Demographics of Greece

The Demographics of Greece refer to the demography of the population that inhabits the Greek peninsula. The population of Greece was estimated by the United Nations to be 10,522,246 in 2018 (including displaced refugees).

Demographics of the Hellenic Republic
Greece population pyramid in 2020
Population10.718.565
Growth rate-1.01 people/1,000 population (2010 est.)
Birth rate9.45 births/1,000 population (2010 est.)
Death rate10.51 deaths/1,000 population (July 2010 est.)
Life expectancy79.66 years
 • male77.11 years
 • female82.37 years (2010 est.)
Fertility rate1.35 children born/woman (2018)[1]
Infant mortality rate3.47 deaths per 1,000 live births (2018 est)
Age structure
0–14 years14.4%
15–64 years66.6%
65 and over19.0%
Sex ratio
At birth1.06 male(s)/female (2008 est.)
Under 151.06 male(s)/female
15–64 years1.00 male(s)/female
65 and over0.78 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationalitynoun: Greek(s) adjective: Greek
Major ethnicGreeks

Historical overview

Greece was inhabited as early as the Paleolithic period. Prior to the 2nd millennium BC, the Greek peninsula was inhabited by various pre-Hellenic peoples, the most notable of which were the Pelasgians. The Greek language ultimately dominated the peninsula and Greece's mosaic of small city-states became culturally similar. The population estimates on the Greeks during the 4th century BC, is approximately 3.5 million on the Greek peninsula and 4 to 6.5 million in the rest of the entire Mediterranean Basin,[2] including all colonies such as those in Magna Graecia, Asia Minor and the shores of the Black Sea.

During the history of the Byzantine Empire, the Greek peninsula was occasionally invaded by the foreign peoples like Goths, Avars, Slavs, Normans, Franks and other Romance-speaking peoples who had betrayed the Crusades. The only group, however, that planned to establish permanent settlements in the region were the Slavs. They settled in isolated valleys of the Peloponnese and Thessaly, establishing segregated communities that were referred by the Byzantines as Sclaveni. Traces of Slavic culture in Greece are very rare and by the 9th century, the Sclaveni in Greece were largely assimilated. However, some Slavic communities managed to survive in rural Macedonia. At the same time a large Sephardi Jewish emigrant community from the Iberian peninsula established itself in Thessaloniki, while there were population movements of Arvanites and "Vlachs" (Aromanians and Megleno-Romanians), who established communities in several parts of the Greek peninsula. The Byzantine Empire ultimately fell to Ottoman Turks in the 15th century and as a result Ottoman colonies were established in the Balkans, notably in Macedonia, the Peloponnese and Crete. Many Greeks either fled to other European nations or to geographically isolated areas (i.e. mountains and heavily forested territories) in order to escape foreign rule. For those reasons, the population decreased in the plains, while increasing on the mountains. The population transfers with Bulgaria and Turkey that took place in the early 20th century, added in total some two million Greeks to the demography of the Greek Kingdom.

During the next decades, the population of Greece continued to increase, except during a large part of 1940s due to World War II and subsequent events. After 1940s the population of Greece continued to grow, though on a decreased pace after 1960s, due to a gradual decrase in fertility and emigration to various countries, such as West Germany, Australia, United Kingdom and many others. The birth rate decreased significantly in 1980s, while in 1987 the Greek population surpassed 10 million. At this time Greece had started to appear a positive migration rate, due to the return of Greek Civil War refugees and international immigration. During the nineties the population increased by close a million, as the collapse of the communist governments in Eastern Europe and the economic downturn resulted in a significant influx of Eastern European immigrants in Greece and especially from the Balkans, including many Greeks living in these countries. In 2000s the population continued to increase reaching 11 million, thanks to an increased birth rate, a stable influx of migrants from other countries and the return of Greeks from United States, Germany, Australia and other countries. In the 2010s, in the wake of the Greek financial crisis, the population started to decrase and birthrates plummeted, while death rates increased due to an aging population. Many Greeks emigrated abroad, while more recently the population decrease has been largely stabilised due to foreign immigration.

Urbanization

Population
Main article: Demographic history of Greece
Population of Greece since 1961.
Historical population
YearPop.±%
1928 6,204,684—    
1940 7,344,860+18.4%
1951 7,632,801+3.9%
1961 8,398,050+10.0%
1971 8,831,036+5.2%
1981 9,729,350+10.2%
1991 10,258,364+5.4%
2001 10,964,020+6.9%
2011 11,123,392+1.5%
2017 10,768,477−3.2%
Source: Hellenic Statistical Authority

According to the 2001 census the population of Greece was 10,964,020. Eurostat estimations as of January 2008 gave the number of 11,214,992 inhabitants in the Greek peninsula. According to the official 2011 census, which used sophisticated methodology, the population of Greece was 10,816,286.

Census Population Change
1971 8,768,372 -
1981 9,739,589 11.1%
1991 10,259,900 5.3%
2001 10,964,020 6.9%
2011 10,816,286 -0.88%

By region

Greece is divided into nine geographic regions. The population of each region according to the 2001 census:

Region Population
Aegean Islands 508,807
Central Greece 4,591,568
Crete 601,131
Epirus 353,822
Ionian Islands 212,984
Macedonia 2,424,765
Peloponnese 1,155,019
Thessaly 753,888
Thrace 362,038
Total 10,964,020

Fertility rate from 1850 to 1920

The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire period. Sources: Our World In Data and Gapminder Foundation.[4]

Years18501851185218531854185518561857185818591860[4]
Total Fertility Rate in Greece6.035.815.595.365.144.924.74.474.254.033.81
Years1861186218631864186518661867186818691870[4]
Total Fertility Rate in Greece3.953.873.783.943.734.033.833.853.863.77
Years1871187218731874187518761877187818791880[4]
Total Fertility Rate in Greece3.813.833.73.913.783.973.823.643.323.27
Years1881188218831884188518861887188818891890[4]
Total Fertility Rate in Greece3.283.383.353.833.824.014.194.384.574.73
Years1891189218931894189518961897189818991900[4]
Total Fertility Rate in Greece4.84.884.955.035.15.185.255.325.45.47
Years1901190219031904190519061907190819091910[4]
Total Fertility Rate in Greece5.355.225.14.974.854.724.64.474.354.22
Years1911191219131914191519161917191819191920[4]
Total Fertility Rate in Greece4.093.973.843.723.593.473.343.223.092.97

Life expectancy from 1950 to 2015
Period Life expectancy in
Years		 Period Life expectancy in
Years
1950–1955 65.8 1985–1990 75.6
1955–1960 67.2 1990–1995 77.4
1960–1965 69.3 1995–2000 78.1
1965–1970 70.1 2000–2005 79.1
1970–1975 71.8 2005–2010 80.0
1975–1980 72.8 2010–2015 80.6
1980–1985 74.5

Source: UN World Population Prospects[5]

Vital statistics from 1921

Vital statistics for population change, 1921 to present:[6][7][8]

Greece total fertility rate by region (2014)
  1.7 - 2.0
  1.5 - 1.7
  1.3 - 1.5
  < 1.3
Year Average population Live births[9] Deaths Natural change Crude birth rate (per 1000) Crude death rate (per 1000) Natural change (per 1000) Total fertility rates[fn 1][4][10][11]
1921 5,050,000 107,000 69,000 38,000 21.2 13.7 7.5 2.84
1922 5,097,000 110,000 82,000 18,000 21.6 16.1 3.5 2.88
1923 6,010,000 113,926 102,042 11,884 19.0 17.0 2.0 2.55
1924 6,000,000 117,014 93,320 23,694 19.5 15.6 3.9 2.61
1925 5,958,000 156,367 88,633 67,734 26.2 14.9 11.4 3.52
1926 6,042,000 181,278 84,136 97,142 30.0 13.9 16.1 4.02
1927 6,127,000 176,527 100,020 76,507 28.8 16.3 12.5 3.86
1928 6,210,000 189,250 105,665 83,585 30.5 17.0 13.5 4.09
1929 6,286,000 181,870 115,561 66,309 28.9 18.4 10.5 3.87
1930 6,367,000 199,565 103,811 95,754 31.3 16.3 15.0 4.19
1931 6,463,000 199,243 114,369 84,874 30.8 17.7 13.1 3.83
1932 6,544,000 185,523 117,593 67,930 28.4 18.0 10.4 3.8
1933 6,625,000 189,583 111,447 78,136 28.6 16.8 11.8 3.84
1934 6,727,000 208,929 100,651 108,278 31.1 15.0 16.1 4.16
1935 6,837,000 192,511 101,416 91,095 28.2 14.8 13.3 3.77
1936 6,936,000 193,343 105,005 88,338 27.9 15.1 12.7 3.68
1937 7,029,000 183,878 105,674 78,204 26.2 15.0 11.1 3.51
1938 7,122,000 184,509 93,766 90,743 25.9 13.2 12.7 3.47
1939 7,222,000 178,852 100,459 78,393 24.8 13.9 10.9 3.32
1940 7,319,000 179,500 93,830 85,670 24.5 12.8 11.7 3.29
1941 7,370,000 134,760 125,710 9,050 18.3 17.1 1.2 3.19
1942 7,350,000 132,640 191,030 -58,390 18.0 26.0 -7.9 3.08
1943 7,280,000 122,170 111,320 10,850 16.8 15.3 1.5 2.98
1944 7,300,000 145,530 110,810 34,720 19.9 15.2 4.8 2.88
1945 7,310,000 183,470 85,540 97,930 25.1 11.7 13.4 2.78
1946 7,430,000 209,360 73,500 135,860 28.2 9.9 18.3 2.68
1947 7,520,000 206,400 70,340 136,060 27.4 9.4 18.1 2.58
1948 7,500,000 210,000 96,000 114,000 28.0 12.8 15.2 2.48
1949 7,480,000 139,108 59,450 79,658 18.6 7.9 10.6 2.37
1950 7,554,000 151,314 53,755 97,559 20.0 7.1 12.9 2.47
1951 7,646,000 155,422 57,508 97,914 20.3 7.5 12.8 2.47
1952 7,733,000 149,637 53,377 96,260 19.4 6.9 12.4 2.48
1953 7,817,000 143,765 56,680 87,085 18.4 7.3 11.1 2.49
1954 7,893,000 151,892 55,625 96,267 19.2 7.0 12.2 2.48
1955 7,966,000 154,263 54,781 99,482 19.4 6.9 12.5 2.47
1956 8,031,000 158,203 59,460 96,727 19.4 7.4 12.0 2.44
1957 8,096,000 155,940 61,664 93,528 19.2 7.6 11.6 2.42
1958 8,173,000 155,359 58,160 97,199 19.0 7.1 11.9 2.38
1959 8,258,000 160,199 60,852 99,347 19.4 7.4 12.0 2.36
1960 8,334,000 157,239 60,563 96,676 18.9 7.3 11.6 2.33
1961 8,398,000 150,716 63,955 86,761 17.9 7.6 10.3 2.32
1962 8,448,000 152,158 66,554 85,604 18.0 7.9 10.1 2.32
1963 8,480,000 148,249 66,813 81,436 17.5 7.9 9.6 2.34
1964 8,510,000 153,109 69,429 83,680 18.0 8.1 9.8 2.37
1965 8,551,000 151,448 67,269 84,179 17.7 7.8 9.8 2.41
1966 8,614,000 154,613 67,912 86,701 17.9 7.9 10.1 2.46
1967 8,686,000 162,839 71,975 90,864 18.7 8.3 10.4 2.51
1968 8,741,000 160,338 73,309 87,029 18.3 8.4 10.0 2.54
1969 8,773,000 154,077 71,825 82,252 17.6 8.2 9.4 2.56
1970 8,793,000 144,928 74,009 70,919 16.5 8.4 8.1 2.57
1971 8,831,000 141,126 73,819 67,307 16.0 8.4 7.6 2.57
1972 8,889,000 140,891 76,859 64,032 15.9 8.6 7.2 2.55
1973 8,929,000 137,526 77,648 59,878 15.4 8.7 6.7 2.54
1974 8,962,000 144,069 76,303 67,766 16.1 8.5 7.6 2.52
1975 9,047,000 142,273 80,077 62,196 15.7 8.9 6.9 2.33
1976 9,167,000 146,566 81,818 64,748 16.0 8.9 7.1 2.35
1977 9,269,000 143,739 83,750 59,989 15.4 9.0 6.4 2.28
1978 9,395,000 146,588 81,615 64,973 15.5 8.7 6.9 2.29
1979 9,534,000 147,965 82,338 65,627 15.5 8.6 6.9 2.26
1980 9,643,000 148,134 87,282 60,852 15.4 9.1 6.3 2.23
1981 9,729,000 140,953 86,261 54,692 14.5 8.9 5.6 2.10
1982 9,790,000 137,275 86,345 50,930 14.0 8.8 5.2 2.03
1983 9,847,000 132,608 90,586 42,022 13.5 9.2 4.3 1.94
1984 9,896,000 125,724 88,397 37,327 12.7 8.9 3.8 1.82
1985 9,934,000 116,481 92,886 23,595 11.7 9.4 2.4 1.68
1986 9,967,000 112,810 91,469 20,781 11.3 9.2 2.1 1.60
1987 10,001,000 106,392 95,232 10,667 10.6 9.5 1.1 1.50
1988 10,037,000 107,505 93,031 14,637 10.7 9.3 1.5 1.50
1989 10,090,000 101,657 92,717 8,432 10.0 9.2 0.8 1.40
1990 10,161,000 102,229 94,152 8,077 10.1 9.3 0.8 1.39
1991 10,257,000 102,620 95,498 7,122 10.0 9.3 0.7 1.37
1992 10,370,000 104,081 98,231 5,850 10.0 9.5 0.6 1.36
1993 10,466,000 101,799 97,419 4,380 9.7 9.3 0.4 1.32
1994 10,553,000 103,763 97,807 5,956 9.8 9.3 0.6 1.33
1995 10,635,000 101,495 100,158 1,337 9.5 9.4 0.1 1.28
1996 10,710,000 100,718 100,740 -22 9.4 9.4 -0.0 1.26
1997 10,777,000 102,038 99,738 2,300 9.5 9.3 0.2 1.27
1998 10,835,000 100,894 102,668 -1,774 9.3 9.5 -0.2 1.24
1999 10,883,000 100,643 103,304 -2,661 9.2 9.5 -0.3 1.23
2000 10,918,000 103,274 105,219 -1,952 9.5 9.6 -0.1 1.25
2001 10,862,146 102,282 102,559 -277 9.4 9.4 0.0 1.25
2002 10,902,005 103,569 103,915 -346 9.5 9.5 0.0 1.28
2003 10,928,091 104,420 105,529 -1,109 9.6 9.7 -0.1 1.29
2004 10,955,163 105,655 104,942 713 9.6 9.6 0.1 1.31
2005 10,987,352 107,545 105,091 2,454 9.8 9.6 0.2 1.34
2006 11,020,393 112,042 105,476 6,566 10.2 9.6 0.6 1.40
2007 11,048,499 111,926 109,895 2,031 10.1 9.9 0.2 1.41
2008 11,077,863 118,302 107,979 10,323 10.7 9.7 0.9 1.50
2009 11,107,024 117,933 108,316 9,617 10.6 9.8 0.9 1.50
2010 11,121,383 114,766 109,084 5,682 10.3 9.8 0.5 1.48
2011 11,104,995 106,428 111,099 -4,671 9.6 10.0 -0.4 1.40
2012[12] 11,045,040 100,371 116,668 -16,297 9.1 10.6 -1.5 1.34
2013[13] 10,965,241 94,134 111,794 -17,660 8.6 10.2 -1.6 1.29
2014[14] 10,892,369 92,149 113,740 -21,591 8.5 10.4 -2.0 1.30
2015[15] 10,820,964 91,847 121,183 -29,336 8.5 11.2 -2.7 1.33
2016[16] 10,775,989 92,898 118,788 -25,890 8.6 11.0 -2.4 1.38
2017[17] 10,754,701 88,553 124,495 -35,942 8.2 11.6 -3.3 1.35
2018[18] 10,732,894 86,440 120,296 -33,856 8.1 11.2 -3.2 1.35
2019[19] 10,717,169 83,763 124,965 -41,202 7.8 11.7 -3.8 1.30
2020p[20] 10,718,565 85,605 131,839 -46,234 7.9 12.3 -4.4

Other demographic statistics

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019.[21]

  • One birth every 6 minutes
  • One death every 4 minutes
  • Net loss of one person every 21 minutes
  • One net migrant every 53 minutes
Population pyramid of Greece in 1928

Demographic statistics according to the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.[11]

Population pyramid of Greece in 2017
Population
10,761,523 (July 2018 est.)
10,768,477 (July 2017 est.)
Age structure
0-14 years: 14.53% (male 794,918/female 745,909)
15-24 years: 10.34% (male 577,134/female 519,819)
25-54 years: 39.6% (male 2,080,443/female 2,119,995)
55-64 years: 13.1% (male 656,404/female 732,936)
65 years and over: 22.43% (male 1,057,317/female 1,322,176) (2020 est.)
0-14 years: 13.83% (male 767,245/female 722,313)
15-24 years: 9.67% (male 532,179/female 509,487)
25-54 years: 42.45% (male 2,275,984/female 2,295,082)
55-64 years: 13.13% (male 692,420/female 721,641)
65 years and over: 20.91% (male 986,816/female 1,265,310) (2017 est.)
0-14 years: 14.2% (male 787,143/female 741,356)
15-64 years: 66.2% (male 3,555,447/female 3,567,383)
65 years and over: 19.6% (male 923,177/female 1,185,630) (2011 est.)
Median age
total: 45.3 years. Country comparison to the world: 9th
male: 43.7 years
female: 46.8 years (2020 est.)
total: 44.5 years
male: 43.5 years
female: 45.6 years (2017 est.)
total: 42.5 years
male: 41.4 years
female: 43.6 years (2011 est.)
Mother's mean age at first birth
29.9 years (2017 est.)
Total fertility rate
1.39 children born/woman (2021 est.) Country comparison to the world: 225th
Population growth rate
-0.34% (2021 est.) Country comparison to the world: 221rd
Birth rate
7.72 births/1,000 population (2021 est.) Country comparison to the world: 222th
8.4 births/1,000 population (2017 est.)
Death rate
12.05 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.) Country comparison to the world: 14st
Net migration rate
0.97 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2021 est.) Country comparison to the world: 62th
Life expectancy at birth
total population: 81.28 years. Country comparison to the world: 41th
male: 78.73 years
female: 84 years (2021 est.)
Infant mortality rate
total: 3.61 deaths/1,000 live births. Country comparison to the world: 204th
male: 4 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 3.19 deaths/1,000 live births (2021 est.)
Ethnic groups

population: Greek 91.6%, Albanian 4.4%, other 4% (2011) Note: data represent citizenship, since Greece does not collect data on ethnicity

Dependency ratios
total dependency ratio: 56.1
youth dependency ratio: 21.3
elderly dependency ratio: 34.8
potential support ratio: 2.9 (2020 est.)
Religions

Greek Orthodox (official) 81-90%, Muslim 2%, other 3%, none 4-15%, unspecified 1% (2015 est.)

Urbanization
urban population: 79.7% of total population (2020)
rate of urbanization: 0.22% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)
Unemployment, youth ages 15–24
total: 39.9%. Country comparison to the world: 11th
male: 36.4%
female: 43.9% (2018 est.)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)
total: 20 years
male: 20 years
female: 20 years (2018)

Immigration
Main article: Immigration to Greece
Foreign citizens in Greece in 1998 by country of citizenship.

Greece has received a large number of immigrants since the early 1990s. The majority of them come from the neighbouring countries. As of 2011, the number of foreigners in an enumerated total of 10,815,197 people was 911,299.

Foreign-born by country (Eurostat):[22]

2010 2014
Total 828,400 727,500
 Albania 384,600 337,700
 Georgia 62,600 45,100
 Russia 55,700 43,000
 Bulgaria 45,700 40,900
 Romania 32,400 27,200
 Germany 29,300 25,700
 Pakistan 20,100 18,000
 Poland 10,800 16,600
 Turkey 9,500 12,500
 Cyprus 10,200 10,900
 United Kingdom 5,200 10,700
 Ukraine 13,300 10,700
 Egypt 10,200 9,800
 Bangladesh 14,200 8,400
 Syria 7,500 8,300
others 117,100 102,000

Illegal immigration

Greece has received many illegal immigrants beginning in the 1990s and continuing during the 2000s and 2010s. Migrants make use of the many islands in the Aegean Sea, directly west of Turkey. A spokesman for the European Union's border control agency said that the Greek-Albanian border is "one of Europe's worst-affected external land borders." Migrants across the Evros region bordering Turkey face land-mines. Principal illegal immigrants include Albanians, Indians, Kurds, Afghans, Iraqis and Somalis.[23][24]

Age structure

Being part of the phenomenon of the aging of Europe, the Greek population shows a rapid increase of the percentage of the elderly people. Greece's population census of 1961 found that 10.9% of the total population was above the age of 65, while the percentage of this group age increased to 19.0% in 2011. In contrast, the percentage of the population of the ages 0–14 had a total decrease of 10.2% between 1961 and 2011.

Age group 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011
Population % Population % Population % Population % Population %
0–14 2,223,904 25.4 2,307,297 23.7 1,974,867 19.2 1,664,085 15.2 1,576,500 14.4
15–64 5,587,352 63.7 6,192,751 63.6 6,880,681 67.1 7,468,395 68.1 7,122,830 66.6
65+ 957,116 10.9 1,239,541 12.7 1,404,352 13.7 1,831,540 16.7 2,108,807 19.0
Total 8,768,372 9,739,589 10,259,900 10,964,020 10,816,286

Ethnic groups, languages and religion
Main articles: Minorities in Greece, Languages of Greece, and Religion in Greece

The population of northern Greece has primarily been ethnically, religiously and linguistically diverse.[25] The Muslim minority of Greece is the only explicitly recognized minority in Greece by the government. The officials define it as a group of Greek Muslims numbering 98,000 people, consisting of Turks (50%), Pomaks (35%) and Romani (15%). No other minorities are officially acknowledged by the government.[26][27][28] There is no official information for the size of the ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities because asking the population questions pertaining to the topic have been abolished since 1951.[29]

Map showing the distribution of major Modern Greek dialect areas
Note: Greek is the dominant language throughout Greece; inclusion in a non-Greek language zone does not necessarily imply that the relevant minority language is still spoken there, or that its speakers consider themselves an ethnic minority.

Religion in Greece for the period 2006-2015 according to Swiss Metadatabse of Religious Affiliation in Europe[30]

  Eastern Orthodoxy and other Christian (97.7%)
  Islam (1.2%)
  others (0.2%)

Minorities in Greece according to Minority Rights Group International:[31]

The official language of Greece is Greek, spoken by almost all as a second language at least. Additionally, there are a number of linguistic minority groups that are bilingual in a variety of non-Greek languages, and parts of these groups identify ethnically as Greeks.

Estimated historical population and census figures1:
Language (and religion) census 1879[32][33] estimate 1913[34] census 1928[35][26][36] census 1940[35][36][37] census 1951[35][38] census 1986[39]
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
Greek 5,759,523 92.8 6,902,339 92.5 7,297,878 95.6
Turkish (altogether) 191,254 3.1 229,075 3.8 179,895 2.4
Turkish (and Orthodox Christian) 103,642 1.7
Turkish (and Muslim) 86,506 1.4
Slavic3 300,000- 500,000 6.3- 10.6 81,9842 1.3 86,086 1.2 41,017 0.5 180,180
Bulgarian (and Muslim) 16,775 0.3
Pomak 18,086 0.2 18,671 0.2
"Koutsovlach" 19,703 0.3 53,997 0.7 39,855 0.5
Albanian 49,632 0.7 22,7364 0.3
Albanian/Arvanitika 225,000
Albanian (and Muslim) 18,598 0.3
Armenian 33,634 0.5 26,827 0.4 8,990 0.1
Gypsy 4,998 0.1 8,141 0.1 7,429 0.1
Russian 3,295 0.1 8,126 0.1 3,815 0.1
French 4,518 0.1 2,101 0.0
Romanian 2,901 0.0 2,082 0.0
English 2,098 0.0 3,529 0.0 1,456 0.0
Spanish 63,200 1.0 53,125 0.7 1,339 0.0
German 3,401 0.0 1,301 0.0
Italian 3,199 0.1 4,426 0.1 894 0.0
Hebrew or Yiddish 34 0.0 853 0.0
Others 6,248 0.1 5,694 0.1 2,489 0.1
Total 1,679,775 4,734,990 6,204,684 7,344,860 7,632,801
Notes:
1 Census figures are considered "unreliable".[40]

2The 1928 census figure (81,984) of the Slavic speakers does not reflect their actual strength due to either an official policy or reluctance of the concerned, and perhaps represents a number of speakers, who are lacking Greek national consciousness, while contemporary Greek reports estimate at least 200,000 Bulgarian-speaking inhabitants in the country.[41]
3 The Slavic figure in the 1928, 1940 and 1951 census is referred to as a Macedonian Bulgarian dialect or Macedonian Slavic.[35][36]
4 The Albanian figure (22,746) in the 1951 census is considered "certainly too small" and a research in the 1970s indicated a figure of at least 30,000 in Attica and Biotia alone.[42]

Languages spoken in Greece:

Language Classification Speakering population Spoken by Ethnic population Region Notes
Greek classification
Cappadocian[43] IE, Greek, Attic 2,800 (2015 M. Janse) Cappadocians Mandra, Neo Agioneri and Xirochori More distinct from standard Greek than Pontic Greek
Cretan 600,000 Cretans Crete
Greek[43] IE, Greek, Attic 10,700,000 (2012 European Commission ) national scattered Lexical similarity: 84%–93% with Greek in Cyprus
Greek, Ancient[43] IE, Greek, Attic no known L1 speakers scattered religious language
Pontic[43][44] IE, Greek, Attic 200,000 (2001 Johnstone and Mandryk)- 400,000 (2009 Z. Diakonikolaou) Pontians Macedonia and Epirus(Kilkis, Pella, and Serres; Thessaloniki, Drama and Imathia) Greek and Pontic speakers reportedly do not understand each other and Pontians do not speak standard Greek
Romano-Greek[43] mixed Greek-Romani 30 (2000) Romani Thessaly, Central Greece Structured on Greek with heavy Romani lexicon
Sarakatsani IE, Greek, Doric 80,000 Sarakatsani Central Greece, Thessaly, Epirus
Tsakonian[43][45] IE, Greek, Doric 200 (2007 Salminen)-1,500 (2010 M. Kisilier) Tsakonians Agios Andreas, Leonidio, Prastos, Kastanitsa, Melana, Pramatefti, Sapounakeika, Sitena, and Tyros Not inherently intelligible with modern Greek. Lexical similarity with standard Greek: 70% or less.
Other languages
Albanian, Arvanitika[43][42] IE, Albanian, Tosk 50,000 (1993 Lunden, 2007 Salminen) Arvanites 150,000 southern Euboea, Salamis, Boeotia, Attica, Peloponnese, Western Greece and the Ionian Islands, Thessaly and Central Greece, Thrace Heavily influenced by Greek. Christian
Albanian, Tosk[43] IE, Albanian, Tosk 10,000 (2002) Tosk Albanians Epirus and Western Macedonia(Central Florina, into Kastoria, Lehovo) Cham Tosk
Arabic[46] Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South 28,000 Arabs
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic[46] Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, Aramaic, Eastern, Central, Northeastern 2,000 Assyrians
Armenian, Western[43] IE, Armenian 20,000 (2007) Armenians scattered, Attica, Thessaly and Central Greece
Aromanian[47][43] IE, Italic, Romance, Eastern 50,000 (1999 Salminen)- 200,000 (1995 Greek Monitor of Human and Minority Rights) Aromanians 700,000 (Association of French Aromanians) Pindus Mountains, around Trikala, Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia Christian
Bulgarian[48][42] IE, Balto-Slavic, Slavic, South, Eastern 56,200 (2014), 10–40,000 (Trudgill) Pomaks, Bulgarians Macedonia and Thrace Pomak, Muslim
English[44] IE, Germanic, West 8,000
Farsi, Western[46] IE, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Southwestern, Persian 10,000 Persians
German[43] IE, Germanic, West L1 users: 10,800 (2011 census), L2 users: 541,000 (2012 European Commission) L1 users based on nationality
Greek sign language[43] Sign language 5,000 (2014 EUD)- 62,500 (2014 IMB) national scattered
Judeo-Italian[48] IE, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Italo-Dalmatian 50 (2007 Salminen) Jews Peloponnese, Western Greece and the Ionian Islands
Kurdish, Northern[44] IE, Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern, Kurdish 22,500 Kurds
Ladino[44] IE, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Western, Gallo-Iberian, Ibero-Romance, West Iberian, Castilian 2,000 Jews
Megleno-Romanian[48][46] IE, Italic, Romance, Eastern 3,000 (2002)- 12,000 (1995) Megleno-Romanians Moglena
Romani, Balkan[43] IE, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Intermediate Divisions, Western, Romani 40,000 (1996 B. Igla) Romani Attica; Macedonia, Peloponnese, Western Greece and the Ionian Islands, Epirus Christian, Muslim
Romani, Vlax IE, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Intermediate Divisions, Western, Romani 1,000 Romani Attica, Thessaly, Central Greece, Epirus, Western Macedonia Christian
Russian[44] IE, Balto-Slavic, Slavic, East Russians
Serbian[44] IE, Balto-Slavic, Slavic, South, Western Serbs
Slavic[44][42][43] IE, Balto-Slavic, Slavic, South, Eastern 60–90,000 (Trudgill), 250,000 (2007 Boskov) Slavic-speakers of Greek Macedonia Macedonia (mainly Florina, Pella and Thessaloniki; Kastoria, Kozani, Kilkis, Imathia, Serres), Epirus (Ioannina) Christian
Turkish[43] Turkic, Southern 40,000 (L1: 9,700, L2: 30,300, 2014) Turks, Karamanlides, Pomaks Macedonia and Thrace, Aegean Muslim, Christian
Turkish, Balkan Gagauz[46] Turkic, Southern Gagauzes
Urum[44] Turkic Urums
Religious population in Greece at the 1951 Census[38]
Orthodox 7,472,559 (97.9%)
Muslim 112,665 (1.4%)
Catholic 28,430 (0.4%)
Protestant and other Christian 12,677 (0.2%)
Jewish 6,325 (0.1%)
Total 7,632,801

According to the Greek constitution, Eastern Orthodox Christianity is recognized as the "prevailing religion" in Greece. During the centuries that Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire, besides its spiritual mandate, the Orthodox Church, based in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), also functioned as an official representative of the Christian population of the empire. The Church is often credited with the preservation of the Greek language, values, and national identity during Ottoman times. The Church was also an important rallying point in the war for independence against the Ottoman Empire, although the official Church in Constantinople initially condemned the breakout of the armed struggle in fear of retaliation from the Ottoman side. The Church of Greece was established shortly after the formation of a Greek national state. Its authority to this day extends only to the areas included in the independent Greek state before the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913. There is a Muslim minority concentrated in Thrace and officially protected by the Treaty of Lausanne (1923). Besides Pomaks (Muslim Bulgarian[49] speakers) and Roma, it consists mainly of ethnic Turks, who speak Turkish and receive instruction in Turkish at special government-funded schools. There are also a number of Jews in Greece, most of whom live in Thessaloniki. There are also some Greeks who adhere to a reconstruction of the ancient Greek religion.[50] A place of worship has been recognized as such by court.[51]

Education
Main article: Education in Greece

Greek education is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 5 and 15. English study is compulsory from first grade through high school. University education, including books, is also free, contingent upon the student's ability to meet stiff entrance requirements. A high percentage of the student population seeks higher education. More than 100,000 students are registered at Greek universities, and 15% of the population currently holds a university degree. Admission in a university is determined by state-administered exams, the candidate's grade-point average from high school, and his/her priority choices of major. About one in four candidates gains admission to Greek universities.

Greek law does not currently offer official recognition to the graduates of private universities that operate in the country, except for those that offer a degree valid in another European Union country, which is automatically recognized by reciprocity. As a result, a large and growing number of students are pursuing higher education abroad. The Greek Government decides through an evaluation procedure whether to recognize degrees from specific foreign universities as qualification for public sector hiring. Other students attend private, post-secondary educational institutions in Greece that are not recognized by the Greek Government. At the moment extensive public talk is made for the reform of the Constitution in order to recognize private higher education in Greece as equal with public and to place common regulations for both.

The number of Greek students studying at European institutions is increasing along with EU support for educational exchange. In addition, nearly 5,000 Greeks are studying in the United States, about half of whom are in graduate school. Greek per capita student representation in the US (one every 2,200) is among the highest in Europe.

See also

Notes
  1. In fertility rates, 2.1 and above is a stable population and has been marked blue, 2 and below leads to an aging population and the result is that the population decreases.

References
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  2. Mogens Herman Hansen, The Shotgun Method: The Demography of the Ancient Greek City-State Culture, University of Missouri Press, 2006. Book review
  3. Official Final Census Results, 2011. "Announcement on the Publication of Revised 2011 Census Tables". statistics.gr. Hellenic Statistical Authority.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. Max Roser (2014), "Total Fertility Rate around the world over the last centuries", Our World In Data, Gapminder Foundation
  5. "World Population Prospects – Population Division – United Nations". Retrieved 15 July 2017.
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  40. Clogg (January 2002). Minorities in Greece : aspects of a plural society. Hurst & Co. p. 112. ISBN 9781850657064. Census figures are unreliable, and Greece has long since ceased to include linguistic minorities in its census
  41. Mavrogordatos, George (January 1983). Stillborn republic : social coalitions and party strategies in Greece, 1922-1936. University of California Press. p. 247. ISBN 9780520043589. In any event, those of the 1928 Census for the Slavo-Macedonian-speaking population as a whole clearly do not reflect its actual strength, as a result of either official policy, or reluctance on the part of those concerned, or both. Contemporary Greek reports estimate as many as 200,000 "Bulgarian"-speaking inhabitants in Macedonia, of whom no more than 80,000-90,000 are considered to be lacking a Greek national consciousness – a number equivalent to that of the census, perhaps not accidentally. (49. See the reports of P. Demetriades to the Association for the Dissemination of Greek Letters, 13 August 1927 and 23 December 1927, VA File 373. Given the confidential nature and policy orientation of these reports, they should be rated as more reliable than public statements. On the actual number of Slavomacedonians, see also Christidès, pp. 64-65.)
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