Greece is bordered in the north (from west to east) by Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey. Otherwise, mainland Greece is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea (to the south), the Ionian Sea (to the west) and the Aegean Sea (to the east). The islands together make up about 20% of the land area. The largest islands are Crete, Euboea (Evia), Lesbos and Rhodes.

Ancient Greece is seen as the cradle of European and Western culture. Although the Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations already existed in earlier centuries, the culture that emerged from the 8th century BC is the starting point.

Here, democracy as a form of government flourished, important scientific principles were invented and discovered, and Western philosophy and the Western literary canon, Western theatre, architecture and the Olympic Games developed. The ancient Greeks inhabited city-states such as Athens, Sparta and Thebes. From the time of Alexander the Great (4th century BC), the Ancient Greek language and Hellenistic culture, and later the Greek Orthodox Church, spread over a widespread area. Greek culture was also omnipresent under Roman and Byzantine rule. It only came to a state of its own in 1830, when the Greeks broke away from the Ottoman Empire, which had succeeded the Byzantine rule, after a War of Independence. In the decades that followed, Greece grew to its current size.

Greece has been a democracy and a republic since 1974, after being an intermittent monarchy from 1832 onwards. In 1981, the country became the tenth country to join the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union. The means of payment is the euro. Although the Greek sovereign debt crisis had major consequences for the economy and society, Greece is considered to be economically highly developed and relatively prosperous.

Traditionally, shipping and tourism have been important factors in the Greek economy. Shipping contributes 4.5% to GDP and provides employment for 160,000 people (4% of the jobs). The Greek shipowners own the largest fleet in the world with 3,079 ships, which is about 18% of the world's capacity. Greece's economy is 15% dependent on tourism.[5] Attractions are the many sights from the past, the islands and the many beaches. Despite a surplus on the services balance, Greece has a larger trade deficit, as a result of which the balance of payments is strongly negative.

About 5.1% of the labor force is employed in agriculture. The farms are on average 10 hectares in size.

On March 25, 1821 Greece declared independence from the Ottoman Empire, in 1830 this independence was recognized by other countries after the Congress of London. At a new Congress of London, in 1832, Greece became a kingdom. Greece has been a republic since 1974. In that year the dictatorial Colonel's regime came to an end.

The Parliament of Greece, unlike many other parliaments, has only one chamber: the Chamber of Deputies (Vouli ton Ellinon), with three hundred seats and a term of office of four years. The current president is Katerina Sakellaropoulou (in office since March 13, 2020). The head of government is Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (in office since 8 July 2019).

Peripheries of Greece
Since the parliamentary elections of September 2015, the following parties are represented in the Greek Parliament:

According to a survey by Pew-Templeton, a total of 88.1% Christians lived in Greece in 2010. The vast majority of Greeks belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, which is not a state church, but enjoys a privileged position because of its historical significance under the constitution, which does provide for religious freedom.

Islam is adhered to by both an indigenous minority (Greece's Muslim minority) and immigrants. More than 5 percent of the inhabitants of Greece are Muslim. Other religious minorities include the Sephardic Jews, the Catholics, the Armenian Christians and several small Protestant communities. About 0.02% of the population adheres to Hellenism, a revival of Greek mythology.

To Greece belongs the autonomous monastic state, the peninsula of Oros Athos.