Greece Population: 10,761,523


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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.

Geographic coordinates: 39 00 N, 22 00 E
Area: total: 131,957 sq km
land: 130,647 sq km
water: 1,310 sq km

Size comparison: slightly smaller than Alabama
Coastline: 13,676 km
Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm
Land use: agricultural land: 63.4% (2011 est.) arable land: 19.7% (2011 est.)
permanent crops: 8.9% (2011 est.) permanent pasture: 34.8% (2011 est.) forest: 30.5% (2011 est.)
other: 6.1% (2011 est.)
Irrigated land: 15,550 sq km (2012)
Current Environment 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

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Nationality: noun: Greek(s)
adjective: Greek
Ethnic groups: Greek 91.6%, Albanian 4.4%, other 4% (2011) note: data represent citizenship; Greece does not collect data on ethnicity
Religions: Greek Orthodox (official) 81-90%, Muslim 2%, other 3%, none 4-15%, unspecified 1% (2015 est.)
Population: 10,761,523 (July 2018 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 13.72% (male 760,615 /female 716,054)
15-24 years: 9.68% (male 531,957 /female 509,671)
25-54 years: 42.18% (male 2,259,672 /female 2,279,464)
55-64 years: 13.28% (male 699,205 /female 729,655)
65 years and over: 21.14% (male 997,359 /female 1,277,871) (2018 est.)
Dependency ratios: total dependency ratio: 52.7 (2015 est.)
youth dependency ratio: 22.2 (2015 est.)
elderly dependency ratio: 30.5 (2015 est.)
potential support ratio: 3.3 (2015 est.)
Median age: total: 44.9 years
male: 43.8 years
female: 45.9 years (2018 est.)
Population growth rate: -0.07% (2018 est.)
Death rate: 11.4 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.)
Net migration rate: 2.3 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2018 est.)
Urbanization: urban population: 79.1% of total population (2018)
rate of urbanization: 0.22% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)
Major urban areas - population: 3.156 million ATHENS (capital)
811,000 Thessaloniki (2018)
0-14 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1.04 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

Mother's mean age at first birth: 29.8 years (2014 est.)
Infant mortality rate: total: 4.5 deaths/1,000 live births male: 5 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 80.8 years male: 78.2 years
female: 83.6 years (2018 est.)
Physicians density: 4.59 physicians/1,000 population (2016)
Hospital bed density: 4.3 beds/1,000 population (2015)
Drinking water source: improved:
urban: 100% of population
rural: 100% of population
total: 100% of population

urban: 0% of population
rural: 0% of population
total: 0% of population (2015 est.)
Sanitation facility access: improved:
urban: 99.2% of population (2015 est.)
rural: 98.1% of population (2015 est.)
total: 99% of population (2015 est.)

urban: 0.8% of population (2015 est.)
rural: 1.9% of population (2015 est.)
total: 1% of population (2015 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 14,000 (2017 est.)
Obesity - adult prevalence rate: 24.9% (2016)
Education expenditures: n/a
total population: 97.7%
male: 98.5%
female: 96.9% (2015 est.)
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24: total: 43.6% male: 39.3% female: 48.2% (2017 est.)
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Country name: 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
Government type: parliamentary republic
Capital: name: Athens
geographic coordinates: 37 59 N, 23 44 E
etymology: 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
National holiday: Independence Day, 25 March (1821)
Constitution: 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)
Legal system: civil legal system based on Roman law
Suffrage: 17 years of age; universal and compulsory

head of government: Prime Minister Kyriakos MITSOTAKIS (since 8 July 2019)


Legislative branch: description: 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 branch: highest 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 councillors, 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 councillors, 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, councillors, and judges NA

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 [Yanis VAROUFAKIS] Greek Solution [Kyriakos VELOPOULOS] Independent Greeks or ANEL [Panagiotis (Panos) KAMMENOS] Movement for Change or KINAL [Foteini (Fofi) GENIMMATA] New Democracy or ND [Kyriakos MITSOTAKIS] People's Association-Golden Dawn [Nikolaos MICHALOLIAKOS] Popular Unity or LAE [Panagiotis LAFAZANIS] The River (To Potami) [Stavros THEODORAKIS] Union of Centrists or EK [Vasileios (Vasilis) LEVENTIS]
national colors: blue, white
lyrics/music: Dionysios SOLOMOS/Nikolaos MANTZAROS

chancery: 2217 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 939-1300
FAX: [1] (202) 939-1324
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
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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, mainly in agricultural and unskilled jobs. Greece is a major beneficiary of EU aid, equal to about 3.3% of annual GDP. 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 2013, the economy had contracted 26%, compared with the pre-crisis level of 2007. Greece met the EU's Growth and Stability Pact budget deficit criterion of no more than 3% of GDP in 2007-08, but violated it in 2009, when the deficit reached 15% of GDP. Deteriorating public finances, inaccurate and misreported statistics, and consistent underperformance on reforms prompted major credit rating agencies to downgrade Greece's international debt rating in late 2009 and led the country into a financial crisis. Under intense pressure from the EU and international market participants, the government accepted a bailout program that called on Athens to cut government spending, decrease tax evasion, overhaul the civil-service, health-care, and pension systems, and reform the labor and product markets. Austerity measures reduced the deficit to 1.3% in 2017. Successive Greek governments, however, failed to push through many of the most unpopular reforms in the face of widespread political opposition, including from the country's powerful labor unions and the general public. In April 2010, a leading credit agency assigned Greek debt its lowest possible credit rating, and in May 2010, the IMF and euro-zone governments provided Greece emergency short- and medium-term loans worth $147 billion so that the country could make debt repayments to creditors. Greece, however, struggled to meet the targets set by the EU and the IMF, especially after Eurostat - the EU's statistical office - revised upward Greece's deficit and debt numbers for 2009 and 2010. European leaders and the IMF agreed in October 2011 to provide Athens a second bailout package of $169 billion. The second deal called for holders of Greek government bonds to write down a significant portion of their holdings to try to alleviate Greece’s government debt burden. However, Greek banks, saddled with a significant portion of sovereign debt, were adversely affected by the write down and $60 billion of the second bailout package was set aside to ensure the banking system was adequately capitalized. 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 generating 0.7% GDP growth — the first economic expansion since 2007. 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, frustrations grew between the SYRIZA-led government and Greece’s EU and IMF creditors over the implementation of bailout measures and disbursement of funds. The Greek government began running up significant arrears to suppliers, while Greek banks relied on emergency lending, and Greece’s future in the euro zone was called into question. To stave off a collapse of the banking system, Greece imposed capital controls in June 2015, then became the first developed nation to miss a loan payment to the IMF, rattling international financial markets. Unable to reach an agreement with creditors, Prime Minister Alexios TSIPRAS held a nationwide referendum on 5 July on whether to accept the terms of Greece’s bailout, campaigning for the ultimately successful "no" vote. The TSIPRAS government subsequently agreed, however, to a new $96 billion bailout in order to avert Greece’s exit from the monetary bloc. On 20 August 2015, Greece signed its third bailout, allowing it to cover significant debt payments to its EU and IMF creditors and to ensure the banking sector retained access to emergency liquidity. The TSIPRAS government — which retook office on 20 September 2015 after calling new elections in late August — successfully secured disbursal of two delayed tranches of bailout funds. Despite the economic turmoil, Greek GDP did not contract as sharply as feared, boosted in part by a strong tourist season. In 2017, Greece saw improvements in GDP and unemployment. Unfinished economic reforms, a massive non-performing loan problem, and ongoing uncertainty regarding the political direction of the country hold the economy back. Some estimates put Greece’s black market at 20- to 25% of GDP, as more people have stopped reporting their income to avoid paying taxes that, in some cases, have risen to 70% of an individual’s gross income.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $299.3 billion (2017 est.) $295.3 billion (2016 est.) $296 billion (2015 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars
GDP (official exchange rate): $200.7 billion (2017 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 1.4% (2017 est.) -0.2% (2016 est.) -0.3% (2015 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP): $27,800 (2017 est.) $27,400 (2016 est.) $27,300 (2015 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars
Gross national saving: 10.9% of GDP (2017 est.) 9.5% of GDP (2016 est.) 9.6% of GDP (2015 est.) GDP - composition, by end use: household consumption: 69.6% (2017 est.) government consumption: 20.1% (2017 est.) investment in fixed capital: 12.5% (2017 est.) investment in inventories: -1% (2017 est.) exports of goods and services: 33.4% (2017 est.) imports of goods and services: -34.7% (2017 est.) GDP - composition, by sector of origin: agriculture: 4.1% (2017 est.) industry: 16.9% (2017 est.) services: 79.1% (2017 est.)
Industrial production growth rate: 3.5% (2017 est.)
Labor force: 4.769 million (2017 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 12.6%
industry: 15%
services: 72.4% (30 October 2015 est.)
Unemployment rate: 21.5% (2017 est.) 23.6% (2016 est.)
Population below poverty line: 36% (2014 est.)
highest 10%: 26.7% (2015 est.)
Budget: revenues: 97.99 billion (2017 est.)
expenditures: 96.35 billion (2017 est.)
Taxes and other revenues: 48.8% (of GDP) (2017 est.) Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-): 0.8% (of GDP) (2017 est.)
Public debt: 181.8% of GDP (2017 est.) 183.5% of GDP (2016 est.)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.1% (2017 est.) 0% (2016 est.)
Current account balance: -$1.596 billion (2017 est.) -$2.072 billion (2016 est.)
Exports: $31.54 billion (2017 est.) $27.1 billion (2016 est.)
Exports - partners: Italy 10.6%, Germany 7.1%, Turkey 6.8%, Cyprus 6.5%, Bulgaria 4.9%, Lebanon 4.3% (2017)
Imports: $52.27 billion (2017 est.) $45.45 billion (2016 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery, transport equipment, fuels, chemicals
Imports - partners: Germany 10.4%, Italy 8.2%, Russia 6.8%, Iraq 6.3%, South Korea 6.1%, China 5.4%, Netherlands 5.3%, France 4.3% (2017)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $7.807 billion (31 December 2017 est.) $6.026 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: $35.48 billion (31 December 2017 est.) $30.8 billion (31 December 2016 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad: $29.64 billion (31 December 2017 est.) $32.91 billion (31 December 2016 est.)
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Electricity - production: 52.05 billion kWh (2016 est.)
Electricity - consumption: 56.89 billion kWh (2016 est.)
Electricity - exports: 1.037 billion kWh (2016 est.)
Electricity - imports: 9.833 billion kWh (2016 est.)
Electricity - installed generating capacity: 19.17 million kW (2016 est.)
Electricity - from fossil fuels: 57% of total installed capacity (2016 est.)
Electricity - from other renewable sources: 29% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)
Crude oil - production: 2,753 bbl/day (2017 est.)
Crude oil - exports: 3,229 bbl/day (2017 est.)
Crude oil - imports: 484,300 bbl/day (2017 est.)
Crude oil - proved reserves: 10 million bbl (1 January 2018 est.)
Refined petroleum products - production: 655,400 bbl/day (2017 est.)
Refined petroleum products - consumption: 304,100 bbl/day (2017 est.)
Refined petroleum products - exports: 371,900 bbl/day (2017 est.)
Refined petroleum products - imports: 192,200 bbl/day (2017 est.)
Natural gas - production: 8 million cu m (2017 est.)
Natural gas - consumption: 4.927 billion cu m (2017 est.)
Natural gas - imports: 4.984 billion cu m (2017 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves: 991.1 million cu m (1 January 2018 est.)
Carbon dioxide emissions from consumption of energy: 69.37 million Mt (2017 est.)
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Cellular Phones in use: total subscriptions: 12,937,106
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 120 (2017 est.)
Telephone system: general assessment: adequate, modern networks reach all areas; good mobile telephone and international service; 3 mobile network operators; 2019 5G trials and LTE use; despite rough economic conditions broadband penetration developing (2018)

domestic: microwave radio relay trunk system; extensive open-wire connections; submarine cable to offshore islands; 48 per 100 for fixed-line and 120 per 100 for mobile-cellular (2018)

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, and Cyprus; tropospheric scatter; satellite earth stations - 4 (2 Intelsat - 1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean, 1 Eutelsat, and 1 Inmarsat - Indian Ocean region)
Broadcast 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
Internet country code: .gr
Internet users: total: 7,443,016
percent of population: 69.1% (July 2016 est.)
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Airports: 77 (2013)
Airports (paved runways): total 68
(2017) over 3,047 m: 6 (2017)
2,438 to 3,047 m: 15 (2017)
1,524 to 2,437 m: 19 (2017)
914 to 1,523 m: 18 (2017)
under 914 m: 10 (2017)
Airports (unpaved runways): total 9
914 to 1,523 m: 2 (2013)
under 914 m: 7 (2013)
Heliports: 9 (2013)
Pipelines: 1329 km gas, 94 km oil (2013)
Railways: total 2,548 km
(2014) standard gauge: 1,565 km 1.435-m gauge (764 km electrified) (2014)
narrow gauge: 961 km 1.000-m gauge (2014) 22 0.750-m gauge
Merchant marine: total 1,343

by type: bulk carrier 191, container ship 6, general cargo 136, oil tanker 405, other 605 (2018)
Ports and terminals: major seaport(s): Aspropyrgos, Pachi, Piraeus, Thessaloniki oil terminal(s): Agioi Theodoroi container port(s) (TEUs): Piraeus (4,145,079) (2017) LNG terminal(s) (import): Revithoussa
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Military expenditures: 2.4% of GDP (2017) 2.56% of GDP (2016) 2.54% of GDP (2015) 2.34% of GDP (2014) 2.36% of GDP (2013)
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 Transnational Issues
Disputes - 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 persons: refugees (country of origin): 23,931 (Syria), 9,291 (Afghanistan) (2018)
stateless persons: 198 (2018) note: 1,146,140 estimated refugee and migrant arrivals (January 2015-August 2019); as of the end of February 2019, an estimated 80,600 migrants and refugees are stranded in Greece since 2015-16; 50,215 migrant arrivals in 2018
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   Source: CIA - The World Factbook

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