The Race 10,264,156 (1991 census-estimate). More than 4 m. Greeks are estimated to live abroad, including over 2 m. in America. Urban: 57.7%. Rural: 42.%. Density: 77.8 inhabitants per sq.km. Go top

Language The Greek language with a documented record spanning three and a half millennia is a strong element of national continuity. Modern Greek derives from the same idiom used by Homer. Greek is also the language of the Gospels. The Greek alphabet and the Greek language have contributed much to all western languages.Today's Greeks, however, are the only ones who ensure this linguistic continuity. In this respect Greek is to be distinguished sharply from Latin that generated numerous neo-latin languages from Rumanian to Portuguese before it became itself extinct. Go top

Religion Of all citizens of the Hellenic Republic 97.6% are Greek Orthodox, 1.3% Muslim, 0.4% Roman Catholic, 0.1% Protestant, 0.6% other, including Jews.The Greek Orthodox Church is autocephalous, with its own Charter but indissolubly united in doctrine with the Great Church of Constantinople, i.e. the Ecumenical Patriarchate.On the peninsula of Chalkidiki, located in southeastern Macedonia, is the famous Mount Athos, where a number of monasteries of the Greek Orthodox Church form, as they have for centuries, an autonomous monastic community. Go top