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government type:
parliamentary republic; monarchy rejected by referendum 8 december 1974 capital: athens administrative divisions: 51 prefectures (nomoi. singular - nomos) and 1 autonomous region*; agion oros* (mt. athos). achaia. aitolia kai akarmania. argolis. arkadia. arta. attiki. chalkidiki. chanion. chios. dodekanisos. drama. evros. evrytania. evvoia. florina. fokidos. fthiotis. grevena. ileia. imathia. ioannina. irakleion. karditsa. kastoria. kavala. kefallinia. kerkyra. kilkis. korinthia. kozani. kyklades. lakonia. larisa. lasithi. lefkas. lesvos. magnisia. messinia. pella. pieria. preveza. rethynnis. rodopi. samos. serrai. thesprotia. thessaloniki. trikala. voiotia. xanthi. zakynthos independence: 1829 (from the ottoman empire) national holiday: independence day. 25 march (1821) constitution: 11 june 1975; amended march 1986 and april 2001 legal system: based on codified roman law; judiciary divided into civil. criminal. and administrative courts suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory executive branch: chief of state: president karolos papoulias (since 12 march 2005) head of government: prime minister konstandinos karamanlis (since 7 march 2004) cabinet: cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister elections: president elected by parliament for a five-year term; election last held 8 february 2005 (next to be held by february 2010); according to the greek constitution. presidents may only serve two terms; president appoints leader of the party securing plurality of vote in election to become prime minister and form a government election results: karolos papoulias elected president; number of parlimentary votes. 279 out of 300 legislative branch: unicameral parliament or vouli ton ellinon (300 seats; members are elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: elections last held 7 march 2004 (next to be held by march 2008) election results: percent of vote by party - nd 45.4%. pasok 40.6%. kke 5.9%. synaspismos 3.3%; seats by party - nd 165. pasok 117. kke 12. synaspismos 6 judicial branch: supreme judicial court; special supreme tribunal; all judges appointed for life by the president after consultation with a judicial council political parties and leaders: coalition of the left and progress (synaspismos) [alekos alavanos]; communist party of greece or kke [aleka papariga]; new democracy or nd (conservative) [konstandinos karamanlis]; panhellenic socialist movement or pasok [yiorgos papandreou]; popular orthodox rally or laos [yeoryios karatzaferis] political pressure groups and leaders: general confederation of greek workers or gsee [khristos polyzogopoulos]; federation of greek industries or sev [odysseas kyriakopoulos]; civil servants confederation or adedy [spyros papaspyros] international organization participation: acct (associate). australia group. bis. bsec. ce. cern. eapc. ebrd. eib. emu. eu. fao. g- 6. iaea. ibrd. icao. icc. icct. icftu. icrm. ida. iea. ifad. ifc. ifrcs. iho. ilo. imf. imo. interpol. ioc. iom. iso. itu. miga. minurso. nam (guest). nato. nea. nsg. oas (observer). oecd. opcw. osce. pca. un. un security council (temporary). unctad. unesco. unhcr. unido. unmee. unmis. unomig. upu. wco. weu. wftu. who. wipo. wmo. wtoo. wto. zc diplomatic representation in the us: chief of mission: ambassador alexandros mallias chancery: 2221 massachusetts avenue nw. washington. dc 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 939-1300 fax: [1] (202) 939-1324 consulate(s) general: boston. chicago. los angeles. new york. san francisco. and tampa consulate(s): atlanta. houston. and new orleans diplomatic representation from the us: chief of mission: ambassador charles p. ries embassy: 91 vasilissis sophias avenue. 10160 athens mailing address: psc 108. apo ae 09842-0108 telephone: [30] (210) 721-2951 fax: [30] (210) 645-6282 consulate(s) general: thessaloniki flag description: nine equal horizontal stripes of blue alternating with white; there is a blue square in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white cross; the cross symbolizes greek orthodoxy. the established religion of the country economy - overview: greece has a capitalist economy with the public sector accounting for about 40% of gdp and with per capita gdp 70% of the leading euro-zone economies. tourism provides 15% of gdp. immigrants make up nearly one-fifth of the work force. mainly in menial jobs. greece is a major beneficiary of eu aid. equal to about 3.3% of annual gdp. the greek economy grew by about 4.0% for the past three years. largely because of an investment boom and infrastructure upgrades for the 2004 athens olympic games. economic growth slowed to about 3% in 2005 and. greece has not met the eu's growth and stability pact budget deficit criteria of 3% of gdp since 2000. public debt. inflation. and unemployment are above the eurozone average. to overcome these challenges. the greek government is expected to continue cutting government spending. reducing the size of the public sector. and reforming the labor and pension systems. gdp (purchasing power parity): $242.8 billion (2005 est.) gdp (official exchange rate): $215.9 billion (2005 est.) gdp - real growth rate: 3.3% (2005 est.) gdp - per capita: purchasing power parity - $22.800 (2005 est.) gdp - composition by sector: agriculture: 6.2% industry: 22.1% services: 71.7% (2005 est.) labor force: 4.72 million (2005 est.) labor force - by occupation: agriculture 12%. industry 20%. services 68% (2004 est.) unemployment rate: 10.8% (2005 est.) population below poverty line: na household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 3% highest 10%: 28.3% (1998 est.) distribution of family income - gini index: 35.1 (2003) inflation rate (consumer prices): 3.8% (2005 est.) investment (gross fixed): 25.3% of gdp (2005 est.) budget: revenues: $94.13 billion expenditures: $103.4 billion. including capital expenditures of na (2005 est.) public debt: 108.9% of gdp (2005 est.) agriculture - products: wheat. corn. barley. sugar beets. olives. tomatoes. wine. tobacco. potatoes; beef. dairy products industries: tourism; food and tobacco processing. textiles; chemicals. metal products; mining. petroleum industrial production growth rate: 1.7% (2005 est.) electricity - production: 54.56 billion kwh (2003) electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 94.5% hydro: 3.8% nuclear: 0% other: 1.7% (2001) electricity - consumption: 53.5 billion kwh (2005 est.) electricity - exports: 2.1 billion kwh (2002) electricity - imports: 4.2 billion kwh (2002) oil - production: 5.805 bbl/day (2003 est.) oil - consumption: 435.700 bbl/day (2005 est.) oil - exports: 84.720 bbl/day (2001) oil - imports: 468.300 bbl/day (2001) oil - proved reserves: 4.5 million bbl (1 january 2002) natural gas - production: 35 million cu m (2001 est.) natural gas - consumption: 2.34 billion cu m (2005 est.) natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2001 est.) natural gas - imports: 2.018 billion cu m (2001 est.) natural gas - proved reserves: 254.9 million cu m (1 january 2002) current account balance: $-14.5 billion (2005 est.) exports: $18.54 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.) exports - partners: germany 13.1%. italy 10.3%. uk 7.5%. bulgaria 6.3%. us 5.3%. cyprus 4.6%. turkey 4.5%. france 4.2% (2004) imports: $48.2 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.) imports - partners: germany 13.3%. italy 12.8%. france 6.4%. netherlands 5.5%. russia 5.5%. us 4.4%. uk 4.2%. south korea 4.1% (2004) reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $2.3 billion (2005 est.) debt - external: $75.1 billion (2005 est.) economic aid - recipient: $8 billion from eu (2000-06) currency (code): euro (eur) note: on 1 january 1999. the european monetary union introduced the euro as a common currency to be used by financial institutions of member countries; on 1 january 2002. the euro became the sole currency for everyday transactions within the member countries currency code: eur exchange rates: euros per us dollar - 0.79697 (2005). 0.8054 (2004). 0.886 (2003). 1.0626 (2002). 1.1175 (2001) fiscal year: calendar year telephones - main lines in use: 5.205.100 (2003) telephones - mobile cellular: 8.936.200 (2003) telephone system: general assessment: adequate. modern networks reach all areas; good mobile telephone and international service domestic: microwave radio relay trunk system; extensive open-wire connections; submarine cable to offshore islands international: country code - 30; tropospheric scatter; 8 submarine cables; satellite earth stations - 2 intelsat (1 atlantic ocean and 1 indian ocean). 1 eutelsat. and 1 inmarsat (indian ocean region) radio broadcast stations: am 26. fm 88. shortwave 4 (1998) radios: 5.02 million (1997) television broadcast stations: 36 (plus 1.341 low-power repeaters); also two stations in the us armed forces radio and television service (1995) televisions: 2.54 million (1997) internet country code: .gr internet hosts: 208.977 (2004) internet service providers (isps): 27 (2000) internet users: 1.718.400 (2003) airports: 80 (2004 est.) airports - with paved runways: total: 67 over 3.047 m: 5 2.438 to 3.047 m: 16 1.524 to 2.437 m: 19 914 to 1.523 m: 17 under 914 m: 10 (2005 est.) airports - with unpaved runways: total: 15 914 to 1.523 m: 3 under 914 m: 12 (2005 est.) heliports: 8 (2005 est.) pipelines: gas 1.166 km; oil 94 km (2004) railways: total: 2.571 km (764 km electrified) standard gauge: 1.565 km 1.435-m gauge narrow gauge: 961 km 1.000-m gauge; 22 km 0.750-m gauge dual gauge: 23 km combined 1.435-m and 1.000-m gauges (three rail system) (2004) roadways: total: 116.470 km paved: 106.920 km (including 880 km of expressways) unpaved: 9.550 km (1999) waterways: 6 km note: corinth canal (6 km) crosses the isthmus of corinth; shortens sea voyage by 325 km (2004) merchant marine: total: 861 ships (1.000 grt or over) 30.186.624 grt/52.943.968 dwt by type: bulk carrier 296. cargo 65. chemical tanker 47. combination ore/oil 2. container 46. liquefied gas 2. passenger 13. passenger/cargo 121. petroleum tanker 252. roll on/roll off 17 foreign-owned: 25 (chile 1. china 1. cyprus 5. norway 6. sweden 1. united kingdom 11) registered in other countries: 2.208 (2005) ports and terminals: agioitheodoroi. aspropyrgos. irakleion. pachi. peiraiefs. thessaloniki military branches: hellenic army. hellenic navy. hellenic air force (polemiki aeroporia. epa) military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory military service; during wartime the law allows for recruitment after reaching january of the year of inductee's 18th birthday. thus including 17 year olds; 17 years of age for volunteers; conscript service obligation - 12 months for the army and air force. 15 months for navy (2005) manpower available for military service: males age 18-49: 2.459.988 (2005 est.) manpower fit for military service: males age 18-49: 2.018.557 (2005 est.) manpower reaching military service age annually: males: 58.399 (2005 est.) military expenditures - dollar figure: $5.89 billion (2004) military expenditures - percent of gdp: 4.3% (2003) disputes - international: greece and turkey continue discussions to resolve their complex maritime. air. territorial. and boundary disputes in the aegean sea; cyprus question with turkey; greece rejects the use of the name macedonia or republic of macedonia illicit drugs: a gateway to europe for traffickers smuggling cannabis and heroin from the middle east and southwest asia to the west and precursor chemicals to the east; some south american cocaine transits or is consumed in greece; money laundering related to drug trafficking and organized crime
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