Country · Europe
Greece
Hellenic Republic
Greece is a country in Southern Europe. Its capital city is Athens. About 10.7 million people live there, in an area of 131 990 square kilometres.
Picture credit: George E. Koronaios (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Jebulon (CC0) · Jebulon (CC0) · Thomas Wolf (CC BY-SA 3.0 de) · A.Savin (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Greece?
Greece lies in Southern Europe, on the continent of Europe.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 4 341 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 13 676 km long.
It shares a border with 4 countries: Albania, Bulgaria, Türkiye and North Macedonia.
How big is Greece?
Greece covers 131 990 square kilometres.
That is about 3.2 times the size of Switzerland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 95th largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 81.3 people on every square kilometre.
Who lives in Greece?
About 10.7 million people live in Greece.
That is the 84th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Greek.
They pay with the Euro (€).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 78 years.
The land of Greece
The land in Greece sits on average 498 metres above sea level.
Its coast runs for about 13 676 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 684 days.
It lies between the tropics and the poles, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Greece different?
A dish the country is known for: Fasolada, Moussaka and Souvlaki.
Websites from here often end in .gr.
Greece and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 1 live in Greece.
It takes up about 0.1 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Europe it is the 14th largest of 45 countries, and the 12th most populated.
That is close to the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Greece and its neighbours
Türkiye, its largest neighbour, is about 5.9 times bigger.
Türkiye has more people: 82.3 million against 10.7 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 1 live wild in Greece: Great white pelican. The highest mountain we cover here is Mount Olympus, at 2 918 metres.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Greece?
The capital of Greece is Athens. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Greece?
About 10.7 million people live in Greece, which makes it the 84th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Greece?
Greece borders Albania, Bulgaria, Türkiye and North Macedonia — 4 neighbours in total.
How big is Greece?
Greece covers 131 990 square kilometres, making it the 95th largest country in the world. That is about 3.2 times the size of Switzerland.
Which continent is Greece in?
Greece is in Europe, in the part called Southern Europe.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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