|
|
| 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.
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