Total population | |
---|---|
c. 14 – c. 17 million | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Greece | approx. 10,000,000 (2011 census) |
United States | 1,279,000–3,000,000b(2016 estimate) |
Cyprus | 650,000–721,000a(2011 estimate) |
United Kingdom | 290,000–345,000 (2011 estimate) |
Germany | 395,000g(2012 estimate) |
Australia | 378,300 (2011 census) |
Canada | 252,960 (2011 census) |
Albania | 200,000 |
Russia | 85,640 (2010 census) |
Ukraine | 91,000 (2011 census) |
Italy | 30,000–200,000d(2013 estimate) |
South Africa | 45,000 (2011 estimate) |
Brazil | 50,000e |
France | 35,000 (2013 estimate) |
Argentina | 20,000–30,000 (2013 estimate) |
Peru | 350 (2011 estimate) |
Belgium | 35,000 (2011 estimate) |
Georgia | 15,000 (2011 estimate) |
Sweden | 12,000–15,000 (2011 estimate) |
Kazakhstan | 10,000–12,000 (2011 estimate) |
Switzerland | 11,000 (2015 estimate) |
Uzbekistan | 9,500 (2000 estimate) |
Romania | 10,000 (2013 estimate) |
Armenia | 6,000 (2002 estimate) |
Mexico | 1,500 families (2013 estimate) |
Austria | 5,000 (2011 estimate) |
Turkey | 4,000 |
Hungary | 5,000 (2011 estimate) |
Bulgaria | 28,500 (2011 estimate) |
Poland | 3,000 (2011 estimate) |
New Zealand | 2,470 (2013 census) |
Syria | 1,500 (2008 estimate) |
Chile | 1,500 (2013 estimate) |
Languages | |
Greek | |
Religion | |
Greek Orthodox Church | |
a Citizens of Greece and the Republic of Cyprus. The Greek government does not collect information about ethnic self-determination at the national censuses. b Includes those of ancestral descent. c Those whose stated ethnic origins included "Greek" among others. The number of those whose stated ethnic origin is solely "Greek" is 145,250. An additional 3,395 Cypriots of undeclared ethnicity live in Canada. dApprox. 60,000 Griko people and 30,000 post WW2 migrants. e "Including descendants". gIncludes people with "cultural roots". |
The Greeks or Hellenes (Greek: Έλληνες [ˈelines]) are an ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Albania, Turkey, Sicily, Egypt and, to a lesser extent, other countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world.
Greek colonies and communities have been historically established on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea, but the Greek people have always been centered on the Aegean and Ionian seas, where the Greek language has been spoken since the Bronze Age. Until the early 20th century, Greeks were distributed between the Greek peninsula, the western coast of Asia Minor, the Black Sea coast, Cappadocia in central Anatolia, Egypt, the Balkans, Cyprus, and Constantinople. Many of these regions coincided to a large extent with the borders of the Byzantine Empire of the late 11th century and the Eastern Mediterranean areas of ancient Greek colonization. The cultural centers of the Greeks have included Athens, Thessalonica, Alexandria, Smyrna, and Constantinople at various periods.