Greece

III

People and Society

In 2007 Greece had an estimated population of 10,706,290. Declining birth rates have resulted in a very low rate of population increase. In 1951 the birth rate was 20.3 per 1,000 persons; by 2007 it had decreased to 9.6 per 1,000. In 2007 male life expectancy at birth was 77 years, and female life expectancy was 82 years.

Since World War II (1939-1945), Greece has witnessed significant migration from rural areas—particularly mountain villages—to cities and towns. In 2005, 61 percent of Greece’s inhabitants lived in urban areas. More than one-third of the population was concentrated in the Athens metropolitan area, where job opportunities have been most plentiful. After Athens, the principal city in Greece is Thessaloníki, a major port city and a center of international shipping for the southern Balkans. Other major cities include Piraeus, a major port and industrial center, located near Athens; Pátrai, the most significant port on the Pelopónnisos; Iráklion, the capital of Crete; and Vólos and Lárisa, commercial centers in Thessaly.

In the 1950s and 1960s more than 10 percent of Greece’s population emigrated. Many of the emigrants left to live as guest workers in western Europe, West Germany in particular. A significant number have since returned to Greece. The current rate of emigration is very low. Greece witnessed a flood of immigrants, most of them illegal, in the 1990s. The country’s immigrant population is estimated to be between 500,000 and 800,000 people. Many of them have come from economically troubled Albania.

A

Ethnic Groups

Greece is the most ethnically homogeneous country in the Balkans, with ethnic Greeks making up about 98 percent of the population (not accounting for illegal immigrants). There is a significant Turkish minority in western Thrace. Other minorities include Albanians, Roma (Gypsies), Pomaks (Muslim Slavs), Armenians, Macedonian Slavs, and Vlachs.

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B

Language

The first language of the overwhelming majority of the population is Modern Greek (see Greek Language). The Greek language demonstrates a remarkable degree of continuity. Modern Greek uses the same alphabet that was used for the Greek language spoken in ancient times. During much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Greek language was a subject of controversy. In the 19th century Greek scholars attempted to purify the modern language to make it more similar to ancient Greek. These purists introduced the formal Katharevousa form of Greek. Katharevousa differs in grammar, syntax, and vocabulary from Demotike, the spoken vernacular. Until the 1970s many of Greece’s books and newspapers were in Katharevousa. In 1976 Demotike was made the country’s official language.

English and German are widely spoken in Greece. Languages spoken by Greece’s ethnic minorities include Turkish, Slavic Macedonian, Vlach (a Romanian dialect), Albanian, and Pomak (a Bulgarian dialect).

C

Religion

About 97 percent of Greece’s population is at least nominally Greek Orthodox (see Orthodox Church). Baptisms, marriages, and burials according to the rites of the Orthodox Church are the norm for a great majority of Greeks. Civil marriage was introduced in the 1980s. The Orthodox Church is governed by a synod of bishops, which is headed by the archbishop of Athens. Although church attendance is in decline, there has been a significant revival of religious life on Mount Athos, a self-governing monastic republic on the Khalkidikí Peninsula consisting of 20 monasteries. Easter and the Feast of the Dormition (Assumption) of the Virgin are the main religious holidays. Many Greeks return to their native villages or islands for Easter festivities, which usually involve the roasting of whole lambs. Some 10 percent of Greece’s Orthodox Christians are Old Calendarists, who reject the Gregorian calendar (adopted in Greece in 1923) and still adhere to the Julian calendar.

Muslims, mostly people of Turkish descent living in Thrace and on the Dodecanese Islands, constitute the largest religious minority. Greece has a small Roman Catholic population, found principally on some of the Aegean Islands, and an even smaller Protestant community. Until the German occupation during World War II, Thessaloníki had a significant Jewish population. The Germans sent the great majority of the country’s Jews to Nazi death camps (see Concentration Camp) in Eastern Europe. However, small Jewish communities still exist in Thessaloníki and Athens.

D

Education

In 2005 Greece had an adult literacy rate of 98 percent. Education is free and compulsory for all children between the ages of 6 and 14; the remaining years of secondary school are optional and also free. Many Greeks place a high value on education as the key to upward social mobility and a secure job. However, there are an inadequate number of public universities, and the constitution prohibits private ones, making access to higher education highly competitive. Many students of means attempt to gain an edge by attending privately run educational establishments called phrontisteria, which prepare them for university entrance examinations. Students attend the phrontisteria in addition to high school. Students who fail to gain entry to Greek universities may attend private, unofficial colleges. Many also choose to study abroad, particularly in the United Kingdom and Italy.

In 2001–2002 about 528,000 students were enrolled in institutes of higher education in Greece. The country’s oldest general university is the National and Capodistrian University of Athens, founded in 1837. Other major universities include the National Metsoveion Polytechnical University of Athens; the Athens University of Economics and Business; the Aristotle University of Thessaloníki; the University of Macedonia; the Demokritos University of Thrace, in Komotiní; the University of Pátrai; the University of Ioánnina; the University of Crete; the Technical University of Crete; the University of the Aegean, which is divided between the islands of Mytilene, Khíos, Samos, and Rhodes; and the University of Thessaly. Institutions of higher education also include the Panteios University of Social and Political Sciences and the Athens School of Fine Arts, both in Athens.

Athens has a number of foreign institutes devoted to archaeological research. The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, the British School at Athens, the German Archaeological Institute, and the French School of Athens were all founded in the 19th century.