Regions of Greece

Second-level administrative entities of Greece

For other uses, see Regions of Greece (disambiguation).

Regions of Greece
Περιφέρειες της Ελλάδας (Greek)

Category| Unitary state
Location| Hellenic Republic
Number| 13 Regions
1 Autonomous Region
Populations| 200,642 (Ionian Islands) – 3,784,565 (Attica)
Areas| 2,307 km2 (891 sq mi) (Ionian Islands) – 18,810 km2 (7,260 sq mi) (Central Macedonia)
Government|

* Central government
Regional governments
Monastic government (Athos)

Subdivisions|

* Regional units

This article is part of a series on

Politics of Greece

Constitution

* Constitutional history
* Human rights

Executive

* Head of state

* * *

* President of the Republic (list): Konstantinos Tasoulas

* Presidential Departments

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* Government

* * *

* Prime Minister (list): Kyriakos Mitsotakis

* Cabinet: Kyr. Mitsotakis II

Legislature

* President: Nikitas Kaklamanis

* Presidium
* Conference of Presidents
* Parliamentary committees
* Constituencies
* Apportionment

Judiciary

* Supreme Courts

* * *

* Special Highest Court
* Court of Cassation
* Council of State
* Chamber of Accounts

Subdivisions

* Regions
* Municipalities

Elections

* Political parties
* Recent elections:

* Parliamentary: 2019
* 2023 (May)
* 2023 (June)

* Local: 2014
* 2019
* 2023

* European: 2014
* 2019
* 2024

* Referendums: 1973
* 1974
* 2015

Foreign relations

* Ministry for Foreign Affairs

* * *

* Minister: Giorgos Gerapetritis
* Diplomatic missions of Greece
* Diplomatic missions in Greece

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* KYSEA

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* International Relations

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* Passport
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* Greece portal

* Other countries

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Part of a series on the

Subdivisions of Greece
First level

* 7 decentralized administrations

Second level

* 13 administrative regions
* 74 regional units

Third level

* 332 municipalities
* 708 municipal units
* 4,783 communities

Autonomous region

* Monastic community of Mount Athos

Obsolete terms
51 prefectural administrations
Prefectural department, 2 hyper-prefectures
148 provinces
Municipal/Communal/Local department

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The regions of Greece (Greek: περιφέρειες, romanized: periféreies) are the country's thirteen second-level administrative entities, counting decentralized administrations of Greece as first-level. Regions are divided into regional units, known as prefectures until 2011.

## History

[edit]

The current regions were established in July 1986 (the presidential decree officially establishing them was signed in 1987), by decision of the interior minister, Menios Koutsogiorgas, as second-level administrative entities, complementing the prefectures (Law 1622/1986).[1] Before 1986, there was a traditional division into broad historical–geographical regions (γεωγραφικά διαμερίσματα), which, however, was often arbitrary; not all of the pre-1986 traditional historical-geographic regions had official administrative bodies. Although the post-1986 regions were mostly based on the earlier divisions, they are usually smaller and, in a few cases, do not overlap with the traditional definitions: for instance, the region of Western Greece, which had no previous analogue, comprises territory belonging to the Peloponnese peninsula and the traditional region of Central Greece.

As part of a decentralization process inspired by Interior Minister Alekos Papadopoulos, they were accorded more powers in the 1997 Kapodistrias reform of local and regional government. They were transformed into fully separate entities by the 2010 Kallikratis Plan (Law 3852/2010), which entered into effect on 1 January 2011. In the 2011 changes, the government-appointed general secretary (γενικός γραμματέας) was replaced with a popularly elected regional governor (περιφερειάρχης) and a regional council (περιφερειακό συμβούλιο) with five-year terms. Many powers of the prefectures, which were also abolished or reformed into regional units, were transferred to the region level. The regional organs of the central government were in turn replaced by seven decentralized administrations, which group from one to three regions under a government-appointed general secretary.

## List of regions

[edit]

1. Attica / Αττική
2. Central Greece / Στερεά Ελλάδα
3. Central Macedonia / Κεντρική Μακεδονία
4. Crete / Κρήτη
5. Eastern Macedonia and Thrace / Ανατολική Μακεδονία και Θράκη
6. Epirus / Ήπειρος
7. Ionian Islands / Ιόνια νησιά
8. North Aegean / Βόρειο Αιγαίο
9. Peloponnese / Πελοπόννησος
10. South Aegean / Νότιο Αιγαίο
11. Thessaly / Θεσσαλία
12. Western Greece / Δυτική Ελλάδα
13. Western Macedonia / Δυτική Μακεδονία
14. Mount Athos / Άγιον Όρος

|

Map showing modern regions of Greece

Bordering the region of Central Macedonia there is one autonomous region, Mount Athos (Agion Oros, or "Holy Mountain"), an autonomous monastic community under Greek sovereignty. It is located on the easternmost of the three large peninsulas jutting into the Aegean from the Chalkidiki peninsula.

| Region | Seat | Area
(km2)  | Governor (1 January 2024 – 31 December 2028) | Population
(2024)[2] | Population density
(residents/km2) | GDP
(million €)[3] | GDP per capita
(€)

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1 | Attica | Athens | 3,808  |  | Nikos Hardalias [el]
(ND) | 3,784,565  | 993.85  | 97,030  | 25,638
2 | Central Greece | Lamia | 15,549  |  | Fanis Spanos
(ND) | 505,073  | 32.48  | 11,475  | 22,719
3 | Central Macedonia | Thessaloniki | 18,811  |  | Apostolos Tzitzikostas
(ND) | 1,778,896  | 94.57  | 28,418  | 15,975
4 | Crete | Heraklion | 8,336  |  | Stavros Arnaoutakis
(PASOK–KINAL) | 622,491  | 74.68  | 10,331  | 16,596
5 | Eastern Macedonia and Thrace | Komotini | 14,157  |  | Christodoulos Topsidis [el]
(Independent) | 561,834  | 39.69  | 8,117  | 14,447
6 | Epirus | Ioannina | 9,203  |  | Alexandros Kahrimanis [el]
(ND) | 321,108  | 34.89  | 4,432  | 13,802
7 | Ionian Islands | Corfu | 2,307  |  | Giannis Trepeklis [el]
(Independent) | 200,642  | 86.97  | 3,343  | 16,662
8 | North Aegean | Mytilene | 3,836  |  | Kostas Moutzouris [el]
(Independent) | 201,007  | 52.40  | 2,704  | 13,452
9 | Peloponnese | Tripoli | 15,490  |  | Dimitris Ptochos [el]
(ND) | 531,598  | 34.32  | 9,729  | 18,301
10 | South Aegean | Ermoupoli | 5,286  |  | George Hatzimarkos [el]
(ND) | 327,246  | 61.91  | 6,737  | 20,587
11 | Thessaly | Larissa | 14,037  |  | Dimitris Kouretas [el]
(PASOK–KINAL) | 678,747  | 48.35  | 10,661  | 15,707
12 | Western Greece | Patras | 11,350  |  | Nektarios Farmakis [el]
(ND) | 640,243  | 56.41  | 9,093  | 14,202
13 | Western Macedonia | Kozani | 9,451  |  | Giorgos Amanatidis [el]
(ND) | 247,270  | 26.16  | 4,552  | 18,409
(14) | Mount Athos | Karyes | 336  |  | Alkiviadis Stefanis | 1,746  | 5.20  | —  | —

## See also

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Regions of Greece.

* Administrative divisions of Greece
* ISO 3166-2:GR
* List of Greek regions by Human Development Index

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Ν.1622/86 "Τοπική Αυτοδιοίκηση - Περιφερειακή Ανάπτυξη - Δημοκρατικός Προγραμματισμός", (ΦΕΚ 92/τ.Α΄/14-7-1986)
2. ^ "Στοιχεία Εκτιμώμενου Πληθυσμού (1.1.2024)" (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 31 December 2024. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2024-12-07.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

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Regions of Greece

Regions|

* Attica
* Central Greece
* Central Macedonia
* Crete
* Eastern Macedonia and Thrace
* Epirus
* Ionian Islands
* North Aegean
* Peloponnese
* South Aegean
* Thessaly
* Western Greece
* Western Macedonia

Autonomous regions|

* Monastic community of Mount Athos

* v
* t
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Greek terms for administrative divisions

Modern|

* Decentralised Administrations
* Autonomous Monastic Society
* Region
* Regional Unit
* Municipality
* Municipal Unit
* Community

Defunct|

* General Administrations
* Prefecture (Super-Prefecture, Prefectural Department)
* Province
* Municipal Department
* Communal Department
* Municipal Community
* Local Community

Historical|

* archontia/archontaton
* bandon
* demos
* despotaton
* dioikesis
* doukaton
* droungos
* eparchia
* exarchaton
* katepanikion
* kephalatikion
* kleisoura
* meris
* naukrareia
* satrapeia
* strategis
* thema
* toparchia
* tourma

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First-level administrative divisions in European countries

Sovereign states|

* Albania
* Andorra
* Armenia2
* Austria
* Azerbaijan1
* Belarus
* Belgium
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Cyprus2
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* Estonia
* Finland
* France
* Georgia1
* Germany
* Greece
* Hungary
* Iceland
* Ireland
* Italy
* Kazakhstan1
* Latvia
* Liechtenstein
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Malta
* Moldova
* Monaco
* Montenegro
* Netherlands
* North Macedonia
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* Romania
* Russia1
* San Marino
* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Turkey1
* Ukraine
* United Kingdom

States with limited
recognition

* Abkhazia2
* Kosovo
* Northern Cyprus2
* South Ossetia2
* Transnistria

Table of administrative divisions by country

* 1 Spans the conventional boundary between Europe and another continent.
* 2 Considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons but is geographically in Western Asia.

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