An Introduction to Greece
Ah, Greece, the home of the Olympics at last. Let's not dwell on its present to the exclusion of its glorious past. The focal point of the Eurozone crisis, the country's unserviceable debts, unpopular austerity measures and splintered political instability mean it's rarely out of the news at present, and its future is uncertain to say the least. See full country profile.Latest Research News from Europe (Other)
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GOVERNMENT: Unitary parliamentary republic
AREA: 131,990 sq km
POPULATION: 11,305,118 (July 2010 est.)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Official Language: Greek
Some business and general info
The Market Research Industry
Trade and Industry in Greece
...but a somewhat fickle relationship with its modern-day kings. The Greek monarchy was abolished by a referendum in 1924 and brought back again for forty years by another one in 1935. A further referendum in 1975 voted not to restore it after a coup d'etat. Disrespect? Well, you can't read Aristotle and still believe in Divine Right.
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Ah, Greece, the home of the Olympics at last. Let's not dwell on its present to the exclusion of its glorious past. The focal point of the Eurozone crisis, the country's unserviceable debts, unpopular austerity measures and splintered political instability mean it's rarely out of the news at present, and its future is uncertain to say the least.
...but Greece is the cradle of western civilisation, the land of Homer and the birthplace of western philosophy, democracy, drama and both political and mathematical science. The first Olympic Games were traditionally held here in 776 BC, and from the 8th century BC city states and kingdoms grew up across the territory. The strongest states, Athens and Sparta, fought heroic wars to stave off the vast and powerful Persian Empire in the 5th century BC but then fought each other in the Peloponnesian War. The ancient Greeks remained divided until united by Phillip II, father of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC and for the two succeeding centuries enjoyed their military high point while their schools and artists flourished, leaving an extraordinary legacy.The growth of Roman power in the second century BC spelt the end of Greek independence and the land was part of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires before emerging as a modern state in 1830. After WW II occupation, civil war and three troubled decades, the country entered a new era of prosperity from the early 1980s, broken only recently.
GDP: $294.3 bn (2011 est.); per capita $26,293
Religions 97% Greek Orthodox; 3% Other
Currency: Euro
Telephone Code: + 30
MR Association(s):
SEDEA (Association of Greek Market and Opinion Research Companies)
Greece is the 37th largest research market in the world, and the 18th largest in Europe. 83 percent of MR turnover comes from domestic clients and 17 percent from international. According to the ESOMAR Global Prices Study 2012 the country was the 41 most expensive for carrying out research.
Source: ESOMAR
Since 2010, the Greek economy has been hit by the most severe of the European sovereign debt crises - its GDP shrunk by 6.9% in 2011 and 3.4% in 2010, and its public debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 165.3% of nominal GDP in 2011 - one of the world's highest. Austerity measures, bail-outs and riots have been the result, along with double elections aimed at finding a coalition which can govern. The crisis has many and complex causes but one reason for Greece's woeful situation is said to be the government's misreporting over several years of official economic statistics, so as to keep within the monetary union guidelines. In order to avoid defaulting on debts, Greece has loan agreements from the IMF and Eurozone of up to EUR 110 billion, but its people have yet to accept the austerity measures to which the loans are tied. A further EUR 130 billion has been agreed in 2012 since it became clear the original sum would do little to avert the crisis.
Greece joined the Euro in 2002 and prior to the crisis its GDP had expanded at a healthy average annual rate of 4%. The country is said to suffer from high levels of political and economic corruption, low global competitiveness relative to ot'er EU states, rising unemployment levels and bureaucratic government.
Tourism is a major source of foreign exchange and revenue, accounts for around 15% of GDP and c.16.5% of the workforce. Greek exports totalled $26.6 bn in 2011, with the main commodities being food and beverages, manufactured goods, petroleum products, chemicals and textiles and the main partners being Germany and Italy (10.9% each) - Cyprus, Bulgaria, Turkey, the UK and Belgium all take over 5%. Imports - $65.8bn in 2011 - consist mainly of machinery, transport equipment, fuels and chemicals and came from countries including Germany (10.6%), Italy (9.9%), Russia (9.6%) and China (6.1%) in 2010.
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