“For God so loved [the people of the Greece] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic,[8] is a country in Southeastern Europe. Its capital city is Athens.
It borders Albania, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea is to the east and south of mainland Greece, the Ionian Sea is to the west. Both are part of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and have many islands.
The official language spoken in Greece is Greek, spoken by 99% of the population. Many Greeks also understand English, French and German, which are taught in schools. Greece became a member of the European Union in 1981.
Greece is a small country compared to other countries such as the United States, Spain , Italy, and the United Kingdom. The population of Greece is estimated to be over 10 million. Most of the people in Greece are Greeks, and they form 94% of the population of the country.[11] There are also many Albanians in Greece, and they make up 4% of the population.[11] Other nationalities make up for another 2% of the country.[11]
The Greek government recognizes only one minority in the country, the Turkish one in the region of Thrace. The dispute between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia has caused result the refusal of Greece to acknowledge the existence of a Macedonian minority, but the 2001 population census (the number of people in the country) showed only 747 citizens of the Republic of Macedonia in Greece.[11] The Republic of Macedonia says that there are a maximum of 300,000 ethnic Macedonians in Greece, but Greece says that if there is a minority in the country, it would not be more than 30,000 people, in the northern part of the country, near the border with the Republic of Macedonia. This is also supported by international organizations.[12]
Greece is a capitalist country, like the United States and France. Greece has the largest number of trading ships (a ‘merchant navy’) in the world. Tourism is also a major source of income for Greece. In the 20th century Greece had its own currency but now uses the Euro as most other European Community countries do.
Greece has adopted some welfare state policies, such as public healthcare and free education, like many other European countries. The pension system of Greece has created serious problems for the whole country. The fact is that thousands of Greeks are retired before the age of 55. The government has been very popular by adjusting the retirement age several times. Currently the average age of retirement is 50 for women and 55 for men.
This is putting Greece in a very difficult situation when the country has accumulated a debt of about €350 billion, or debt by 170 per-cent of the country’s total GDP.[13][14] Greece also has a deficit, meaning that it buys more things than it sells. The country is cutting costs and asking for loans in order to avoid bankruptcy.
Note: Wikipedia is the source for the geographical information in this feature.
