Map of Greece

Area: 131,990 sq km
Population: 10.94 million (2001 census estimate)
Capital City: Athens (population approximately 3.7 million)
People: 98% Greek with Muslim minority comprising Turkic people, Pomaks and Muslim Roma. NB: The Greek government states there are no other ethnic minorities in Greece.
Languages: Greek 99% (official)
Religions: Greek Orthodox 98%, Muslim 1.3%, other 0.7%
Currency: euro (EUR)

5 reasons to invest in Greece

GEOGRAPHY

Greece is located in south-eastern Europe bordering the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. Greece shares borders to the east with Turkey and to the north with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Bulgaria and Albania. The climate is temperate, with mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers.

HISTORY

The city states of classical Greece bequeathed to Europe concepts of political democracy and a high literary culture which remained enormously influential even after their subjugation by Rome in 146 BC. When the Roman Empire was divided, in 395 AD, the Greek lands became part of the Empire of the East the capital of which was, Constantinople which was captured by Muslim Turks in 1453.

Modern Greece, as an independent national entity, came into being after a protracted independence struggle against the Ottoman Empire. This became a popular cause in Western Europe, and one of the so-called 'Philhellenes' who fought for Greek liberty was the English poet, Lord Byron, who died at Messolongi in western Greece in 1824.

Civilian government was not restored until July 1974, after the military junta fell as a result of its unsuccessful coup in Cyprus against President Makarios, which prompted the Turkish invasion of the island. In January 1981 Greece became a full member of the EEC, now the European Union; it continues to enjoy political stability, and economic growth has been above the EU average since the mid-1990s. Greece was in the first wave of EU Member States to adopt the Euro in 2001.

Basic Economic Facts:
GDP: US$196 billion
GDP per head: US $11,657
Real GDP growth: 4.1%
Consumer price inflation (av): 2.9%

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