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Greece is a country in the south east of central Europe. There is a mainland area of Greece but there are also about 6,000 islands which make up the country. Of these islands, only about 220 are inhabited.

Greece is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Ionian Sea. It is in these seas that all the islands can be found.

The land is mountainous and, in many cases, it is the ends of these mountains which have formed the islands.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Greece, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 39 00N
Longitude - 22 00E

The capital of Greece is Athens.

In 1967 the King of Greece, Constantine II, was forced to flee the country when a group of army officers took control and formed a dictatorship. The King, who is a cousin of the Duke of Edinburgh and also Prince William's godfather, came to England. In 1974 the dictatorship collapsed and elections were held and the monarchy abolished. In 2015, after 46 years away, King Constantine returned to Greece to live as an ordinary person. He was by then 73 years old.

Greece is now governed by a democratically elected parliament, with an elected President as Head of State.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 must vote.

The currency in Greece is the euro. Greece is a member of the European Union, having joined in 1973.

Greek is the official language.

Check the weather in Athens now.

This is the time in Athens now

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The Greek flag is 9 equal horizontal stripes of blue and white with a blue square and a white cross in the top left corner. The cross is a symbol for Greek Orthodoxy, which is the main religion for the country.

Hear the National Anthem



These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Greek National Anthem called Hymn of Liberty. It was first used in 1864 and is based on a 158 verse poem of the same name. Luckily, so we can all go home tonight, they only use the first two verses. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here

I shall always recognize you
by the dreadful sword you hold
as the Earth with searching vision
you survey with spirit bold
From the Greeks of old whose dying
brought to life and spirit free
now with ancient valour rising
let us hail you, oh Liberty!

The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

The total land area of Greece is 130,647 sq kms which is the 13th largest in Europe.

Greece has lakes, rivers and canals which total 1,310 sq kms.

Greece has boundaries with 4 countries

• Bulgaria 472 kms
• North Macedonia 234 kms
• Albania 212 kms
• Turkey 192 kms

Greece has a coastline of 13,676 kms which is the 2nd longest in Europe.

The highest point in Greece is Mount Olympus at 2,917 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Greece is 10,77 million people, making it the 12th largest country in Europe by population.

Of this number 5.51 million are females and 5.26 million are males.

A person from Greece is called a Greek.

To be a citizen of Greece, one of your parents must be a citizen of Greece. It is not sufficient to be born in Greece. You have to live in Greece for 10 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Greece, by population are:-

• Athens 664,946 people
• Thessaloniki 315,196
• Patras 168,034
• Piraeus 163,688
• Larissa 144,651

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



78.0% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Greece is 8.5 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Greece is 11.2 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 4.2 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 5.1 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 45.3 and for males is 43.1. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 31.2.

The elderly dependency ratio is 30.5. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 3.3. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Greece spends 8.1% of its total income on health care.

There are 6.20 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 4.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

24.9% of the population are estimated as obese.

100% of Greeks have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

99.2% of the urban population and 98.1% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Greece releases 78.0 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 11th highest in Europe.

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We have no figure for the amount Greece spends of its total income on education.

Children usually start at pre-primary school at age 5 in Greece. Primary education is for six years until age 12 and secondary education must continue till 15 but can go on to 18. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the first week of September and finishes in the third week of June. There is usually a 2 week break at Christmas and Easter. There are no mid-term breaks.

96.9% of females and 98.5% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.

47.3% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 50.7% are unemployed while with males 44.3% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in Greece is 4.83 million.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

25.0% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 64 paved airports in Greece, which is the 10th highest number in Europe.


There are 2,548 kilometres of railways in Greece, the 26th longest in Europe.


There are 116,960 kilometres of roads in Greece, which means Greece is in 13th place for the most kilometres of roads in Europe.

There are 5 major national newspapers in Greece.

There are 12.68 million mobile phone users.

48% of the people have a fixed landline.



7.20 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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