Regions of Greece

Administrative regions of Greece Διοικητικές περιφέρειες της Ελλάδας (Greek)
Category	Unitary state
Location	Hellenic Republic
Number	13 Regions 1 Autonomous Region
Populations	197,810 (North Aegean) – 3,812,330 (Attica)
Areas	2,307 km2 (891 sq mi) (Ionian Islands) – 18,810 km2 (7,260 sq mi) (Central Macedonia)
Government	Central government Regional governments Theocratic government (Athos)
Subdivisions	Regional units

The administrative regions of Greece (Greek: περιφέρειες, romanized: periféries) are the country's thirteen first-level administrative entities, each comprising several second-level units, originally known as prefectures and, since 2011, as regional units.

History

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). 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 5-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 administrative regions

Attica / Αττική Central Greece / Στερεά Ελλάδα Central Macedonia / Κεντρική Μακεδονία Crete / Κρήτη Eastern Macedonia and Thrace / Ανατολική Μακεδονία και Θράκη Epirus / Ήπειρος Ionian Islands / Ιόνια νησιά North Aegean / Βόρειο Αιγαίο Peloponnese / Πελοπόννησος South Aegean / Νότιο Αιγαίο Thessaly / Θεσσαλία Western Greece / Δυτική Ελλάδα Western Macedonia / Δυτική Μακεδονία Monastic Republic of 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.

	Administrative Region	Seat	Area (km2)	Population (residents)	Population Density (residents/km2)	Gross domestic product (million €)	Per capita gross domestic product (€)
1	Attica	Athens	3,808	3,812,330	1001.11	110,546	28,997
2	Central Greece	Lamia	15,549	546,870	35.17	10,537	19,007
3	Central Macedonia	Thessaloniki	18,811	1,874,590	99.66	32,285	16,559
4	Crete	Heraklion	8,336	621,340	74.54	11,243	18,421
5	Eastern Macedonia and Thrace	Komotini	14,157	606,170	42.82	9,265	15,272
6	Epirus	Ioannina	9,203	336,650	36.58	5,079	14,221
7	Ionian Islands	Corfu	2,307	206,470	89.50	4,130	17,726
8	North Aegean	Mytilene	3,836	197,810	51.57	3,330	16,638
9	Peloponnese	Tripoli	15,490	581,980	37.57	9,809	16,580
10	South Aegean	Ermoupoli	5,286	308,610	58.38	7,646	24,828
11	Thessaly	Larissa	14,037	730,730	52.06	11,608	15,772
12	Western Greece	Patras	11,350	680,190	59.93	10,659	14,332
13	Western Macedonia	Kozani	9,451	282,120	29.85	5,506	18,786
(14)	Mount Athos	Karyes	336	2,146	6.38	—	—

See also

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