Demographics of Greece

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The Demographics of Greece refer to the demography of the population that inhabits the Greek peninsula, a region where the Greek language has been continuously spoken for over 3500 years. As of January 2008, the population of Greece is estimated at 11,216,708.^[1]

Contents 1 Historical Overview 2 Education 3 Religion 4 Statistics 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Historical Overview

See main article: Demographic history of Greece

Greece was inhabited as early as the Paleolithic period and by 3000 BC had become home, in the Cycladic Islands, to a culture whose art remains among the most evocative in world history, the Cycladic civilization. The Minoans were challenged and eventually supplanted by the Mycenaeans of the Greek mainland, who spoke a dialect of ancient Greek, the Mycenaean.

Prior to the second millennium BC, the Greek peninsula was inhabited by various pre-Hellenic peoples (most notably the Pelasgians). After the invasion of the Greek peoples, the local populations were displaced or assimilated and the ancient Greek civilization was formed. The Greek language dominated the peninsula, and Greece's mosaic of small city-states became culturally similar. The population estimates on the Greeks during the 5th century BC, is approximately 3 million on the Greek peninsula and 6 million in the entire Mediterranean basin (including all colonies). After Alexander the Great's conquests, Greek culture and colonization was expanded in the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the East. After the Roman occupation of Greece, the Greek culture was favoured by the Romans and it continued to dominate on the Eastern part of the Empire and in Rome. After the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD by Constantine the Great, the Eastern Roman Empire developed independently from the West. It continued the use of Greek until it totally displaced Latin from the administration, and the empire became ethnically unified via the official adaptation of Christianity. The most common term used by scholars to refer to that medieval state is 'Byzantine'. During the long history of the Byzantine Greek state, the Greek peninsula was occasionally invaded by the following peoples: Goths, Avars, Slavs, Normans, Franks and other Romance language speaking people who had betrayed the Crusades. The only group however which planned to establish permanent settlements in the region were the Slavs. They settled in isolated valleys of Peloponnese and Thessaly, establishing segregated communities that were referred by the Byzantines as Sclaveni. However, there exists no archaeological evidence for any Slavic (or Avar) penetration of imperial Byzantine territory before the end of the 6th century. Traces of Slavic culture in Greece are very rare. Yet, by the 9th century AD, the Sclaveni in Greece were largely eliminated. The populations in central and southern Greece were the subject of population exchanges and army recruitments, but some Slavic communities managed to survive in rural Macedonia. At the same time a large Jewish emigrant community from Spain established itself in Thessaloniki. The Byzantine Empire ultimately fell to Ottoman Turks in 15th century. 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 in the mountains). During the same time, there were population movements of Arvanites and Vlachs, who established communities in several parts of the Greek peninsula. Descendants of these groups exist still but are largely assimilated linguistically.

The population exchanges with Bulgaria and Turkey that took place in the early 20th century, added in total some 2 million Greeks from Asia Minor, Constantinople, Bulgaria, Albania and Yugoslavia to the demography of the Greek Kingdom.

[edit] Education

Greek education is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 5 and 15. English language study is compulsory from 3rd 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 EU 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 U.S. (one every 2,200) is among the highest in Europe (the highest is probably Cyprus, with 1 person in 752 currently studying in the US^[3]).

[edit] Religion

See also: Religious minorities in Greece

According to the Greek constitution, Eastern Orthodox Christianity is recognized as the "prevailing religion" in Greece. During the centuries of Ottoman domination, 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 Greek language, values, and national identity during Ottoman times. The Church was also an important rallying point in the war for independence, although this latter position is somewhat controversial as the official Church in Constantinople initially condemned the breakout of armed struggle against the Empire. 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 embryonic Greek state of 1833. There is a Muslim minority concentrated in Thrace, and officially protected by the treaty of Lausanne. Besides Pomaks (Muslim Slavic 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.^[4][5] A place of worship has been recognized as such by court.^[6]

[edit] Statistics

According to The World Factbook (unless otherwise stated)

Population

• 10,964,020 (2001 census)^[2]
  
• 11,216,708 (January 2008 est)^[1]

Age structure (2007 est)

• 0-14 years: 14.3% (male 789,637/female 742,535)
• 15-64 years: 66.7% (male 3,565,237/female 3,570,630)
• 65 years and over: 19% (male 895,384/female 1,142,867)

Median age (2007 est)

• total: 41.2 years
• male: 40 years
• female: 42.3 years

Population growth rate
0.163% (2007 est)

Birth rate
9.62 births/1,000 population (2007 est)

• There were a total of 112,042 births in 2006. [1]

Death rate
10.33 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est)

• There were a total of 105,476 deaths in 2006. [2]

Net migration rate
2.34 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est)

Sex ratio (2007 est)

• at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
• under 15 years: 1.063 male(s)/female
• 15-64 years: 0.998 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 0.783 male(s)/female
• total population: 0.962 male(s)/female

Infant mortality rate (2007 est)

• total: 5.34 deaths/1,000 live births
• male: 5.87 deaths/1,000 live births
• female: 4.78 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth (2007 est)

• total population: 79.38 years
• male: 76.85 years
• female: 82.06 years

Total fertility rate

• 1.35 children born/woman (2007 est)
• TFR was 1.41 in 2006 [3]

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate
0.2% (2001 est)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS
9,100 (2001 est)

HIV/AIDS - deaths
less than 100 (2003 est)

Nationality

• noun: Greek(s)
• adjective: Greek

Ethnic groups

• population: Greek 93%, other (Albanians, various Slavic minorities, and Turks) 7% (2001 census)

note: percents represent citizenship, since Greece does not collect data on ethnicity

Religions:
Greek Orthodox 98%, Muslim 1.3%, other 0.7%

Languages
Greek 99% (official), other 1% (includes English and French)

Literacy (2001 census)

• definition: age 15 and over can read and write
• total population: 96%
• male: 97.8%
• female: 94.2%

[edit] See also

• Demographic history of Greece
• Minorities in Greece

[edit] References

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