Country Facts - Greece

The People

Nationality Greek
Ethnic Composition

Greek	98%
Other	2%

Religious Composition

Greek Orthodox	97.0%
Muslim	1.3%
Other	0.7%

Languages Spoken

Greek (official), English, French.

Education and Literacy

Education is compulsory for nine years. The current literacy rate is 97 percent nationwide.

Labor Force

Total: 4.32 million
By occupation:

Services	59%
Industry	21%
Agriculture	20%

(1999)

Geography

Land Mass Total

50,942 sq mi (131,940 sq km)

Land

50,502 sq mi (130,800 sq km)

Water

440 mi (1,140 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 763 mi (1,228 km)
Border countries: Albania 175 mi (282 km), Bulgaria 306 mi (494 km), Turkey 128 mi (206 km), The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 152 mi (246 km)

Coastline

8,497 mi (13,676 km)

Maritime claim

Continental shelf: 656 ft (200 m) depth or to the depth of exploitation
Territorial sea: 6 nm

Climate/Weather

Temperate; mild, wet winters; hot, dry summers.

Terrain

Mostly mountains with ranges extending into the sea as peninsulas or chains of islands.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Mediterranean Sea 0 ft (0 m)
Highest: Mount Olympus 9,570 ft (2,917 m)

Natural Resources

Bauxite, lignite, magnesite, petroleum, marble, hydropower.

Land use

Arable land	22%
Permanent crops	9%
Other	69%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Severe earthquakes.

Environment - current issues

Air pollution; water pollution.

Geography Note

Strategic location dominating the Aegean Sea and southern approach to Turkish Straits; a peninsular country, possessing an archipelago of about 2,000 islands.

Demographics

Population

10,645,343 (July 2002)

Age structure

0-14 years:	14.8%	male 814,605	female 765,613
15-64 years:	67.1%	male 3,579,945	female 3,564,068
65 years and over:	18.1%	male 851,087	female 1,070,025

Growth Rate

0.2% (2002)

Life Expectancy

78.74 years (2002)
female: 81.48 years
male: 76.17 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$17,900 (2001)

Infant Mortality

6.25 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.07 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	1 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.8 male(s)/female
Total population:	0.97 male(s)/female

(2002)

Net migration rate

1.96 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

Greece has a mixed capitalist economy with the public sector accounting for about half of GDP. Tourism is a key industry, providing a large portion of GDP and foreign exchange earnings. Greece is a major beneficiary of E.U. aid, equal to about 3.3 percent of GDP. The economy has improved steadily over the last few years, as the government tightened policy in the run-up to Greece's entry into the E.U.'s Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on 1 January 2001. Major challenges remaining include the reduction of unemployment and further restructuring of the economy, including privatizing several state enterprises, undertaking social security reforms, overhauling the tax system, and minimizing bureaucratic inefficiencies. Economic growth is forecast was 3.8 percent in 2002 and well above forecast. The Greek economy is projected to grow by an average of 3.75 percent in 2003 and 2004. While most economies in the E.U. would consider this good news, the Greek government is cautious about the effect of such growth on inflation. The admission of Eastern European countries to the E.U. in 2004 will put further pressure on Greece to drop its objections to a similar accession of Turkey.

Unemployment

11% (2001)

Inflation Rate

3.4% (2001)

Industries

Tourism, food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, metal products, mining, petroleum.

Exports

US$12.5 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports

US$30.3 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$189.7 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

EU 44% (Germany 12%, Italy 9%, UK 6%), US 5% (2000)

Top Import Partners

EU 59% (Germany 13%, Italy 13%, France 7%, Netherlands 6%, UK 5%), US 3% (2000)

Top Exports

Food and beverages, manufactured goods, petroleum products, chemicals, textiles

Top Imports

Machinery, transport equipment, fuels, chemicals

Debt - external

US$57 billion (2000)

Economic aid

Recipient: US$5.4 billion from E.U. (1997)

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	8a.m. to 1:30p.m., and 4:30p.m. to 7:30p.m.	Saturday 8a.m. to 1:30p.m.
Retail	Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 8:30a.m. to 1:30p.m. and 5:30p.m. to 8:30p.m. Monday, and Wednesday 8:30a.m. to 2:30p.m.	Saturday 8:30a.m. to 2:30p.m.
Banks	Monday to Thursday 8a.m. to 2p.m. and Friday until 1p.m. Many banks stay open afternoons and evenings during tourist season to handle currency exchange.	Closed
Government	May to September: 7:30a.m. to 3p.m. October to May: 8a.m. to 3:30p.m.	Closed

Note: Midday breaks vary in length and start time based on local custom and seasonal needs. Many shops have evening hours all week....

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Epiphany	January 6	January 6	January 6
Independence Day	March 25	March 25	March 25
May Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
Easter (Orthodox)¹	May 5	April 27	April 11
Easter Monday	May 6	April 28	April 12
Easter Tuesday	May 7	April 29	April 13
Holy Ghost²	June 24	June 16	May 31
Assumption of the Virgin Mary	August 15	August 15	August 15
Ochi Day (1940 defiance of Italy)	October 28	October 28	October 28
Christmas Day³	December 25	December 25	December 25
Second Day of Christmas	December 26	December 26	December 26

¹	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
²	The Christian feast of Pentecost, Whit Sunday or Whit Monday takes place 50 days after Easter, in observation of the day God came to the disciples through the Holy Ghost. Within the Orthodox church in Greece it is called the Feast of the Holy Ghost.
³	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press