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People

Acropolis Greece
The People (population - religion - language)
 
Population:
10.939.771 (2001 - census)
Sex distribution:
Male 49,6% , female: 50,4% (2001).
Population by areas:
Urban: 57,7%, Rural: 42,3% (1991).
Area (sq. km):
131.957
Density:
82,9 inhabitants per sq. km. (2001)
Birth rate:
9,72 per 1000 inhabitants (1997)
Life expectancy:
males 74,6 years (1990), females 79,40 years (1990)
Capital city:
Athens (3.192.606 inhabitants - 2001)
Population of main cities (1991 - census)
 
Athens:
3.072.866
Thessaloniki:
749.048
Patra:
170.452
Iraklio:
126.907
Volos:
116.031
Larissa:
112.777
Chania:
72.092
Ioannina:
68.072
Halkis:
62.837
Kavala:
56.571
Agrinio:
52.896


Religious affiliations:
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.



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 which generated numerous neo-latin languages from Rumanian to Portuguese before it became itself extinct.
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