Greece

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Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilisation and the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, theatre, and the Olympic Games. The Ancient Greeks were organised into independent city-states, or poleis (singular polis), that spanned the Mediterranean and Black seas. Philip II of Macedon united most of present-day Greece in the fourth century BC, with his son Alexander the Great conquering much of the known ancient world from the Near East to northwestern India.

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Name

The native name of the country in Modern Greek is Ελλάδα (, 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]).

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History

The Apidima Cave in Mani, in southern Greece, has been suggested to contain the oldest remains of early modern humans outside of Africa, dated to 200,000 years ago. However others suggest the remains represent archaic humans. All three stages of the Stone Age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe, as Greece lies on the route by which farming spread from the Near East to Europe.

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Geography

Located in Southern and Southeast Europe, Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean basin, spanning thousands of islands and nine traditional geographic regions: Macedonia, Central Greece, Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete and Ionian Islands. 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.

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Government and politics

The current Constitution, establishing Greece as a parliamentary republic, was enacted in 1975, after the fall of the military dictatorship of 1967–1974, and has been amended four times since. It consists of 120 articles, provides for a separation of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and grants extensive specific guarantees (further reinforced in 2001) of civil liberties and social rights.

Legislative powers are exercised by a 300-member unicameral Parliament.

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Economy

As of 2025, the economy was the 54th largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) at $467.590 billion. In per person income, Greece is 47th in the world at $45,048. Greece is the 15th largest economy in the 27‑member European Union. The economy is advanced and high-income.

Greece is a developed country with a high standard of living and high ranking in the Human Development Index. Its economy mainly comprises the service sector (85%) and industry (12%), while agriculture makes up 3%.

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Demographics

Eurostat estimated the Greek population at 10.6 million in 2022.

Greek society has changed significantly over recent decades, coinciding with the broader European trend of declining fertility and population aging. The fertility rate of 1.4 children per woman is well below the replacement rate of 2.1, and one of the lowest in the world, considerably below the high of 5.5 children in 1900. The crude birth rate in 2023 was 6.8 per 1,000 inhabitants, a significant decline from 8.5 per 1,000 in 2016 and 14.5 in 1981. The mortality rate in 2025 is 11.53 per 1,000 compared to 11.2 in 2016 and 8.9 in 1981.

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Culture

The culture of Greece has evolved, beginning in Mycenaean Greece and continuing into Classical Greece, through the influence of the Roman Empire and its Greek Eastern continuation, the Byzantine Empire. Other cultures and nations, such as the Latin and Frankish states, the Ottoman Empire, the Venetian Republic, the Genoese Republic, and the British Empire have left their influence on modern Greek culture, though historians credit the Greek War of Independence with revitalising Greece and giving birth to a single, cohesive entity of its multifaceted culture.

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