The Church of Greece is recognized by the Greek Constitution as the prevailing religion in Greece,[9] and is the only country in the world where Eastern Orthodoxy is clearly recognized as a state religion.[10]
Other short formats: dd-mm-yyyy, dd/mm/yyyy
The .eu domain is also used, as in other European Union member states.
The native name of the country in Modern Greek is Ελλάδα (Elláda, pronounced [eˈlaða]). The corresponding form in Ancient Greek and conservative formal Modern Greek (Katharevousa) is Ἑλλάς (Hellas, classical: [hel.lás], modern: [eˈlas]). This is the source of the English alternative name Hellas, which is mostly found in archaic or poetic contexts today. The Greek adjectival form ελληνικός (ellinikos, [eliniˈkos]) is sometimes also translated as Hellenic and is often rendered in this way in the formal names of Greek institutions, as in the official name of the Greek state, the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, [eliniˈci ðimokraˈti.a]).[11]
The English names Greece and Greek are derived, via the Latin Graecia and Graecus, from the name of the Graeci (Γραικοί, Graikoí; singular Γραικός, Graikós), who were among the first ancient Greek tribes to settle Magna Graecia in southern Italy. The term is possibly derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵerh₂-, "to grow old",[12][13] more specifically from Graea (ancient city), said by Aristotle to be the oldest in Greece, and the source of colonists for the Naples area.
anatomically modern humans outside of Africa, dated to 210,000 years ago.[14] All three stages of the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic) are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave.[15]Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC,[16] are the oldest in Europe by several centuries, as Greece lies on the route via which farming spread from the Near East to Europe.[17]
Greece is home to the first advanced civilizations in Europe and is considered the birthplace of Western civilisation,
Cycladic civilization on the islands of the Aegean Sea at around 3200 BC,[20] the Minoan civilization in Crete (2700–1500 BC),[21][22] and then the Mycenaean civilization on the mainland (1600–1100 BC).[22] These civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans using an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans writing the earliest attested form of Greek in Linear B. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC, along with other civilizations, during the regional event known as the Late Bronze Age collapse.[23] This ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. Though the unearthed Linear B texts are too fragmentary for the reconstruction of the political landscape and can't support the existence of a larger state, contemporary Hittite and Egyptian records suggest the presence of a single state under a "Great King" based in mainland Greece.[24][25]
By 500 BC, the Persian Empire controlled the Greek city states in Asia Minor and Macedonia.[31] Attempts by some of the Greek city-states of Asia Minor to overthrow Persian rule failed, and Persia invaded the states of mainland Greece in 492 BC, but was forced to withdraw after a defeat at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. In response, the Greek city-states formed the Hellenic League in 481 BC, led by Sparta, which was the first historically recorded union of Greek states since the mythical union of the Trojan War.[32][33] A second invasion by the Persians followed in 480 BC. Following decisive Greek victories in 480 and 479 BC at Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale, the Persians were forced to withdraw for a second time, marking their eventual withdrawal from all of their European territories. Led by Athens and Sparta, the Greek victories in the Greco-Persian Wars are considered a pivotal moment in world history,[34] as the 50 years of peace that followed are known as the Golden Age of Athens, the seminal period of ancient Greek development that laid many of the foundations of Western civilization.
Hellenistic Age
Lack of political unity within Greece resulted in frequent conflict between Greek states. The most devastating intra-Greek war was the
Thebes and eventually Macedon, with the latter uniting most of the city-states of the Greek hinterland in the League of Corinth (also known as the Hellenic League or Greek League) under the control of Philip II.[35] Despite this development, the Greek world remained largely fragmented and would not be united under a single power until the Roman years.[36]
Map of Alexander's short-lived empire (334–323 BC). After his death the lands were divided between the Diadochi
.
Following the assassination of Phillip II, his son
Hellenistic civilization and spread the Greek language and Greek culture in the territories conquered by Alexander.[38] Greek science, technology, and mathematics are generally considered to have reached their peak during the Hellenistic period.[39]
Hellenistic and Roman periods (323 BC – 4th century AD)
After a period of confusion following Alexander's death, the Antigonid dynasty, descended from one of Alexander's generals, established its control over Macedon and most of the Greek city-states by 276 BC.[40] From about 200 BC the Roman Republic became increasingly involved in Greek affairs and engaged in a series of wars with Macedon.[41] Macedon's defeat at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC signalled the end of Antigonid power in Greece.[42] In 146 BC, Macedonia was annexed as a province by Rome, and the rest of Greece became a Roman protectorate.[41][43]
The process was completed in 27 BC when the
Seneca the younger wrote using Greek styles. Roman heroes such as Scipio Africanus, tended to study philosophy and regarded Greek culture and science as an example to be followed. Similarly, most Roman emperors maintained an admiration for things Greek in nature. The Roman emperor Nero visited Greece in AD 66, and performed at the Ancient Olympic Games, despite the rules against non-Greek participation. Hadrian was also particularly fond of the Greeks.[45] Before becoming emperor, he served as an eponymous archon of Athens.[46]
Greek-speaking communities of the Hellenised East were instrumental in the spread of early Christianity in the 2nd and 3rd centuries,
early Christianity. Nevertheless, much of Greece clung tenaciously to paganism, and ancient Greek religious practices were still in vogue in the late 4th century AD,[49] when they were outlawed by the Roman emperor Theodosius I in 391–392.[50] The last recorded Olympic games were held in 393,[51] and many temples were destroyed or damaged in the century that followed.[52] In Athens and rural areas, paganism is attested well into the sixth century AD[52] and even later.[53] The closure of the Neoplatonic Academy of Athens by the Emperor Justinian in 529 is considered by many to mark the end of antiquity, although there is evidence that the Academy continued its activities for some time after that.[52] Some remote areas such as the southeastern Peloponnese remained pagan until well into the 10th century AD.[54]
fall of the Empire in the west in the 5th century, is conventionally known as the Byzantine Empire (but was simply called "Kingdom of the Romans" in its own time) and lasted until 1453. With its capital in Constantinople, its language and culture were Greek and its religion was predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christian.[55]
From the 4th century the Empire's Balkan territories, including Greece, suffered from the dislocation of barbarian invasions.[56] The raids and devastation of the Goths and Huns in the 4th and 5th centuries and the Slavic invasion of Greece in the 7th century resulted in a dramatic collapse in imperial authority in the Greek peninsula.[57] Following the Slavic invasion, the imperial government retained formal control of only the islands and coastal areas, particularly the densely populated walled cities such as Athens, Corinth and Thessalonica, while some mountainous areas in the interior held out on their own and continued to recognise imperial authority.[57] Outside of these areas, a limited amount of Slavic settlement is generally thought to have occurred, although on a much smaller scale than previously thought.[58][59] However, the view that Greece in late antiquity underwent a crisis of decline, fragmentation and depopulation is now considered outdated, as Greek cities show a high degree of institutional continuity and prosperity between the 4th and 6th centuries AD (and possibly later as well). In the early 6th century, Greece had approximately 80 cities according to the Synecdemus chronicle, and the period from the 4th to the 7th century AD is considered one of high prosperity not just in Greece but in the entire Eastern Mediterranean.[60]
The Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire after the death of Basil II
in 1025
Until the 8th century almost all of modern Greece was under the jurisdiction of the
Patriarchate of Constantinople westward and northward in the 8th century.[61]
The Byzantine recovery of lost provinces began toward the end of the 8th century and most of the Greek peninsula came under imperial control again, in stages, during the 9th century.[62][63] This process was facilitated by a large influx of Greeks from Sicily and Asia Minor to the Greek peninsula, while at the same time many Slavs were captured and re-settled in Asia Minor and the few that remained were assimilated.[58] During the 11th and 12th centuries the return of stability resulted in the Greek peninsula benefiting from strong economic growth – much stronger than that of the Anatolian territories of the Empire.[62] During that time, the Greek Orthodox Church was also instrumental in the spread of Greek ideas to the wider Orthodox world.[64][full citation needed]
Following the Fourth Crusade and the fall of Constantinople to the "Latins" in 1204, mainland Greece was split between the Greek Despotate of Epirus (a Byzantine successor state) and French rule[65] (known as the Frankokratia), while some islands came under Venetian rule.[66] The re-establishment of the Byzantine imperial capital in Constantinople in 1261 was accompanied by the empire's recovery of much of the Greek peninsula, although the Frankish Principality of Achaea in the Peloponnese and the rival Greek Despotate of Epirus in the north both remained important regional powers into the 14th century, while the islands remained largely under Genoese and Venetian control.[65] During the Paleologi dynasty (1261–1453) a new era of Greek patriotism emerged accompanied by a turning back to ancient Greece.[67][68][69]
As such prominent personalities at the time also proposed changing the imperial title to "Emperor of the Hellenes",[67][69] and, in late fourteenth century, the emperor was frequently referred to as the "Emperor of the Hellenes".[70] Similarly, in several international treaties of that time the Byzantine emperor is styled as "Imperator Graecorum".[71]
In the 14th century much of the Greek peninsula was lost by the Byzantine Empire at first to the
Ottomans.[72] By the beginning of the 15th century, the Ottoman advance meant that Byzantine territory in Greece was limited mainly to its then-largest city, Thessaloniki, and the Peloponnese (Despotate of the Morea).[72] After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, the Morea was one of the last remnants of the Byzantine Empire to hold out against the Ottomans. However, this, too, fell to the Ottomans in 1460, completing the Ottoman conquest of mainland Greece.[73] With the Turkish conquest, many Byzantine Greek scholars, who up until then were largely responsible for preserving Classical Greek knowledge, fled to the West, taking with them a large body of literature and thereby significantly contributing to the Renaissance.[74]
Venetian possessions and Ottoman rule (15th century – 1821)
While most of mainland Greece and the Aegean islands was under Ottoman control by the end of the 15th century,
First French Republic in 1797, then passed to the United Kingdom in 1809 until their unification with Greece in 1864.[76]
While some Greeks in the Ionian Islands and
Phanariotes) achieved positions of power within the Ottoman administration,[77] much of the population of mainland Greece suffered the economic consequences of the Ottoman conquest. Heavy taxes were enforced, and in later years the Ottoman Empire enacted a policy of creation of hereditary estates, effectively turning the rural Greek populations into serfs.[78]
The Greek Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople were considered by the Ottoman governments as the ruling authorities of the entire Orthodox Christian population of the Ottoman Empire, whether ethnically Greek or not. Although the Ottoman state did not force non-Muslims to convert to Islam, Christians faced several types of discrimination intended to highlight their inferior status in the Ottoman Empire. Discrimination against Christians, particularly when combined with harsh treatment by local Ottoman authorities, led to conversions to Islam, if only superficially. In the 19th century, many "crypto-Christians" returned to their old religious allegiance.[79]
, one of the best-known Ottoman structures remaining in Greece
The nature of Ottoman administration of Greece varied, though it was invariably arbitrary and often harsh.
Sultan, while others (like Athens) were self-governed municipalities. Mountainous regions in the interior and many islands remained effectively autonomous from the central Ottoman state for many centuries.[80][page needed
]
Prior to the Greek Revolution of 1821, there had been a number of wars which saw Greeks fight against the Ottomans, such as the Greek participation in the
Orlov Revolt in 1770, which aimed at breaking up the Ottoman Empire in favour of Russian interests.[80][page needed] These uprisings were put down by the Ottomans with great bloodshed.[81][82] On the other side, many Greeks were conscripted as Ottoman citizens to serve in the Ottoman army (and especially the Ottoman navy), while also the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
, responsible for the Orthodox, remained in general loyal to the empire.
The 16th and 17th centuries are regarded as something of a "dark age" in Greek history, with the prospect of overthrowing Ottoman rule appearing remote with only the Ionian islands remaining free of Turkish domination. Corfu withstood three major sieges in 1537, 1571 and 1716 all of which resulted in the repulsion of the Ottomans. However, in the 18th century, due to their mastery of shipping and commerce, a wealthy and dispersed Greek merchant class arose. These merchants came to dominate trade within the Ottoman Empire, establishing communities throughout the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Western Europe. Though the Ottoman conquest had cut Greece off from significant European intellectual movements such as the Reformation and the Enlightenment, these ideas together with the ideals of the French Revolution and romantic nationalism began to penetrate the Greek world via the mercantile diaspora.[83] In the late 18th century, Rigas Feraios, the first revolutionary to envision an independent Greek state, published a series of documents relating to Greek independence, including but not limited to a national anthem and the first detailed map of Greece, in Vienna. Feraios was murdered by Ottoman agents in 1798.[84][85]
In the late eighteenth century, an increase in secular learning during the
Alexandros Ypsilantis, but it was soon put down by the Ottomans. The events in the north spurred the Greeks of the Peloponnese into action and on 17 March 1821 the Maniots declared war on the Ottomans.[88]
By the end of the month, the Peloponnese was in open revolt against the Ottomans and by October 1821 the Greeks under
massacres of the population.[88] Approximately three-quarters of the Chios' Greek population of 120,000 were killed, enslaved or died of disease.[89][90] This had the effect of galvanizing public opinion in western Europe in favour of the Greek rebels.[91]
Tensions soon developed among different Greek factions, leading to two consecutive civil wars. Meanwhile the
Mehmet Ali of Egypt, who agreed to send his son Ibrahim Pasha to Greece with an army to suppress the revolt in return for territorial gain.[92] Ibrahim landed in the Peloponnese in February 1825 and had immediate success: by the end of 1825, most of the Peloponnese was under Egyptian control, and the city of Missolonghi—put under siege by the Turks since April 1825—fell in April 1826. Although Ibrahim was defeated in Mani, he had succeeded in suppressing most of the revolt in the Peloponnese, and Athens had been retaken.[93]
After years of negotiation, three
Hydra, the allied fleet intercepted the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet at Navarino. A week-long standoff ended with the Battle of Navarino (20 October 1827) which resulted in the destruction of the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet. A French expeditionary force was dispatched to supervise the evacuation of the Egyptian army from the Peloponnese, while the Greeks proceeded to the captured part of Central Greece by 1828. As a result of years of negotiation, the nascent Greek state was finally recognised under the London Protocol in 1830.[95]
Joseph Ludwig von Armansperg as Prime Minister and, later, by Otto himself, who held the title of both King and Premier.[96] Throughout this period Greece remained under the influence of its three protecting great powers, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom, as well as Bavaria.[97]
In 1843 an uprising forced Otto to grant a constitution and a representative assembly.
Despite the
Catholic. 25 March, the day of Annunciation, was chosen as the anniversary of the Greek War of Independence to reinforce the link between Greek identity and Orthodoxy.[100]Pavlos Karolidis called the Bavarian efforts to create a modern state in Greece as "not only appropriate for the peoples' needs, but also based on excellent administrative principles of the era".[99]
Otto was deposed in the
parliamentary majority as a requirement for the formation of a government was introduced by Charilaos Trikoupis,[105] curbing the power of the monarchy to appoint minority governments
Corruption, coupled with Trikoupis' increased spending to fund infrastructure projects like the Corinth Canal,[106] overtaxed the weak Greek economy and forced the declaration of public insolvency in 1893. Greece also accepted the imposition of an International Financial Control authority to pay off the country's debtors.
All Greeks were united, however, in their determination to liberate the
Treaty of Berlin, while frustrating Greek hopes of receiving Crete.[107]
Greeks in Crete continued to stage regular revolts, and in 1897, the Greek government under Theodoros Deligiannis, bowing to popular pressure, declared war on the Ottomans. In the ensuing
The following era was marked by instability, as over 1.5 million propertyless Greek refugees from Turkey had to be integrated into Greek society.
non-Greek followers of Greek Orthodoxy were all subject to the exchange as well. Some of the refugees could not speak the language and were from what had been unfamiliar environments to mainland Greeks, such as in the case of the Cappadocians and non-Greeks. The refugees also made a dramatic post-war population boost, as the number of refugees was more than a quarter of Greece's prior population.[119]
Following the catastrophic events in Asia Minor, the monarchy was abolished
An agreement between Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas and the head of state George II followed in 1936, which installed Metaxas as the head of a dictatorial regime known as the 4th of August Regime, inaugurating a period of authoritarian rule that would last, with short breaks, until 1974.[121] Although a dictatorship, Greece remained on good terms with Britain and was not allied with the Axis.
Greek army, stating in his address to the Reichstag on 11 December 1941, that: "Historical justice obliges me to state that of the enemies who took up positions against us, the Greek soldier particularly fought with the highest courage. He capitulated only when further resistance had become impossible and useless."[123]
civil war
and political polarization.
The Nazis proceeded to administer Athens and Thessaloniki, while other regions of the country were given to Nazi Germany's partners, Fascist Italy and Bulgaria. The occupation brought about terrible hardships for the Greek civilian population. Over 100,000 civilians died of starvation during the winter of 1941–1942, tens of thousands more died because of reprisals by Nazis and
Greek Resistance, one of the most effective resistance movements in Europe, fought vehemently against the Nazis and their collaborators. The German occupiers committed numerous atrocities, mass executions, and wholesale slaughter of civilians and destruction of towns and villages in reprisals. In the course of the concerted anti-guerrilla campaign, hundreds of villages were systematically torched and almost 1 million Greeks left homeless.[125] In total, the Germans executed some 21,000 Greeks, the Bulgarians 40,000, and the Italians 9,000.[126][clarification needed
]
Following liberation and the Allied victory over the Axis, Greece annexed the
Dodecanese Islands from Italy and regained Western Thrace from Bulgaria. The country almost immediately descended into a bloody civil war between communist forces and the anti-communist Greek government, which lasted until 1949 with the latter's victory. The conflict, considered one of the earliest struggles of the Cold War,[127] resulted in further economic devastation, mass population displacement and severe political polarisation for the next thirty years.[128]
Although the post-war decades were characterised by social strife and widespread marginalisation of the left in political and social spheres, Greece nonetheless experienced rapid economic growth and recovery, propelled in part by the U.S.-administered Marshall Plan.[129] In 1952, Greece joined NATO, reinforcing its membership in the Western Bloc of the Cold War.[130]
Constantine Karamanlis of the documents for the accession of Greece to the European Communities
in 1979
The former prime minister
referendum
which chose to not restore the monarchy.
Meanwhile,
Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) in response to Karamanlis's conservative New Democracy party, with the two political formations dominating in government over the next four decades. Greece rejoined NATO in 1980.[c][132] Greece became the tenth member of the European Communities (subsequently subsumed by the European Union) on 1 January 1981, ushering in a period of sustained growth. Widespread investments in industrial enterprises and heavy infrastructure, as well as funds from the European Union and growing revenues from tourism, shipping, and a fast-growing service sector raised the country's standard of living to unprecedented levels. The country adopted the euro in 2001 and successfully hosted the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens.[133]
Beginning in 2010, Greece suffered substantially from the
Located in Southern[137] and Southeast Europe,[138] Greece consists of a mountainous, peninsular mainland jutting out into the sea at the southern end of the Balkans, ending at the Peloponnese peninsula (separated from the mainland by the canal of the Isthmus of Corinth) and strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa.[d] Due to its highly indented coastline and numerous islands, Greece has the 11th longest coastline in the world with 13,676 km (8,498 mi);[144] its land boundary is 1,160 km (721 mi). The country lies approximately between latitudes 34° and 42° N, and longitudes 19° and 30° E, with the extreme points being:[145]
Eighty percent of Greece consists of mountains or hills, making the country one of the most mountainous in Europe. Mount Olympus, the mythical abode of the Greek Gods, culminates at Mytikas peak 2,918 metres (9,573 ft),[146] the highest in the country. Western Greece contains a number of lakes and wetlands and is dominated by the Pindus mountain range. The Pindus, a continuation of the Dinaric Alps, reaches a maximum elevation of 2,637 m (8,652 ft) at Mt. Smolikas (the second-highest in Greece) and historically has been a significant barrier to east–west travel.
The Pindus range continues through the central Peloponnese, crosses the islands of
Vikos-Aoos National Park in the Pindus range, is listed by the Guinness book of World Records as the deepest gorge in the world.[147] Another notable formation are the Meteora rock pillars, atop which have been built medieval Greek Orthodox monasteries.[148]
Northeastern Greece features another high-altitude mountain range, the
East Macedonia and Thrace; this area is covered with vast, thick, ancient forests, including the famous Dadia Forest in the Evros regional unit
, in the far northeast of the country.
Extensive plains are primarily located in the regions of Thessaly, Central Macedonia and Thrace. They constitute key economic regions as they are among the few arable places in the country. Rare marine species such as the pinniped seals and the loggerhead sea turtle live in the seas surrounding mainland Greece, while its dense forests are home to the endangered brown bear, the Eurasian lynx, the roe deer and the wild goat.
The Greek islands are traditionally grouped into the following clusters: the
Argo-Saronic Islands in the Saronic gulf near Athens; the Cyclades, a large but dense collection occupying the central part of the Aegean Sea; the North Aegean islands, a loose grouping off the west coast of Turkey; the Dodecanese, another loose collection in the southeast between Crete and Turkey; the Sporades
, a small tight group off the coast of northeast Euboea; and the Ionian Islands, located to the west of the mainland in the Ionian Sea.
Greece's Köppen Climate Types Map Hylke et al. (2018)
The climate of Greece is primarily Mediterranean,[150] featuring mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers.[151] This climate occurs at all coastal locations, including Athens, the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, Crete, the Peloponnese, the Ionian Islands and parts of the Central Continental Greece region. The Pindus mountain range strongly affects the climate of the country, as areas to the west of the range are considerably wetter on average (due to greater exposure to south-westerly systems bringing in moisture) than the areas lying to the east of the range (due to a rain shadow effect).
The mountainous areas of northwestern Greece (parts of
East Macedonia and Thrace feature a temperate climate with cold, damp winters and hot, dry summers with frequent thunderstorms. Snowfalls occur every year in the mountains and northern areas, and brief snowfalls are not unknown even in low-lying southern areas, such as Athens.[152]
was guaranteed with an amendment to the 1952 Constitution.
The nominal head of state is the
current leader of the political party that can obtain a vote of confidence by the Parliament. The president of the republic formally appoints the prime minister and, on their recommendation, appoints and dismisses the other members of the Cabinet.[155]
Legislative powers are exercised by a 300-member elective unicameral Parliament.[155] Statutes passed by the Parliament are promulgated by the President of the Republic.[155]Parliamentary elections are held every four years, but the President of the Republic is obliged to dissolve the Parliament earlier on the proposal of the Cabinet, in view of dealing with a national issue of exceptional importance.[155] The President is also obliged to dissolve the Parliament earlier if the opposition manages to pass a motion of no confidence.[155] The voting age is 17.[159]
According to a 2016 report by the OECD, Greeks display a moderate level of civic participation compared to most other developed countries; voter turnout was 64 percent during recent elections, lower than the OECD average of 69 percent.[160]
parliamentary elections of June 2012. The result of the second elections was the formation of a coalition government composed of New Democracy (29%), PASOK (12%) and Democratic Left (6%) parties.[169]
SYRIZA has since overtaken PASOK as the main party of the centre-left .
September 2015 general election, Alexis Tsipras led SYRIZA to another victory, winning 145 out of 300 seats[174] and re-forming the coalition with the Independent Greeks.[175] However, he was defeated in the July 2019 general election by Kyriakos Mitsotakis who leads New Democracy.[176] On 7 July 2019, Kyriakos Mitsotakis was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Greece. He formed a centre-right government after the landslide victory of his New Democracy party.[177]
There is a long-standing conflict between Turkey and Greece over natural resources in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey doesn't recognize a legal continental shelf and exclusive economic zone around the Greek islands.[187]
Additionally, due to its political and geographical proximity to Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, Greece is a country of significant geostrategic importance, which it has leveraged to develop a regional policy to help promote peace and stability in the
Mediterranean, and the Middle East.[188] This has accorded the country middle power status in global affairs.[189]
Greece is a member of numerous international organizations, including the
Organisation internationale de la francophonie
and the United Nations, of which it is a founding member.
Military
Main article:
Military of Greece
Coat of Arms of Greece
The Hellenic Armed Forces are overseen by the
Hellenic National Defense General Staff (Greek: Γενικό Επιτελείο Εθνικής Άμυνας – ΓΕΕΘΑ), with civilian authority vested in the Ministry of National Defence. It consists of three branches:[190]
Greek military personnel total 364,050, of whom 142,700 are active and 221,350 are reserve. Greece ranks 28th in the world in the number of citizens serving in the armed forces. Mandatory military service is generally one year for 19 to 45 year olds.[191] Additionally, Greek males between the ages of 18 and 60 who live in strategically sensitive areas may be required to serve part-time in the National Guard.
As a member of NATO, the Greek military participates in exercises and deployments under the auspices of the alliance, although its involvement in NATO missions is minimal.[192] Greece spends over US$7 billion annually on its military, or 2.3 percent of GDP, the 24th-highest in the world in absolute terms, the seventh-highest on a per capita basis, and the second-highest in NATO after the United States. Moreover, Greece is one of only five NATO countries to meet or surpass the minimum defence spending target of 2 percent of GDP.
Law and justice
Main articles:
Law enforcement in Greece
The
Court of Auditors
(Ελεγκτικό Συνέδριο). The Judiciary system is also composed of civil courts, which judge civil and penal cases and administrative courts, which judge disputes between the citizens and the Greek administrative authorities.
The
counter-terrorism. It was established in 1984 under Law 1481/1-10-1984 (Government Gazette 152 A) as the result of the fusion of the Gendarmerie (Χωροφυλακή, Chorofylaki) and the Cities Police (Αστυνομία Πόλεων, Astynomia Poleon) forces.[193]
merchant shipping (at 16.2%[212] of the world's total capacity, the Greek merchant marine is the largest in the world),[212]
while the country is also a considerable agricultural producer (including fisheries) within the union.
In October 2021 unemployment stood at 12.9% and youth unemployment at 33.2%, compared with respectively 7% and 15.9% in the EU and in the Euro zone.[213]
Greece has the largest economy in the Balkans,[214][215][216] and an important regional investor.[214][215] Greece is the number-two foreign investor of capital in Albania, the number-three foreign investor in Bulgaria, at the top-three of foreign investors in Romania and Serbia and the most important trading partner and largest foreign investor of North Macedonia. Greek banks open a new branch somewhere in the Balkans on an almost weekly basis.[217][218][219] The Greek telecommunications company OTE has become a strong investor in other Balkan countries.[217]
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Greece's debt percentage since 1977, compared to the average of the Eurozone
The Greek economy had fared well for much of the 20th century, with high growth rates and low public debt.
financial crisis of 2007–2008, it featured high rates of growth, which, however, were coupled with high structural deficits, thus maintaining a (roughly unchanged throughout this period) public debt to GDP ratio of just over 100%.[221] In 2009, after an election and change in government, it was revealed that Greece's budget deficit had for years been considerably higher than the officially reported figures.[222] In the years before the crisis, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and numerous other banks had developed financial products which enabled the governments of Greece, Italy, and many other European countries to hide their levels of borrowing.[223][224][225] Dozens of similar agreements were concluded across Europe whereby banks supplied cash in advance in exchange for future payments by the governments involved; in turn, the liabilities of the involved countries were "kept off the books".[226][227][228] These conditions had enabled Greece as well as other European governments to spend beyond their means, while still technically meeting the deficit targets set out in the Maastricht Treaty.[229][225][230]
The Greek crisis was triggered by the turmoil of the 2007–2009 Great Recession, which caused Greece's GDP to contract by around 2.5% in 2009.[231] Simultaneously, the higher-than-believed budget deficits in the preceding years were revealed to have been allowed to reach 10.2% and 15.1% of GDP in 2008 and 2009, respectively. This caused Greece's debt to GDP ratio (which had been high but stable at just over 100% until 2007, as calculated after all corrections) to spike to 127%.[232] In addition, being a member of the Eurozone, the country had essentially no autonomous monetary policy flexibility.
Consequently, Greece was "punished" by the markets which increased borrowing rates, making it impossible for the country to finance its debt since early 2010.
In May 2010, the Greece's deficit was again revised and estimated to be 13.6%[233] the second highest in the world relative to GDP.[234] Public debt was forecast to reach up to 120% of GDP in the same year,[235] causing a crisis of confidence in Greece's ability pay back loans.
To avert a sovereign default, Greece, the other Eurozone members, and the International Monetary Fund agreed on a rescue package which involved giving Greece an immediate €45 billion in loans, with additional funds to follow, totaling €110 billion.[236][237] To secure the funding, Greece was required to adopt harsh austerity measures to bring its deficit under control.[238] A second bail-out amounting to €130 billion ($173 billion) was agreed in 2012, subject to strict conditions, including financial reforms and further austerity measures.[239] A debt haircut was also agreed as part of the deal.[239] Greece achieved a primary government budget surplus in 2013, while in April 2014, it returned to the global bond market. Greece returned to growth after six years of economic decline in the second quarter of 2014,[240] and was the Eurozone's fastest-growing economy in the third quarter.[241] A third bailout was agreed in July 2015, after a confrontation with the newly elected government of Alexis Tsipras.
Partly due to the imposed austerity measures,[222] Greece experienced a 25% drop GDP between 2009 and 2015.[242] This had a critical effect: the debt-to-GDP ratio, a key factor defining the severity of the crisis, would jump from its 2009 level of 127% to about 170%, solely due to the shrinking economy.[citation needed] In a 2013 report, the IMF admitted that it had underestimated the effects of so extensive tax hikes and budget cuts on the country's GDP and issued an informal apology.[243][244][245] The Greek programmes imposed a very rapid improvement in structural primary balance (at least two times faster than for other Eurozone bailed-out countries).[246] The policies have been blamed for worsening the crisis,[247][248] while Greece's president, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, stressed the creditors' share in responsibility for the depth of the crisis.[249][250] Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, asserted that errors in the design of the first two programmes which led to a loss of 25% of the Greek economy due to the harsh imposition of excessive austerity.[251]
Between 2009 and 2017 the Greek government debt rose from €300 bn to €318 bn, i.e. by only about 6% (thanks, in part, to the 2012 debt restructuring);[232][252] however, during the same period, the critical debt-to-GDP ratio shot up from 127% to 179%[232] basically due to the severe GDP drop during the handling of the crisis.[221]
Greece's bailouts successfully ended (as declared) on 20 August 2018.[135]
figs (11,000 tons),[254]almonds (44,000 tons),[254] tomatoes (1,400,000 tons),[254] and watermelons (578,400 tons)[254] and fourth in the production of tobacco (22,000 tons).[253]
Agriculture contributes 3.8% of the country's GDP and employs 12.4% of the country's labor force.
Greece is a major beneficiary of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. As a result of the country's entry to the European Community, much of its agricultural infrastructure has been upgraded and agricultural output increased. Between 2000 and 2007, organic farming in Greece increased by 885%, the highest change percentage in the EU.
Electricity production in Greece is dominated by the state-owned
Public Power Corporation (known mostly by its acronym ΔΕΗ, transliterated as DEI). In 2009 DEI supplied for 85.6% of all electric energy demand in Greece,[255] while the number fell to 77.3% in 2010.[255] Almost half (48%) of DEI's power output is generated using lignite, a drop from the 51.6% in 2009.[255]
Twelve percent of Greece's electricity comes from hydroelectric power plants
In 2012, renewable energy accounted for 13.8% of the country's total energy consumption,[257] a rise from the 10.6% it accounted for in 2011,[257] a figure almost equal to the EU average of 14.1% in 2012.[257] 10% of the country's renewable energy comes from solar power,[258] while most comes from biomass and waste recycling.[258] In line with the European Commission's Directive on Renewable Energy, Greece aims to get 18% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.[259]
In 2013, according to the independent power transmission operator in Greece (ΑΔΜΗΕ) more than 20% of the electricity in Greece has been produced from renewable energy sources and hydroelectric powerplants. This percentage in April reached 42%. Greece currently does not have any nuclear power plants in operation; however, in 2009 the Academy of Athens suggested that research in the possibility of Greek nuclear power plants begin.[260]
] making it the largest in the world. They are ranked in the top 5 for all kinds of ships, including first for tankers and bulk carriers.
The shipping industry has been a key element of Greek economic activity since ancient times.[261] Shipping remains one of the country's most important industries, accounting for 4.5 percent of GDP, employing about 160,000 people (4 percent of the workforce), and representing a third of the trade deficit.[262]
According to a 2011 report by the
Greek Merchant Navy is the largest in the world at 16.2 percent of total global capacity,[212] up from 15.96 percent in 2010[263] but below the peak of 18.2 percent in 2006.[264] The country's merchant fleet ranks first in total tonnage (202 million dwt),[212] fourth in total number of ships (at 3,150), first in both tankers and dry bulk carriers, fourth in the number of containers, and fifth in other ships.[265] However, today's fleet roster is smaller than an all-time high of 5,000 ships in the late 1970s.[261] Additionally, the total number of ships flying a Greek flag (includes non-Greek fleets) is 1,517, or 5.3 percent of the world's dwt (ranked fifth globally).[263]
During the 1960s, the size of the Greek fleet nearly doubled, primarily through the investment undertaken by the shipping magnates, Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos.[266] The basis of the modern Greek maritime industry was formed after World War II when Greek shipping businessmen were able to amass surplus ships sold to them by the U.S. government through the Ship Sales Act of the 1940s.[266]
Greece has a significant shipbuilding and ship maintenance industry. The six shipyards around the port of Piraeus are among the largest in Europe.[267] In recent years, Greece has also become a leader in the construction and maintenance of luxury yachts.[268]
Santorini, a popular tourist destination, is ranked as the world's top island in many travel magazines and sites.[269][270]
Tourism has been a key element of the economic activity in the country and one of the country's most important sectors, contributing 20.6% of the gross domestic product as of 2018.[271] Greece welcomed over 31.3 million visitors in 2019,[272] and around 28 million in 2016,[273] which is an increase from the 26.5 million tourists it welcomed in 2015 and the 19.5 million in 2009,[274] and the 17.7 million tourists in 2007,[275] making Greece one of the most visited countries in Europe in the recent years.
The vast majority of visitors in Greece in 2007 came from the European continent, numbering 12.7 million,
region of Greece was that of Central Macedonia, with 18% of the country's total tourist flow (amounting to 3.6 million tourists), followed by Attica with 2.6 million and the Peloponnese with 1.8 million.[274]Northern Greece is the country's most-visited geographical region, with 6.5 million tourists, while Central Greece is second with 6.3 million.[274]
In 2010, Lonely Planet ranked Greece's northern and second-largest city of Thessaloniki as the world's fifth-best party town worldwide, comparable with cities such as Dubai and Montreal.[277] In 2011, Santorini was voted as "The World's Best Island" in Travel + Leisure.[278] Its neighboring island Mykonos, came in fifth in the European category.[278] There are 18 UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites in Greece,[279] and Greece is ranked 16th in the world in terms of total sites. 14 further sites are on the tentative list, awaiting nomination.[279]
UNESCO World Heritage Site, as seen from the Old Fortress. The Bay of Garitsa is to the left and the port of Corfu
Rio–Antirrio bridge connects mainland Greece to the Peloponnese
.
Since the 1980s, the road and rail network of Greece has been significantly modernised. Important works include the
Rio–Antirrio bridge, the longest suspension cable bridge in Europe (2,250 m (7,382 ft) long), connecting the Peloponnese (Rio, 7 km (4 mi) from Patras) with Aetolia-Akarnania (Antirrio
) in western Greece.
Also completed are the
Pyrgos
, is under planning.
Other important projects that are currently underway, include the construction of the Thessaloniki Metro.
The Athens Metropolitan Area in particular is served by some of the most modern and efficient transport infrastructure in Europe, such as the Athens International Airport, the privately run A6 (Attiki Odos) motorway network and the expanded Athens Metro system.
Most of the Greek islands and many main cities of Greece are connected by air mainly from the two major Greek airlines,
catamarans
.
Railway connections play a somewhat lesser role in Greece than in many other European countries, but they too have also been expanded, with new suburban/commuter rail connections, serviced by Proastiakos around Athens, towards its airport, Kiato and Chalkida; around Thessaloniki, towards the cities of Larissa and Edessa; and around Patras. A modern intercity rail connection between Athens and Thessaloniki has also been established, while an upgrade to double lines in many parts of the 2,500 km (1,600 mi) network is underway; along with a new double track, standard gauge railway between Athens and Patras (replacing the old metre-gaugePiraeus–Patras railway) which is currently under construction and opening in stages.[280] International railway lines connect Greek cities with the rest of Europe, the Balkans and Turkey.
Modern digital information and communication networks reach all areas. There are over 35,000 km (21,748 mi) of fiber optics and an extensive open-wire network. Broadband internet availability is widespread in Greece: there were a total of 2,252,653 broadband connections as of early 2011[update], translating to 20% broadband penetration.[281] According to 2017 data, around 82% of the general population used the internet regularly.[282]
Internet cafés that provide net access, office applications and multiplayer gaming are also a common sight in the country, while mobile internet on 3G and 4G- LTE cellphone networks and Wi-Fi connections can be found almost everywhere.[283] 3G/4G mobile internet usage has been on a sharp increase in recent years. Based on 2016 data 70% of Greek internet users have access via 3G/4G mobile.[282] As of July 2022, 5G service is accessible in most of major Greek cities. The United Nations International Telecommunication Union ranks Greece among the top 30 countries with a highly developed information and communications infrastructure.[284]
The General Secretariat for Research and Technology of the Ministry of Development and Competitiveness is responsible for designing, implementing and supervising national research and technological policy. In 2017, spending on research and development (R&D) reached an all-time high of €2 billion, equal to 1.14 percent of GDP.[285]
Although lower than the EU average of 1.93 percent, between 1990 and 1998, total R&D expenditure in Greece enjoyed the third-highest increase in Europe, after Finland and Ireland. Greece was ranked 47th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, down from 41st in 2019.[286][287][288][289] Because of its strategic location, qualified workforce, and political and economic stability, many multinational companies such as Ericsson, Siemens, Motorola, Coca-Cola, and Tesla have their regional R&D headquarters in Greece.[290]
Hermoupolis, on the island of Syros, is the capital of the Cyclades
.
According to the official statistical body of Greece, the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), the country's total population in 2021 was 10,432,481.[4] Eurostat places the current population at 10.7 million in 2018.[295]
Greek society has changed rapidly over the last several decades, coinciding with the
wider European trend of declining fertility and rapid aging. The birth rate in 2003 stood at 9.5 per 1,000 inhabitants, significantly lower than the rate of 14.5 per 1,000 in 1981. At the same time, the mortality rate increased slightly from 8.9 per 1,000 inhabitants in 1981 to 9.6 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2003. Estimates from 2016 show the birth rate decreasing further still to 8.5 per 1,000 and mortality climbing to 11.2 per 1,000.[296]
Population pyramid of Greece in 2017
The
replacement rate of 2.1, and is one of the lowest in the world, considerably below the high of 5.47 children born per woman in 1900.[297] Subsequently, Greece's median age is 44.2 years, the seventh-highest in the world.[298] In 2001, 16.71 percent of the population were 65 years old and older, 68.12 percent between the ages of 15 and 64 years old, and 15.18 percent were 14 years old and younger.[299]
By 2016, the proportion of the population age 65 and older had risen to 20.68 percent, while the proportion of those aged 14 and younger declined to slightly below 14 percent.
Marriage rates began declining from almost 71 per 1,000 inhabitants in 1981 until 2002, only to increase slightly in 2003 to 61 per 1,000 and then fall again to 51 in 2004.[299] Divorce rates have seen an increase from 191.2 per 1,000 marriages in 1991 to 239.5 per 1,000 marriages in 2004.[299]
As a result of these trends, the average Greek household is smaller and older than in previous generations. The economic crisis has exacerbated this development, with 350,000–450,000 Greeks, predominantly young adults, emigrating since 2010.[300]
Cities
See also:
List of cities in Greece
Almost two-thirds of the Greek people live in urban areas. Greece's largest and most influential metropolitan centres are those of
The table below lists the largest cities in Greece, by population contained in their respective contiguous built up urban areas, which are either made up of many municipalities, evident in the cases of Athens and Thessaloniki, or are contained within a larger single municipality, case evident in most of the smaller cities of the country. The results come from the preliminary figures of the population census that took place in Greece in May 2011.
In a 2010 Eurostat–Eurobarometer poll, 79% of Greek citizens responded that they "believe there is a God".[306] According to other sources, 15.8% of Greeks describe themselves as "very religious", which is the highest among all European countries. The survey also found that just 3.5% never attend a church, compared to 4.9% in Poland and 59.1% in the Czech Republic.[307]
Kars Oblast, after it had been retroceded to Turkey prior to the official population exchange.[310]
Judaism has been present in Greece for more than 2,000 years.
The ancient community of Greek Jews are called
German occupation of Greece and the Holocaust during World War II, is estimated to number around 5,500 people.[305][308]
The
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and various Pentecostal churches of the Greek Synod of Apostolic Church total about 12,000 members.[313] The independent Free Apostolic Church of Pentecost is the biggest Protestant denomination in Greece with 120 churches.[314] There are no official statistics about Free Apostolic Church of Pentecost, but the Orthodox Church estimates the followers as 20,000.[315] The Jehovah's Witnesses report having 28,874 active members.[316]
Since 2017,
Hellenic Polytheism, or Hellenism has been legally recognised as an actively practised religion in Greece,[317] with estimates of 2,000 active practitioners and an additional 100,000 "sympathisers".[318][319][320] Hellenism refers to various religious movements that continue, revive, or reconstruct ancient Greek religious practices
Regions with a traditional presence of languages other than Greek. Today, Greek is the dominant language throughout the country.[321][322][323][324][325][326]
The first textual evidence of the Greek language dates back to the 15th century BC and the
Classical Antiquity,[328] and would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire.[329]
During the 19th and 20th centuries there was a major dispute known as the
Byzantine Greek
and was the language of the people. The dispute was finally resolved in 1976, when Dimotiki was made the sole official variation of the Greek language, and Katharevousa fell to disuse.
Greece is today relatively homogeneous in linguistic terms, with a large majority of the native population using Greek as their first or only language. Among the Greek-speaking population, speakers of the distinctive
, is still spoken in some villages in the southeastern Peloponnese.
The Muslim minority in Thrace, which amounts to approximately 0.95% of the total population, consists of speakers of Turkish, Bulgarian (Pomaks)[326] and Romani. Romani is also spoken by Christian Roma in other parts of the country. Further minority languages have traditionally been spoken by regional population groups in various parts of the country. Their use has decreased radically in the course of the 20th century through assimilation with the Greek-speaking majority.
Today they are only maintained by the older generations and are on the verge of extinction. This goes for the Arvanites, an Albanian-speaking group mostly located in the rural areas around the capital Athens, and for the Aromanians and Megleno-Romanians, also known as "Vlachs", whose language is closely related to Romanian and who used to live scattered across several areas of mountainous central Greece. Members of these groups usually identify ethnically as Greek[330] and are today all at least bilingual in Greek.
Near the northern Greek borders there are also some
Ukraine
who arrived in mainly Northern Greece as economic migrants in the 1990s.
A study from the Mediterranean Migration Observatory maintains that the 2001 census recorded 762,191 persons residing in Greece without Greek citizenship, constituting around 7% of the total population. Of the non-citizen residents, 48,560 were EU or European Free Trade Association nationals and 17,426 were Cypriots with privileged status. The majority come from Eastern European countries: Albania (56%), Bulgaria (5%) and Romania (3%), while migrants from the former Soviet Union (Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, etc.) comprise 10% of the total.[333] Some of the immigrants from Albania are from the Greek minority in Albania centred on the region of Northern Epirus. In addition, the total Albanian national population which includes temporary migrants and undocumented persons is around 600,000.[334]
The
2011 census recorded 9,903,268 Greek citizens (91.56%), 480,824 Albanian citizens (4.44%), 75,915 Bulgarian citizens (0.7%), 46,523 Romanian citizenship (0.43%), 34,177 Pakistani citizens (0.32%), 27,400 Georgian citizens (0.25%) and 247,090 people had other or unidentified citizenship (2.3%).[335] 189,000 people of the total population of Albanian citizens were reported in 2008 as ethnic Greeks from Southern Albania, in the historical region of Northern Epirus.[332]
The greatest cluster of non-EU immigrant population are the larger urban centers, especially the Municipality of Athens, with 132,000 immigrants comprising 17% of the local population, and then Thessaloniki, with 27,000 immigrants reaching 7% of the local population. There is also a considerable number of co-ethnics that came from the Greek communities of Albania and the former Soviet Union.[332]
Greece, together with Italy and Spain, is a major entry point for
Evros River and the islands of the eastern Aegean across from Turkey (mainly Lesbos, Chios, Kos, and Samos). In 2012, the majority of illegal immigrants entering Greece came from Afghanistan, followed by Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.[336] In 2015, arrivals of refugees by sea had increased dramatically mainly due to the ongoing Syrian civil war. There were 856,723 arrivals by sea in Greece, an almost fivefold increase to the same period of 2014, of which the Syrians represent almost 45%.[337] The majority of refugees and migrants use Greece as a transit country, while their intended destinations are northern European Nations such as Austria, Germany and Sweden.[338][339]
Greeks have a long tradition of valuing and investing in paideia (education), which was upheld as one of the highest societal values in the Greek and Hellenistic world. The first European institution described as a university was founded in fifth-century Constantinople and continued operating in various incarnations until the city's fall to the Ottomans in 1453.[340] The University of Constantinople was Christian Europe's first secular institution of higher learning,[341] and by some measures was the world's first university.[340]
Compulsory education in Greece comprises primary schools (Δημοτικό Σχολείο, Dimotikó Scholeio) and gymnasium (Γυμνάσιο). Nursery schools (Παιδικός σταθμός, Paidikós Stathmós) are popular but not compulsory. Kindergartens (Νηπιαγωγείο, Nipiagogeío) are now compulsory for any child above four years of age. Children start primary school aged six and remain there for six years. Attendance at gymnasia starts at age 12 and lasts for three years.
Greece's post-compulsory secondary education consists of two school types: unified upper secondary schools (Γενικό Λύκειο, Genikό Lykeiό) and technical–vocational educational schools (Τεχνικά και Επαγγελματικά Εκπαιδευτήρια, "TEE"). Post-compulsory secondary education also includes vocational training institutes (Ινστιτούτα Επαγγελματικής Κατάρτισης, "IEK") which provide a formal but unclassified level of education. As they can accept both Gymnasio (lower secondary school) and Lykeio (upper secondary school) graduates, these institutes are not classified as offering a particular level of education.
According to the Framework Law (3549/2007), Public higher education "Highest Educational Institutions" (Ανώτατα Εκπαιδευτικά Ιδρύματα, Anótata Ekpaideytiká Idrýmata, "ΑΕΙ") consists of two parallel sectors:the university sector (Universities, Polytechnics, Fine Arts Schools, the Open University) and the Technological sector (Technological Education Institutions (TEI) and the School of Pedagogic and Technological Education). There are also State Non-University Tertiary Institutes offering vocationally oriented courses of shorter duration (2 to 3 years) which operate under the authority of other Ministries. Students are admitted to these Institutes according to their performance at national level examinations taking place after completion of the third grade of Lykeio. Additionally, students over twenty-two years old may be admitted to the
Capodistrian University of Athens
is the oldest university in the eastern Mediterranean.
The Greek education system also provides special kindergartens, primary, and secondary schools for people with special needs or difficulties in learning. There are also specialist gymnasia and high schools offering musical, theological, and physical education.
Seventy-two percent of Greek adults aged 25–64 have completed upper secondary education, which is slightly less than the OECD average of 74 percent. The average Greek pupil scored 458 in reading literacy, maths and science in the OECD's 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). This score is lower than the OECD average of 486. On average, girls outperformed boys by 15 points, much more than the average OECD gap of two points.[342]
Healthcare system
Main article:
Health care in Greece
Greece has
Ministry of Health announced plans to decrease the number to 77 hospitals with 36,035 beds to reduce expenses and further enhance healthcare standards.[345] However, as of 2014, there were 124 public hospitals, of which 106 were general hospitals and 18 specialised hospitals, with a total capacity of about 30,000 beds.[346]
Greece's healthcare expenditures as a percentage of GDP were 9.6% in 2007, just above the OECD average of 9.5%.[347] By 2015, spending declined to 8.4% of GDP (compared with the EU average of 9.5%), a decline of one-fifth since 2010. Nevertheless, the country maintains the highest doctor-to-population ratio of any OECD country[347] and the highest doctor-to-patient ratio in the EU.[348]
Blue Zone", a region where people allegedly live longer than average and have lower rates of cancer, heart disease, or other chronic illnesses.[350]
The 2011 OECD report showed that Greece had the largest percentage of adult daily smokers of any of the 34 OECD members.[347] The country's obesity rate is 18.1%, which is above the OECD average of 15.1%, but considerably lower than the American rate of 27.7%.[347] In 2008, Greece had the highest rate of perceived good health in the OECD, at 98.5%.[351] Infant mortality, with a rate of 3.6 deaths per 1,000 live births, was below the 2007 OECD average of 4.9.[347]
There were several interconnected traditions of painting in ancient Greece. Due to their technical differences, they underwent somewhat differentiated developments. Not all painting techniques are equally well represented in the archaeological record. The most respected form of art, according to authors like Pliny or Pausanias, were individual, mobile paintings on wooden boards, technically described as panel paintings. Also, the tradition of wall painting in Greece goes back at least to the Minoan and MycenaeanBronze Age, with the lavish fresco decoration of sites like Knossos, Tiryns and Mycenae. Much of the figural or architectural sculpture of ancient Greece was painted colourfully. This aspect of Greek stonework is described as polychrome.[359]
Chryselephantine sculptures, used for temple cult images and luxury works, used gold, most often in leaf form and ivory for all or parts (faces and hands) of the figure, and probably gems and other materials, but were much less common, and only fragments have survived. By the early 19th century, the systematic excavation of ancient Greek sites had brought forth a plethora of sculptures with traces of notably multicolored surfaces. It was not until published findings by German archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann in the late 20th century, that the painting of ancient Greek sculptures became an established fact.[360]
The art production continued also during the Byzantine era. The most salient feature of this new aesthetic was its "abstract", or anti-naturalistic character. If classical art was marked by the attempt to create representations that mimicked reality as closely as possible, Byzantine art seems to have abandoned this attempt in favour of a more symbolic approach. The Byzantine painting concentrated mainly on icons and hagiographies. The Macedonian art (Byzantine) was the artistic expression of Macedonian Renaissance, a label sometimes used to describe the period of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire (867–1056), especially the 10th century, which some scholars have seen as a time of increased interest in classical scholarship and the assimilation of classical motifs into Christian artwork.
Byzantine architecture is the architecture promoted by the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, which dominated Greece and the Greek speaking world during the Middle Ages. The empire endured for more than a millennium, dramatically influencing Medieval architecture throughout Europe and the Near East, and becoming the primary progenitor of the Renaissance and Ottoman architectural traditions that followed its collapse.
After the Greek Independence, the modern Greek architects tried to combine traditional Greek and Byzantine elements and motives with the western European movements and styles. Patras was the first city of the modern Greek state to develop a city plan. In January 1829, Stamatis Voulgaris, a Greek engineer of the French army, presented the plan of the new city to the Governor Kapodistrias, who approved it. Voulgaris applied the orthogonal rule in the urban complex of Patras.[361]
Two special genres can be considered the Cycladic architecture, featuring white-coloured houses, in the
There is an emerging need to secure the long-term preservation of the archaeological sites and monuments of Greece against the growing threats of climate change.[365]
, the first theatre and opera house of modern Greece
Theatre in its western form was born in Greece.[366] The city-state of Classical Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and military power during this period, was its centre, where it was institutionalised as part of a festival called the Dionysia, which honoured the god Dionysus. Tragedy (late 6th century BC), comedy (486 BC), and the satyr play were the three dramatic genres to emerge there.
During the Byzantine period, the theatrical art was heavily declined. According to Marios Ploritis, the only form survived was the folk theatre (Mimos and Pantomimos), despite the hostility of the official state.
Greek literature can be divided into three main categories: Ancient, Byzantine and modern Greek literature.[369]
Athens is considered the birthplace of Western literature.
rhetorical treatises, philosophical dialectics, and philosophical treatises all arose in this period. The two major lyrical poets were Sappho and Pindar
. The Classical era also saw the dawn of drama.
Of the hundreds of
tragedies written and performed during the classical age, only a limited number of plays by three authors have survived: those of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. The surviving plays by Aristophanes are also a treasure trove of comic presentation, while Herodotus and Thucydides
are two of the most influential historians in this period. The greatest prose achievement of the 4th century was in philosophy with the works of the three great philosophers.
Medieval and early Modern Greek, and it is the expression of the intellectual life of the Byzantine Greeks during the Christian Middle Ages. Although popular Byzantine literature and early Modern Greek literature both began in the 11th century, the two are indistinguishable.[371]
Most western philosophical traditions began in Ancient Greece in the 6th century BC. The first philosophers are called "Presocratics", which designates that they came before Socrates, whose contributions mark a turning point in western thought. The Presocratics were from the western or the eastern colonies of Greece and only fragments of their original writings survive, in some cases merely a single sentence.
A new period of philosophy started with Socrates. Like the
Sophists, he rejected entirely the physical speculations in which his predecessors had indulged, and made the thoughts and opinions of people his starting-point. Aspects of Socrates were first united from Plato
, who also combined with them many of the principles established by earlier philosophers, and developed the whole of this material into the unity of a comprehensive system.
Greek vocal music extends far back into ancient times where mixed-gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration and spiritual reasons. Instruments during that period included the double-reed aulos and the plucked string instrument, the lyre, especially the special kind called a kithara. Music played an important role in the education system during ancient times. Boys were taught music from the age of six. Later influences from the Roman Empire, Middle East, and the Byzantine Empire also had effect on Greek music.
While the new technique of polyphony was developing in the West, the
Byzantine chant
; a melodic treasury of inestimable value for its rhythmical variety and expressive power.
Along with the Byzantine (Church) chant and music, the Greek people also cultivated the
Digenes Akritas. The klephtic cycle came into being between the late Byzantine period and the start of the Greek War of Independence. The klephtic cycle, together with historical songs, paraloghes (narrative song or ballad), love songs, mantinades
, wedding songs, songs of exile and dirges express the life of the Greeks. There is a unity between the Greek people's struggles for freedom, their joys and sorrow and attitudes towards love and death.
was one of the most popular and significant Greek composers.
The
kantádhes (καντάδες 'serenades'; sing.: καντάδα) became the forerunners of the Greek modern urban popular song, influencing its development to a considerable degree. For the first part of the next century, several Greek composers continued to borrow elements from the Heptanesean style. The most successful songs during the period 1870–1930 were the so-called Athenian serenades, and the songs performed on stage (επιθεωρησιακά τραγούδια 'theatrical revue songs') in revue, operettas and nocturnes
Ionian islands (which were under western rule and influence) that all the major advances of the western European classical music were introduced to mainland Greeks. The region is notable for the birth of the first School of modern Greek classical music (Heptanesean or Ionian School, Greek: Επτανησιακή Σχολή), established in 1815. Prominent representatives of this genre include Nikolaos Mantzaros, Spyridon Xyndas, Spyridon Samaras and Pavlos Carrer. Manolis Kalomiris
is considered the founder of the Greek National School of Music.
In the 20th century, Greek composers have had a significant impact on the development of
Greek rock.[375] The song was echoing the hippie slogan Make love, not war and was inspired directly by the Vietnam War, becoming a "smash hit" in Greece.[376]
bay laurel leaves. Other common herbs and spices include basil, thyme and fennel seed. Many Greek recipes, especially in the northern parts of the country, use "sweet" spices in combination with meat, for example cinnamon and cloves in stews.[citation needed
Cinema first appeared in Greece in 1896, but the first actual cine-theatre was opened in 1907 in Athens. In 1914, the Asty Films Company was founded and the production of long films began. Golfo (Γκόλφω), a well known traditional love story, is considered the first Greek feature film, although there were several minor productions such as newscasts before this. In 1931, Orestis Laskos directed Daphnis and Chloe (Δάφνις και Χλόη), containing one of the first nude scene in the history of European cinema;[384] it was also the first Greek movie which was played abroad.[385] In 1944, Katina Paxinou was honoured with the Best Supporting ActressAcademy Award for For Whom the Bell Tolls.[386]
European cinema
The 1950s and early 1960s are considered by many to be a "golden age" of Greek cinema.
Greece is the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games, first recorded in 776 BC in Olympia, and hosted the modern Olympic Games twice, the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics. During the parade of nations, Greece is always called first, as the founding nation of the ancient precursor of modern Olympics. The nation has competed at every Summer Olympic Games, one of only four countries to have done so. Having won a total of 110 medals (30 gold, 42 silver and 38 bronze), Greece is ranked 32nd by gold medals in the all-time Summer Olympic medal count. Their best ever performance was in the 1896 Summer Olympics, when Greece finished second in the medal table with 10 gold medals.
The
Greek Super League is the highest professional football league in the country, comprising fourteen teams. The most successful are Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, and AEK Athens
.
The
2005 European Championship
triumph of the Greek national basketball team, Greece became the reigning European Champion in both football and basketball.
Greek national basketball team
in 2008. Twice European champions (1987 and 2005) and second in the world in 2006.
Procession in honor of the Assumption of Virgin Mary
(15 August)
According to Greek law, every Sunday of the year is a public holiday. Since the late '70s, Saturday also is a non-school and not working day. In addition, there are four mandatory official public holidays: 25 March (
) are regulated by law as being optional but it is customary for employees to be given the day off. There are, however, more public holidays celebrated in Greece than are announced by the Ministry of Labour each year as either obligatory or optional. The list of these non-fixed national holidays rarely changes and has not changed in recent decades, giving a total of eleven national holidays each year.
In addition to the national holidays, there are public holidays that are not celebrated nationwide, but only by a specific professional group or a local community. For example, many municipalities have a "Patron Saint" parallel to "Name Days", or a "Liberation Day".[400] On such days it is customary for schools to take the day off.
Notable festivals, beyond the religious fests, include
Thessaloniki International Film Festival is one of the most important film festivals in Southern Europe.[401]
^ On 14 August 1974 Greek forces withdrew from the integrated military structure of NATO in protest at the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus; Greece rejoined NATO in 1980.
^ For a diachronic analysis of the Greek party system,[161] who distinguishes three distinct types of party system which developed in consecutive order, namely, a predominant-party system (from 1952 to 1963), a system of polarised pluralism (between 1963 and 1981), and a two-party system (since 1981).
. Both as a state church and as a national church, the Orthodox Church of Greece has a lot in common with Protestant state churches, and even with Catholicism in some countries.
. The list of books which have celebrated Greece as the "cradle" of the West is endless; two more examples are Charles Freeman's The Greek Achievement: The Foundation of the Western World (1999) and Bruce Thornton's Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization (2000)
. The reason why even such a sophisticated historian as Pagden can do it is that the idea that Greece is the cradle of civilisation is so much rooted in western minds and school curicula as to be taken for granted.
. Retrieved 5 December 2012. People appear to have first entered Greece as hunter-gatherers from southwest Asia about 50,000 years... of Bronze Age culture and technology laid the foundations for the rise of Europe's first civilization, Minoan Crete
. Retrieved 5 December 2012. Greece was home to the earliest European civilizations, the Minoan civilization of Crete, which developed around 2000 BC, and the Mycenaean civilization on the Greek mainland, which emerged about 400 years later. The ancient Minoan
. They formed an alliance, which we call the Hellenic League, and bound themselves not just to repel the Persians, but to help one another whatever particular enemy threatened the freedom of the Greek cities. This was a real acknowledgment of a shared Greekness, and a first attempt to unify the Greek states under such a banner.
. This Hellenic League – the first union of Greek states since the mythical times of the Trojan War – was the instrument through which the Greeks organised their successful resistance to Persia.
^Gregory, TE (2010). A History of Byzantium. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 169. It is now generally agreed that the people who lived in the Balkans after the Slavic "invasions" were probably for the most part the same as those who had lived there earlier, although the creation of new political groups and arrival of small immigrants caused people to look at themselves as distinct from their neighbors, including the Byzantines.
^"Greece during the Byzantine period (c. AD 300 – c. 1453), Population and languages, Emerging Greek identity". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Online Edition.
^Moles, Ian (1969). "Nationalism and Byzantine Greece". Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies: 102. Greek nationalism, in other words, was articulated as the boundaries of Byzantium shrank... the Palaeologian restoration that the two words are brought into definite and cognate relationship with 'nation' (Έθνος).
. By the fifteenth century most Byzantine intellectuals alluded to themselves as Hellenes. John Argyropoulus even calls the Emperor 'Emperor of the Hellenes' and describes the last wars of Byzantium as a struggle for the freedom of Hellas.
. Retrieved 6 April 2013. Again, during the first great siege of Corfu by the Turks in 1537, Angelocastro ... and After a siege lasting a year the invaders were finally driven away by the defenders of the fortress who were helped by the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages. In 1571, when they once more invaded Corfu, the Turks again unsuccessfully attacked, Angelocastro, where 4,000 people had taken refuge. During the second great siege of the city by the Turks in 1716, Angelokastro once again served
^One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ibrahim Pasha". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 223–224.
^Woodhouse, Christopher Montague (1965). The Battle of Navarino. pp. 117–18, 137, 139.
^Λούκος, Χρήστος (1988). Η αντιπολίτευση κατά του κυβερνήτη Ιωάννη Καποδίστρια (in Greek). Αθήνα, Ελλάδα: Θεμέλιο. p. 187.
^ abc"Otto". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
^Great Greek Encyclopedia, p. 239, "Διὰ τοῦ Συντάγματος τοῦ 1864 καθιερώθει ὡς πολίτευμα διὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἡ κοινοβουλευτικὴ μοναρχία, ἣ, ὅπως ἄλλως ἐχαρακτηρίσθη, ἡ «βασιλευομένη δημοκρατία» ἣ «δημοκρατικὴ βασιλεία»" [Through the Constitution of 1864, constitutional monarchy, or, as it had been described, "crowned democracy", or "democratic monarchy", was consolidated as the form of government in Greece].
^"Constitutional History". hellenicparliament.gr. Hellenic Parliament. Retrieved 4 September 2018. The revolt marked the end of constitutional monarchy and the beginning of a crowned democracy with George-Christian-Wilhelm of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg-Glücksburg dynasty as monarch.
. In 1862, however, a revolt brought about important changes in the political system that led to the so-called "crowned democracy", i.e. a kingdom with a democratic government.
. The total number of Christians who fled to Greece was probably in the region of I.2 million with the main wave occurring in 1922 before the signing of the convention. According to the official records of the Mixed Commission set up to monitor the movements, the Greeks who were transferred after 1923 numbered 189,916 and the number of Muslims expelled to Turkey was 355,635 (Ladas I932, 438–439), but using the same source Eddy 1931, 201 states that the post-1923 exchange involved 192,356 Greeks from Turkey and 354,647 Muslims from Greece.
^Hagen, Fleischer (2006). "Authoritarian Rule in Greece (1936–1974) and Its Heritage". Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes in Europe: Legacies and Lessons from the Twentieth Century. New York/Oxford: Berghahn. p. 237.
. Retrieved 12 April 2013. Greece's Strategic Position in the Balkans And Eastern Mediterranean Greece is located at the crossroads of three continents (Europe, Asia and Africa). It is an integral part of the Balkans (where it is the only country that is a member of the ...)
. Retrieved 12 April 2013. Introduction Greece and Turkey are situated at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and their inhabitants have had a long history of cultural interaction even though their languages are neither genetically nor typologically ...
. Retrieved 12 April 2013. Greece itself shows a special geopolitical importance as it is situated at the crossroads of three continents – Europe, Asia and Africa – and can be therefore considered as a natural bridge between Europe and the Middle East
. Introduction Migration movements from and to, or via Greece, are an age-old phenomenon. Situated at the crossroads of three continents (Europe, Asia, and Africa), Greece has been, at different historical times, both a labour...
. As reports from the GSY (2007) show, young people have the opportunity to become acquainted with many diverse civilisations and cultures, through Greece's strategic location at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Accordingly, many ...
^"Climate Atlas of Greece"(PDF). Hellenic National Meteorological Service. Archived from the original(PDF) on 21 September 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
^"Πολιτικό Βαρόμετρο 99" [Political barometer] (PDF). Public Issue. Ek logika. 7 February 2012. Archived(PDF) from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2011.
^Αρχές του Εξωτερικού [Missions Abroad] (in Greek). Hellenic Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 21 May 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
^ abKeridis, Dimitris (3 March 2006). "Greece and the Balkans: From Stabilization to Growth" (lecture). Montreal, QC, Canada: Hellenic Studies Unit at Concordia University. Greece has a larger economy than all the Balkan countries combined. Greece is also an important regional investor
^Prof. Nicholas Economides Stern School of Business, New York University & Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. "The Greek and EU Crisis for non-economists"(PDF). Archived(PDF) from the original on 19 June 2013. Largest economy than all rest of Balkans combined{{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
. Retrieved 27 May 2013. show that Greece has become the largest investor into Macedonia (FYRM), while Greek companies such as OTE have also developed strong presences in countries of the former Yugoslavia and other Balkan countries.
. Retrieved 27 May 2013. second largest investor of foreign capital in Albania, and the third largest foreign investor in Bulgaria. Greece is the most important trading partner of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
. Retrieved 27 May 2013. Greeks are already among the three largest investors in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia, and overall Greek investment in the ... Its banking sector represents 16% of banking activities in the region, and Greek banks open a new branch in a Balkan country almost weekly.
^LOUISE STORY; LANDON THOMAS Jr; NELSON D. SCHWARTZ (13 February 2010). "Global Business: Wall St. Helped to Mask Debt Fueling Europe's Crisis". The New York Times. In dozens of deals across the Continent, banks provided cash upfront in return for government payments in the future, with those liabilities then left off the books. Greece, for example, traded away the rights to airport fees and lottery proceeds in years to come.
^Nicholas Dunbar; Elisa Martinuzzi (5 March 2012). "Goldman Secret Greece Loan Shows Two Sinners as Client Unravels". Bloomberg L.P. Greece actually executed the swap transactions to reduce its debt-to-gross-domestic-product ratio because all member states were required by the Maastricht Treaty to show an improvement in their public finances," Laffan said in an e-mail. "The swaps were one of several techniques that many European governments used to meet the terms of the treaty."
^Elena Moya (16 February 2010). "Banks that inflated Greek debt should be investigated, EU urges". The Guardian. "These instruments were not invented by Greece, nor did investment banks discover them just for Greece," said Christophoros Sardelis, who was chief of Greece's debt management agency when the contracts were conducted with Goldman Sachs.Such contracts were also used by other European countries until Eurostat, the EU's statistic agency, stopped accepting them later in the decade. Eurostat has also asked Athens to clarify the contracts.
^Beat Balzli (8 February 2010). "Greek Debt Crisis: How Goldman Sachs Helped Greece to Mask its True Debt". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 29 October 2013. This credit disguised as a swap didn't show up in the Greek debt statistics. Eurostat's reporting rules don't comprehensively record transactions involving financial derivatives. "The Maastricht rules can be circumvented quite legally through swaps," says a German derivatives dealer. In previous years, Italy used a similar trick to mask its true debt with the help of a different US bank.
. Retrieved 14 April 2013. Greek ships make up 70 percent of the European Union's total merchant fleet. Greece has a large shipbuilding and ship refitting industry. Its six shipyards near Piraeus are among the biggest in Europe. As Greek ships primarily transport ...
^"ICT Development Index (IDI), 2010 and 2008"(PDF). The United Nations Telecommunication Union|International Telecommunication Union. Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 February 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2012. p. 15.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2011. Archived from the original
(PDF) on 2 September 2009. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
^ abEconomou C, Kaitelidou D, Karanikolos M, Maresso A. Greece: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2017; 19(5):1–192.
^"The Island Where People Live Longer". NPR. 2 May 2009. Retrieved 6 April 2013. Buettner and a team of demographers work with census data to identify blue zones around the world. They found Icaria had the highest percentage of 90-year-olds anywhere on the planet — nearly 1 out of 3 people make it to their 90s.
. In 1979, a friend of de Boer's invited him to join a team of scientists that was going to Greece to assess the suitability of the ... But the idea of learning more about Greece – the cradle of Western civilization, a fresh example of tectonic forces at ...
^Myres, John. Herodotus, Father of History. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953. Web. 25 June 2012.
. Although the first writing originates in the cradle of civilization along Middle Eastern rivers – the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile – the true cradle of Western literature is Athens. As the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley says, "We are all Greeks."
^Patiniotis M. (2015) "Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment: In Search of a European Identity," in Arabatzis T., Renn J., Simões A. (eds), Relocating the History of Science. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 312. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14553-2_9
"Minorities in Greece – Historical Issues and New Perspectives". History and Culture of South Eastern Europe. An Annual Journal. München (Slavica) 2003.
The Constitution of Greece(PDF). Paparrigopoulos, Xenophon; Vassilouni, Stavroula (translators). Athens:
Dagtoglou, PD (1991). "Protection of Individual Rights". Constitutional Law – Individual Rights (in Greek). Vol. I. Athens-Komotini: Ant. N. Sakkoulas.
Kalaitzidis, Akis (2010). Europe's Greece: A Giant in the Making. Palgrave Macmillan., 219 pp. The impact of European Union membership on Greek politics, economics, and society.
Koliopoulos, John S.; Veremis, Thanos M. (2002). Greece: The Modern Sequel. From 1831 to the Present. London: Hurst & Co.
Livanios, Dimitris (1999). "Conquering the souls: nationalism and Greek guerrilla warfare in Ottoman Macedonia, 1904‐1908". Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. 23: 195–221.
Trudgill, P (2000). "Greece and European Turkey: From Religious to Linguistic Identity". In Barbour, S; Carmichael, C (eds.). Language and Nationalism in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press..
10,432,481[4] (88th)
$387.801 billion[6] (55th)
32.4[7]
Elláda, pronounced [eˈlaða]). The corresponding form in Ancient Greek and conservative formal Modern Greek (Katharevousa) is Ἑλλάς (Hellas, classical: [hel.lás], modern: [eˈlas]). This is the source of the English alternative name Hellas, which is mostly found in archaic or poetic contexts today. The Greek adjectival form ελληνικός (ellinikos, [eliniˈkos]) is sometimes also translated as Hellenic and is often rendered in this way in the formal names of Greek institutions, as in the official name of the Greek state, the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, [eliniˈci ðimokraˈti.a]).[11]
, icon of classical Greece
in Athens, built in 161 AD
, one of the best-known Ottoman structures remaining in Greece
in 1827 secured Greek independence.
in 1839
, Paris, July 1919
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