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People
Cultural Demography
Today, ethnic Greeks comprise approximately 98 percent of a total population of more than 11 million. Other ethnic groups in Greece include small minorities of other West Europeans, East Europeans, and Turks.
In terms of religious affiliation, the vast majority (98 percent) is Greek Orthodox. Muslims comprise the only numerically significant religious minority, although there is a small number of other minority religions (noted below) in Greece.
During the centuries of Ottoman domination, the Greek Orthodox Church preserved Greek language, culture, values and national identity and was an important rallying point in the struggle for independence. The Muslim minority, concentrated in Thrace, was given legal status via the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. Other religious communities in Greece include Catholics, Jews, Old Calendar Orthodox, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and Protestants.
The Greek language dates back at least 3,500 years, and modern Greek preserves many elements of its classical predecessor. In the 19th century, after Greece's War of Independence, an effort was made to rid the language of Turkish and Arabic words and expressions. The resulting version was considered to be closer to the classical Greek language of Homer and was called "Katharevousa." Most Greeks, however, never adopted "Katharevousa" in daily speech. The commonly spoken language, called "Demotiki," became the official language for the country in 1976.
Other than Greek, which is the official language, English, French, Turkish, Macedonian, Romanian, Romani, Bulgarian and Albanian are also living languages in Greece.
Human Development
Greeks have an average life expectancy at birth of 78.43 years (75.87 years for males, 81.18 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 7.13 deaths per 1,000 live births. The population has an estimated average literacy rate of 95 percent. Approximately 98 percent of males and 93 percent of females, aged 15 and older, can read and write.
About 7.4 percent of GDP is spent on health expenditures in this country; about four percent of GDP is spent on educational expenditures. Access to education, sanitation, water, and health is regarded to be very good.
One notable measure used to determine a country's quality of life is the Human Development Index (HDI), which has been compiled annually since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in three main arenas of human development: longevity, knowledge and education, as well as economic standard of living. In a recent ranking of 169 countries, the HDI placed Greece in the very high human development category, at 22nd place. Note:
Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by values and indices, the HDI, which is calculated and updated annually, offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in certain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators.
Written by Dr. Denise Youngblood Coleman, Editor in Chief, www.countrywatch.com; see Bibliography for research sources.
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