Fun Facts about Greece
Love learning about Greece? Here are some fascinating facts!
- Voting is required by law in Greece for everyone 18 or older.
- Greece produces about 7% of the entire world’s marble.
- Greece is the third leading supplier of olives. It’s an ancient tradition to cultivate olive trees in Greece; some trees still producing olives today have been around since the thirteenth century!
- Tourism is a major part of Greek culture. Around 16.5 million tourists visit Greece every year, and tourism makes up almost 16% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
- Because of all this foreign tourism, Greece has more international airports than most countries.
- Greece is mostly rocky and full of mountains. In fact, 80% of Greece is mountainous.
- There are more than 2,000 islands in Greece; 170 or so are populated. Crete is the largest of these islands, measuring 3,189 square miles.
- The entire nation of Greece is about the same size as the state of Alabama. However, the population of Greece- more than 10 million people- is more than double the population of Alabama, which is 4.5 million.
- 12 million people in the world speak Greek.
- Sunny Greece! There are nearly 3,000 sunny hours a year, and more than 250 days of sunshine!
- Many of our common English words have their origins in Greek, such as apology, academy, siren, typhoon, marathon, and many more.
- More than 40% of Greek inhabitants live in Athens, the capital.
- The population of Athens has jumped from 10,000 (1834) to 3.6 million (2001).
- Greek leads the world in producing sea sponges.