Greece

toc = = =__Geographical Profile/Political Information﻿﻿﻿__ = **Relative Location:** Southern Europe, bordering the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea, between Albania and Turkey **Distance and direction from Lancaster:** 8157.5 miles east **Size and comparative size to other countries near Greece**: 131,957 sq km, a little smaller than Alabama, Greece is smaller than Turkey but larger than its other bordering countries: Bulgaria, Albania, and Macedonia. **Climate:** temperate; Mediterranean; mild, wet winter and hot, dry summer **Major Physical features:** Mountainous interior with coastal plains; 1,400-plus islands **Major cultural characteristics:** //Religions: // Greek Orthodox (approximately 98% of citizens), with Muslim (1.5%), Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, and other religious communities, //Languages:// Greek 99% (official), Turkish, others. Albanian is spoken by approximately 700,000 Albanian immigrants. English is the predominant second language. //Traditions:// Clean Friday (Good Friday)- The Friday before Greek Easter when everyone goes to church to be blessed by the Priest and does not eat meat. //Foods:// <span style="color: #252525; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Lamb, spinach pie with cheese, and Greek salad (consisting of lettuce, olives, feta cheese, and oil dressing). <span style="color: #252525; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Major cities**:** Athens (capital) <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 115%;">**Head of Government:** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Prime Minister Georgios Andreas <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">**Global Organizations:** <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 115%;">EU, FATF, NATO, and WHO. =__<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Economic Information ﻿ __= <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; vertical-align: middle;">**Currency:** euro <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Natural Resources:** lignite, petroleum, iron ore, bauxite, lead, zinc, nickel, magnesite, marble, salt, hydropower potential <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Agricultural Products:** wheat, corn, barley, sugar beets, olives, tomatoes, wine, tobacco, potatoes; beef, dairy products <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; vertical-align: middle;">Industries: tourism, food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, metal products; mining, petroleum <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; vertical-align: middle;">**Imports and Import Partners:** Electricity, Oil, machinery, transport equipment, fuels, chemicals. Germany 13.73%, Italy 12.71%, China 7.08%, France 6.1%, Netherlands 6.02%, South Korea 5.68%, Belgium 4.34%, Spain 4.08% <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; vertical-align: middle;">** Export and Export Partners: ** food and beverages, manufactured goods, petroleum products, chemicals, textiles, electricity, oil. Germany 11.11%, Italy 11.05%, Cyprus 7.28%, Bulgaria 6.74%, US 4.95%, UK 4.4%, Turkey 4.23% (2009) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 8.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; vertical-align: middle;">**GDP, GDP per capita:** -4.8%, $30,200 per capita. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**HDI and HDI Ranking:** Number 25 in the HDI rank in the year 2009 <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 8.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; vertical-align: middle;">**Unemployment Rate:** 12%
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">﻿ Absolute Location: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 115%;">39 00 N, 22 00 E
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Type of Government: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 115%;">parliamentary republic

=__<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Population Information __= <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 8.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 115%;">**Current population of country:** 10,760,136 people <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 8.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 115%;">**Population density:** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> **Age Distribution:** 0-14 years: 14.2%, 15-64 years: 66.2%, 65 years and over: 19.6% <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> <span style="color: #666666; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">**Natural Rate of Increase (NRI):** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 8.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 115%;">.1% <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 8.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 115%;">**Years it will take for country's size to double**: 700 years <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> **Literacy rate:** 96% <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Infant Mortality rate:** 5 deaths/1,000 live births <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Life expectancy at age 1:**79.92 years <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Physical Quality of Life:** 67.99 <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Ethnic groups: ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Greek 93%, other (foreign citizens) 7% <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 8.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 115%;">**Chief religions:** Greek Orthodox 98%, Muslim 1.3%, other 0.7% <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 8.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 115%;">**Main language:** Greek (official) 99%, other (includes English and French) 1%

=__<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Human Rights Information﻿﻿ __= <span style="color: #252525; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">In Greece their human rights issues are not that different than other countries around the world. Citizens are abused by security forces; there are some legal restrictions on freedom of speech and religious freedom. There is discrimination and social exclusion of, ethnic minorities. There is a lot of trafficking of people and domestic violence. In prison people have to deal with overcrowding and harsh conditions. Usually the Greek people treat all migrants as criminals; mostly dealing with Afghans, Somali, Palestinian, Iraqi, Eritrean, Pakistani and Burmese. It seems as if the Greek people are not acceptant of different cultures than their own.

<span style="color: #252525; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The human rights issues are done but very subtle compared to other countries. Greece may have a harsh way of doing things but they are not over the top with how they treat their citizens. Trafficking, domestic violence, and discrimination of ethnic minorities is something you see in every country. But not everyone deals with restrictions on freedom of speech and religious freedom around the world. So Greece may be an average country when it comes to human rights, obviously they could improve on how they treat the people in the country, but they are not the worst.

=<span style="color: #252525; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 115%;">__**Environmental Issues**__ = <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Greece used to have a good environment until WWII, during the war there was an increase in industrial activities and motor vehicles. As an outcome of this the Greek environment has been deeply threatened. The government has tried to help by passing many bills and laws to make Greece a better place, but it has not worked as they planned. In major cities air pollution is a major issue so is smog. This led people to having to be hospitalized due to respiratory problems. Athens is where the environment issues are the worst, they have the worst pollution and smog problems. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Not only is air pollution an issue because of cars and factories, but water pollution is also a threat to the environment. As a result of industrialization the quality of water in the Meditteranean area has declined, and Greece plays a major role in this matter. The only way for factories to dispose of waste is to send the waste directly to the sea. Another explanation as to why the water quality and quantity are so bad is because between 1987 and 1993 there was an extended drought causing the decrease in both the quantity and quality of the water. In addition to uncontrolled use of fertilizers and by soil erosion, the quality of the Greek soil has also been affected. This damages many agricultural areas, resulting in many farmers’ losing their business. = = =__<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Why I Would Want to Live in Greece __= <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">I would like to live in Greece, not only because that is where my family is from, but because I think the environment is very pretty and the culture is fun! Even though Greece is suffering from air and water pollution the country is still beautiful i think. The water is very blue and there are beaches everywhere. I would have to learn how to use the euro as currency, but I think i could do that. The culture of Greek people is also unique compared to other countries. Greek dancing is a lot of fun and everyone is always so spirited as they dance as a big group. In Amerca I love going to church before Easter Sunday because everyone is so friendly and there are candles everywhere. I feel that if I were in Greece for the Friday before Easter it would be considered even a bigger holiday because close to everyone is Greek (about 93%)!

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Back to talking about the environment in Greece there are many very blue beaches and mountains. I've always been an outside person so to be around mountains and beaches all the time would be great. Lancaster only has hills and lakes, even though those are nice too, I'd rather be aroudn the extremes of each (as in mountains/beaches). The temperature is mostly Mediterranean, which I think is nice. I love the warm weather but not humidity, Even though Greece is relatively small I do not feel as if it is necessary to have a big country. I would not travel around Greece just for the heck of it but I would travel to see what it's like, and having the country being on the small side would make that more feasible and faster.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The only thing I would have to get used to in Greece would be their human rights issues. Citizens are abused by security forces adn there are limits on freedom of speech and religion. I would not want someone telling me how to live my life, and also I would not want to know that I cannot speak my mind. Even though Greek human rights are more rough compared to America it is more subtle compared to other countries (ex: China, Korea, etc). So aside from the human rights I would love to live in Greece because it seems like a spirited place with beautiful scenery.

=__<span style="background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 24pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.5in; vertical-align: auto;">Work Cited __=

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">"2009 Human Rights Report: Greece." Editorial. //U.S. Department of State//. U.S. State Dept., 11 Mar. 2010. Web. 28 Apr. 2011. [drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/eur/136034.htm|http://www.state.gov/g/ drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/eur/136034.htm].

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">"The World Fact Book." //CIA the World Fact Book//. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2011. [].

<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 24pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">"World Population Date Sheet 2010." //Population Reference Bureau//. Web. 13 May 2011.

<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 24pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">"Greek's Environment Issues." //GreeceGreek.com - Information on Travel, Ancient Greece, Mythology, Maps, Facts//. Web. 20 May 2011. [].

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