliament
Election results: Katerina SAKELLAROPOULOU (independent) elected president by Parliament - 261 of 300 votes; note - SAKELLAROPOULOU is Greece's first woman president
Legislative branchDescription: unicameral Hellenic Parliament or Vouli ton Ellinon (300 seats; 280 members in multi-seat constituencies and 12 members in a single nationwide constituency directly elected by open party-list proportional representation vote; 8 members in single-seat constituencies elected by simple majority vote; members serve up to 4 years); 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
Elections: last held on 7 July 2019 (next to be held by July 2023)
Election results: percent of vote by party - ND 39.9%, SYRIZA 31.5%, KINAL 8.1%, KKE 5.3%, Greek Solution 3.7%, MeRA25 3.4%, other 8.1%; seats by party - ND 158, SYRIZA 86, KINAL 22, KKE 15, Greek Solution 10, MeRA25 9; composition - men 244, women 56, percent of women 18.7%
Judicial branchHighest courts: Supreme Civil and Criminal Court or Areios Pagos (consists of 56 judges, including the court presidents); Council of State (supreme administrative court) (consists of the president, 7 vice presidents, 42 privy councilors, 48 associate councilors and 50 reporting judges, organized into six 5- and 7-member chambers; Court of Audit (government audit and enforcement) consists of the president, 5 vice presidents, 20 councilors, and 90 associate and reporting judges
Judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court judges appointed by presidential decree on the advice of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), 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; Council of State president appointed by the Greek Cabinet to serve a 4-year term; other judge appointments and tenure NA; Court of Audit president appointed by decree of the president of the republic on the advice of the SJC; court president serves a 4-year term or until age 67; tenure of vice presidents, councilors, and judges NA
Subordinate courts: Courts of Appeal and Courts of First Instance (district courts)
Political parties and leaders: 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]
European Realistic Disobedience Front or MeRA25 [Ioannis (Yanis) VAROUFAKIS]
Greek Solution [Kyriakos VELOPOULOS]
Independent Greeks or ANEL [Panagiotis (Panos) KAMMENOS]
Movement for Change or KINAL [Nikos ANDROULAKIS]
New Democracy or ND [Kyriakos MITSOTAKIS]
Popular Unity or LAE [Nikolaos CHOUNTIS]
Union of Centrists or EK [Vasileios (Vasilis) LEVENTIS]
International organization participation: 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
Diplomatic representationIn the us chief of mission: Ambassador Alexandra PAPADOPOULOU (since 6 February 2021)
In the us chancery: 2,217 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 939-1300
In the us FAX: [1] (202) 939-1324
In the us email address and website:From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Geoffrey R. PYATT (since 24 October 2016)
From the us embassy: 91 Vasillisis Sophias Avenue, 10,160 Athens
From the us mailing address: 7,100 Athens Place, Washington DC 20,521-7,100
From the us telephone: [30] (210) 721-2,951
From the us FAX: [30] (210) 724-5,313
From the us email address and website:athensamericancitizenservices@state.gov
[link] Flag description: 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
Note: Greek legislation states that the flag colors are cyan and white, but cyan can mean 'blue' in Greek, so the exact shade of blue has never been set and has varied from a light to a dark blue over time; in general, the hue of blue normally encountered is a form of azure
National symbols: Greek cross (white cross on blue field, arms equal length); national colors: blue, white
National anthemName: 'Ymnos eis tin Eleftherian' (Hymn to Liberty)
Lyrics and 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
top of pageReal gdp purchasing power parity:
$292.4 billion - note: data are in 2017 dollars (2020 est.)
$318.68 billion - note: data are in 2017 dollars (2019 est.)
$312.87 billion - note: data are in 2017 dollars (2018 est.)
Note: data are in 2010 dollars
Real gdp per capita:
$27,300 - note: data are in 2017 dollars (2020 est.)
$29,700 - note: data are in 2017 dollars (2019 est.)
$29,200 - note: data are in 2017 dollars (2018 est.)
Note: data are in 2010 dollars
Agriculture products: maize, olives, wheat, milk, peaches/nectarines, oranges, tomatoes, grapes, milk, potatoes
Industries: tourism, food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, metal products; mining, petroleum
Public debt: 181.8% of GDP (2017 est.)
183.5% of GDP (2016 est.)
Exports: $59.02 billion note: data are in current year dollars (2020 est.)
$81.18 billion note: data are in current year dollars (2019 est.)
$81.87 billion note: data are in current year dollars (2018 est.)
Partners: Italy 10%, Germany 7%, Turkey 5%, Cyprus 5%, Bulgaria 5% (2019)
Commodities: refined petroleum, packaged medicines, aluminum plating, computers, cotton (2019)
Imports: $71.76 billion note: data are in current year dollars (2020 est.)
$83.19 billion note: data are in current year dollars (2019 est.)
$85.8 billion note: data are in current year dollars (2018 est.)
Partners: Germany 11%, China 9%, Italy 8%, Iraq 7%, Russia 6%, Netherlands 5% (2019)
Commodities: crude petroleum, refined petroleum, packaged medicines, cars, ships (2019)
Debt external: $484.888 billion (2019 est.)
$478.646 billion (2018 est.)
Exchange rates:
euros (EUR) per US dollar
0.82771 (2020 est.)
0.90338 (2019 est.)
0.87789 (2018 est.)
0.885 (2014 est.)
0.7634 (2013 est.)
top of pagetop of pageBroadcast media: broadcast media dominated by the private sector; roughly 150 private TV channels, about 10 of which broadcast nationwide; 1 government-owned terrestrial TV channel with national coverage; 3 privately owned satellite channels; multi-channel satellite and cable TV services available; upwards of 1,500 radio stations, all of them privately owned; government-owned broadcaster has 2 national radio stations
top of pageMilitary expenditures: 3.82% of GDP (2021 est.)
2.65% of GDP (2020)
2.36% of GDP (2019)
2.54% of GDP (2018)
2.38% of GDP (2017)
Military and security forces: Hellenic Armed Forces: Hellenic Army (Ellinikos Stratos, ES; includes National Guard reserves), Hellenic Navy (Elliniko Polemiko Navtiko, EPN), Hellenic Air Force (Elliniki Polemiki Aeroporia, EPA; includes air defense) (2021)
Military service age and obligation: 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 (2021)
Terrorist groups: Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS); Revolutionary Struggle
Note: details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in
Appendix T top of pageWaterways: 6 km (the 6-km-long Corinth Canal crosses the Isthmus of Corinth; it shortens a sea voyage by 325 km) (2012)
Greece - Transnational issues 2021
top of pageDisputes international: Greece and Turkey continue discussions to resolve their complex maritime, air, territorial, and boundary disputes in the Aegean Sea; the mass migration of unemployed Albanians still remains a problem for developed countries, chiefly Greece and Italy
Refugees and internally displaced personsRefugees country of origin: 36,448 (Syria), 21,456 (Afghanistan), 11,840 (Iraq) (2020)
Stateless persons: 5,557 (2020)
Note: 1,213,983 estimated refugee and migrant arrivals (January 2015-December 2021); as of the end of December 2020, an estimated 119,700 migrants and refugees were stranded in Greece since 2015-16
Illicit drugs: a gateway to Europe for traffickers smuggling cannabis products 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
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