|
|
| The
People (population - religion - language) |
| Population:
|
10.939.771
(2001 - census) |
| More
than 4 millions Greeks are estimated to live abroad, including over
2 millions in America. |
Sex
distribution:
|
Male
49,6% , female: 50,4% (2001). |
| Population
by areas: |
Urban:
57,7%, Rural: 42,3% (1991).
|
Area
(sq. km):
|
131.957 |
Density:
|
82,9
inhabitants per sq. km. (2001) |
Birth
rate:
|
9,72 per 1000 inhabitants (1997) |
| Life
expectancy: |
males
74,6 years (1990), females 79,40 years (1990) |
| Capital
city: |
Athens
(3.192.606 inhabitants - 2001) |
| Population
of main cities (1991 - census) |
| Athens |
3.072.866 |
| Thessaloniki
|
749.048 |
| Patra |
170.452
|
| Iraklio
|
126.907 |
| Volos
|
116.031 |
| Larissa
|
112.777
|
| Chania |
72.092 |
| Ioannina |
68.072 |
| Halkis |
62.837 |
| Kavala |
56.571 |
| Agrinio |
52.896 |
Religious affiliations: Of all citizens
of the Hellenic Republic 97,6% are Greek Orthodox, 1,3% Muslim, 0,4%
Roman Catholic, 0,1% Protestant, 0,6% other, including Jews. The Greek
Orthodox Church is autocephalous, with its own Charter but indissolubly
united in doctrine with the Great Church of Constantinople, i.e. the
Ecumenical Patriarchate. On the peninsula of Chalkidiki, located in
southeastern Macedonia, is the famous Mount Athos, where a number of
monasteries of the Greek Orthodox Church form, as they have for centuries,
an autonomous monastic community.
Language: The Greek language with a documented
record spanning three and a half millennia is a strong element of national
continuity. Modern Greek derives from the same idiom used by Homer.
Greek is also the language of the Gospels. The Greek alphabet and the
Greek language have contributed much to all western languages. Today's
Greeks, however, are the only ones who ensure this linguistic continuity.
In this respect Greek, is to be distinguished sharply from Latin which
generated numerous neo-latin languages from Rumanian to Portuguese before
it became itself extinct.
|
 |
People