Regions of Greece

The regions of Greece () are the country's thirteen second-level administrative entities, counting decentralized administrations of Greece as first-level. Regions are divided into regional units, known as prefectures until 2011.

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). Ν.1622/86 "Τοπική Αυτοδιοίκηση - Περιφερειακή Ανάπτυξη - Δημοκρατικός Προγραμματισμός", (ΦΕΚ 92/τ.Α΄/14-7-1986) 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 five-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 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 Mount Athos / Άγιον ΌροςMap 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 protruding into the Aegean from the Chalkidiki peninsula.

Region Seat Area(km)Governor ( – )Population(2024)Population density(residents/km) GDP() GDP per capita (€)1Attica Athens 3,808(ND)3,784,56597,0302Central Greece Lamia 15,549Fanis Spanos(ND)505,07311,4753Central Macedonia Thessaloniki 18,811Nana Aidona(ND)1,778,89628,4184Crete Heraklion 8,336Stavros Arnaoutakis(PASOK–KINAL)622,49110,3315Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Komotini 14,157(Independent)561,8348,1176Epirus Ioannina 9,203(ND)321,1084,4327Ionian Islands Corfu 2,307(Independent)200,6423,3438North Aegean Mytilene 3,836(Independent)201,0072,7049Peloponnese Tripoli 15,490(ND)531,5989,72910South Aegean Ermoupoli 5,286(ND)327,2466,73711Thessaly Larissa 14,037(PASOK–KINAL)678,74710,66112Western Greece Patras 11,350(ND)640,2439,09313Western Macedonia Kozani 9,451(ND)247,2704,552(14)Mount Athos Karyes 336Alkiviadis Stefanis1,746 5.20 — —

Regions of Greece

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