Demographics of Greece

Historical overview

Population

By region

Fertility rate

Life expectancy

Age structure

Vital statistics

Vital statistics from 1833

• 1881 – Convention of Constantinople
• 1913 – Treaty of Athens
• 1923 – Treaty of Lausanne
• 1946–1949 – Refugees of the Greek Civil War
• 1967–1974 – Greek junta
• 2010–today – Greek economic crisis

Structure of the population

Other demographic statistics

Immigration

Country	2010	2014	2020	2020 EU	2021
Albanian/a|sort=346,918 Net Migration Year Immigration Emigration Net Migration 1991 151,978 64,628 87,350 1992 110,334 52,389 57,945 1993 107,462 52,929 54,533 1994 86,959 46,813 40,146 1995 98,989 47,967 51,022 1996 95,585 54,628 40,957 1997 113,477 51,794 61,683 1998 116,411 60,119 56,292 1999 84,695 54,175 30,520 2000 109,251 46,993 62,258 2001 98,471 45,909 52,562 2002 67,220 39,378 27,842 2003 63,141 37,433 25,708 2004 66,871 38,041 28,830 2005 70,933 38,583 32,350 2006 63,094 38,368 24,726 2007 63,298 40,400 22,898 2008 66,529 43,044 23,485 2009 58,613 43,686 14,927 2010 60,462 62,041 -1,579 2011 60,089 92,404 -32,315 2012 58,200 124,694 -66,494 2013 57,946 117,094 -59,148 2014 59,013 106,804 -47,791 2015 64,446 109,351 -44,905 2016 116,867 106,535 10,332 2017 112,247 103,327 8,920 2018 119,489 103,049 16,440 2019 129,459 95,020 34,439 2020 84,221 77,837 6,384 2021 57,120 79,596 -22,476 2022 96,662 80,307 16,355 2023 118,816 76,158 42,658 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, Pakistanis, Kurds, Afghans, Iraqis and Somalis. Ethnic groups, languages and religion The population of northern Greece has primarily been ethnically, religiously and linguistically diverse. 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, Pomaks and Romani. No other minorities are officially acknowledged by the government. 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. Minorities in Greece according to Minority Rights Group International in 2015: Roma: 265,000 Vlachs : 200,000 Ethnic Macedonians: 100,000–200,000 Arvanites: 95,000 Turks: 90,000 Pomaks: 35,000–40,000 Jews: 5,000 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. Languages spoken in Greece: Orthodox 7,472,559 Muslim 112,665 Catholic 28,430 Protestant and other Christian 12,677 Jewish 6,325 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, 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 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. A place of worship has been recognized as such by court. Education 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 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 is among the highest in Europe.