Greece

Hellenic Republic Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Ellinikí Dimokratía  (Greek)
Banner Coat o airms
Motto: «Ελευθερία ή Θάνατος» (traditional)
Anthem: «Ὕμνος εἰς τὴν Ἐλευθερίαν» "Hymn tae Liberty"
Location o  Greece  (dark green) – on the European continent  (green & dark grey) – in the European Union  (green)  —  [Legend]
Caipital and largest city	Athens 37°58′N 23°43′E / 37.967°N 23.717°E / 37.967; 23.717
Official language and national language	Greek
Releegion	Eastren Orthodoxy
Demonym(s)	Greek
Govrenment	Unitary pairlamentary constitutional republic
• Preses	Katerina Sakellaropoulou
• Prime Meenister	Kyriakos Mitsotakis
• Speaker o the Parliament	Konstantinos Tasoulas
Legislatur	Pairlament
Formation
• Unthirldom declared frae the Ottoman Empire	25 Mairch 1821 (tradeetional stairtin date o the Greek War o Unthirldom), 15 Januar 1822 (offeecial declaration in the First Naitional Assembly at Epidaurus)
• Recognized	3 February 1830
• Current constitution	11 Juin 1975
Aurie
• Total	131,957 km2 (50,949 sq mi)[1] (97th)
• Water (%)	0.8669
Population
• 2012 census	10,816,286[2] (80t)
• Density	82[3]/km2 (212.4/sq mi) (120t)
GDP (PPP)	2015 estimate
• Total	$294.014 billion[4] (51st)
• Per capita	$26,773[4] (41st)
GDP (nominal)	2014 estimate
• Tot	$238,023< billion[4] (44t)
• Per capita	$22,594[4] (37t)
Gini (2012)	34.3[5] medium · high
HDI (2013)	0.853[6] verra heich · 29th
Currency	Euro (€)a (EUR)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy (AD)
Drivin side	right
Cawin code	+30
ISO 3166 code	GR
Internet TLD	.grb
Afore 2002, the Greek drachma. The .eu domain is an aa uised, as in ither European Union member states.

Greece (Greek: Ελλάδα or Ελλάς), kent offeecially as the Hellenic Republic (Greek: Ελληνική Δημοκρατία) is a kintra in sooth-eastren Europe,^[7] wi a population o approximately 11 million as o 2016. Athens is the naition's caipital an largest ceety, follaed bi Thessaloniki.

Greece is locatit at the crossroads o Europe, Asie, an Africae. Situatit on the soothren tip o the Balkan Peninsula, it shares laund mairches wi Albanie tae the northwast, North Macedonie an Bulgarie tae the north, an Turkey tae the northeast. The Aegean Sea lies tae the east o the mainland, the Ionian Sea tae the wast, the Cretan Sea an the Mediterranean Sea tae the sooth. Greece haes the langest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin an the 11t langest coastline in the warld at 13,676 km (8,498 mi) in lenth, featurin a muckle nummer o islands, o that 227 are inhabitit. Aichty percent o Greece is muntainous, wi Munt Olympus bein the heichest peak at 2,918 metre (9,573 ft). The kintra consists o nine geografic regions: Macedonie, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands (includin the Dodecanese an Cyclades), Thrace, Crete, an the Ionian Islands.

Greece is conseedert the cradle o Wastren ceevilisation,^[a] bein the birthplace o democracy, Wastren filosofie, Wastren leeteratur, historiografie, poleetical science, major scienteefic an mathematical principles, an Wastren drama,^[11] as weel as the Olympic Gemmes. Frae the aicht century BC, the Greeks war organised intae various independent ceety-states, kent as poleis (seengular polis), that spanned the entire Mediterranean region an the Black Sea. Philip o Macedon unitit maist o the Greek mainland in the fowert century BC, wi his son Alexander the Great rapidly conquerin muckle o the auncient warld, spreidin Greek cultur an science frae the eastren Mediterranean tae Indie. Greece wis annexed bi Roum in the seicont century BC, acomin an integral pairt o the Roman Empire an its successor, the Byzantine Empire, whaurin the Greek leid an cultur war dominant. The Greek Orthodox Kirk an aw shapit modren Greek identity an transmittit Greek tradeetions tae the wider Orthodox Warld.^[12] Fawin unner Ottoman domeenion in the mid-15t century, the modren naition state o Greece emerged in 1830 follaein a war o unthirldom. Greece's rich historical legacy is reflectit bi its 18 UNESCO Warld Heritage Steids, amang the maist in Europe an the warld.^[13]

Greece is a democratic an developit kintra wi an advanced heich-income economy, a heich quality o life, an a verra heich staundart o leevin. A foondin member o the Unitit Naitions, Greece wis the tent member tae jyne the European Commonties (precursor tae the European Union) an haes been pairt o the Eurozone syne 2001. It is an aw a member o numerous ither international institutions, includin the Cooncil o Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation an Development (OECD), the Warld Tred Organisation (WTO), the Organisation for Siccarity an Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), an the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). Greece's unique cultural heritage, muckle tourism industry, prominent shippin sector an geostrategic importance^[b] clessifee it as a middle pouer. It is the lairgest economy in the Balkans, whaur it is an important regional investor.

1. ↑ "Country Comparison: Area". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived frae the original on 13 November 2020. Retrieved 7 Januar 2013.
2. ↑ "Announcement of the demographic and social characteristics of the revised Resident Population of Greece according to the 2011 Population – Housing Census" (PDF). Piraeus: Hellenic Statistical Authority. 20 Mairch 2014. Archived frae the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 16 Februar 2015.
3. ↑ "Announcement of the results of the 2011 Population Census for the Resident Population" (PDF). Piraeus: Hellenic Statistical Authority. 28 December 2012. Archived frae the original (PDF) on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} "Greece". International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 29 Juin 2014. Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (help)
5. ↑ "Gini coefficient of equivalised disposable income (source: SILC)". Eurostat Data Explorer. Archived frae the original on 4 Mairch 2016. Retrieved 5 Januar 2014.
6. ↑ "2014 Human Development Report Summary" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 2014. pp. 21–25. Retrieved 27 Julie 2014.
7. ↑ "The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov (in Inglis). Archived frae the original on 25 August 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
8. ↑ Ricardo Duchesne (7 Februar 2011). The Uniqueness of Western Civilization. BRILL. p. 297. ISBN 90-04-19248-4. The list of books which have celebrated Greece as the “cradle” of the West is endless; two more examples are Charles Freeman's The Greek Achievement: The Foundation of the Western World (1999) and Bruce Thornton's Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization (2000)
9. ↑ Chiara Bottici; Benoît Challand (11 Januar 2013). The Myth of the Clash of Civilizations. Routledge. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-136-95119-0. The reason why even such a sophisticated historian as Pagden can do it is that the idea that Greece is the cradle of civilisation is so much rooted in western minds and school curicula as to be taken for granted.
10. ↑ William J. Broad (2007). The Oracle: Ancient Delphi and the Science Behind Its Lost Secrets. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-14-303859-7. In 1979, a friend of de Boer's invited him to join a team of scientists that was going to Greece to assess the suitability of the ... But the idea of learning more about Greece — the cradle of Western civilization, a fresh example of tectonic forces at ...
11. ↑ Carol Strickland (2007). The Illustrated Timeline of Western Literature: A Crash Course in Words & Pictures. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-4027-4860-8. Although the first writing originates in the cradle of civilization along Middle Eastern rivers — the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile — the true cradle of Western literature is Athens. As the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley says, "We are all Greeks."
12. ↑ "Greece during the Byzantine period (c. AD 300 – c. 1453), Population and languages, Emerging Greek identity". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Online Edition.
13. ↑ "Greece Properties inscribed on the World Heritage List (17)". Unesco.
14. ↑ "The Strategic Importance of Greece". geopoliticalfutures.com. Retrieved 6 Mairch 2017.
15. ↑ "The Geopolitics of Greece: "One cannot afford anymore to manage the Greek crisis without due consideration of its geopolitical consequences"". janelanaweb.com. Archived frae the original on 7 Mairch 2017. Retrieved 6 Mairch 2017.
16. ↑ "The Geostrategic Value of Greece and Sweden in the Current Struggle between Russia and NATO". atlanticcouncil.org. Retrieved 6 Mairch 2017.
17. ↑ "The Geopolitical Importance of Greece through the Ages". academia.edu. Retrieved 6 Mairch 2017.
18. ↑ "The Role of Greece in the Geostrategic Chessboard of Natural Gas". naturalgasworld.com. Retrieved 6 Mairch 2017.
19. ↑ "Geopolitical Consequences Of 'Grexit' Would Be Huge". bmiresearch.com. Retrieved 6 Mairch 2017.
20. ↑ "Greece can still be a geopolitical asset for the EU". europesworld.org. Archived frae the original on 11 Januar 2017. Retrieved 6 Mairch 2017. Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (help)
21. ↑ "Greece and NATO: a long lasting relationship". nato.int. Retrieved 6 Mairch 2017.
22. ↑ "Ambassador Pyatt's Remarks at the "Foreign Policy under Austerity" Book Panel". athens.usembassy.gov. Retrieved 29 Mey 2017.^{[deid airtin]}