Country profile · Southern Europe
Greece
Greece has about 10 million people. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has governed since 2019, and the next election is due in spring 2027. Greece is in NATO and the European Union, and its main rival is Turkey. Greek owners control the world's largest merchant fleet. After three bailouts, Greece's debt is falling but is still the highest in the EU.
Where Greece ranks
All rankings →Which alliances is Greece in?
All alliances →Who runs Greece?
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was born on March 4, 1968, in Athens. His father, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, was prime minister from 1990 to 1993, and his sister, Dora Bakoyannis, was foreign minister. When Kyriakos was a baby, his family fled the military junta and lived abroad until 1973. He studied at Harvard and Stanford and worked for the consulting firm McKinsey. He became leader of New Democracy, the main center-right party, in 2016 and prime minister on July 8, 2019. In June 2023 New Democracy won 158 of the 300 seats in parliament, and it holds 156 now (chart). The government's biggest crisis is the Tempi train crash of February 28, 2023, which killed 57 people. Hundreds of thousands protested in 2025, and the trial began in March 2026. The next election is due in spring 2027. In October 2026 polls, New Democracy led with about 30%. Former prime minister Alexis Tsipras's new party, ELAS, was second with about 16%.
- New Democracy 156
- Opposition parties (PASOK, KKE, Greek Solution, SYRIZA and others) and independent MPs 141
- Empty seats (three MPs of the Spartiates party lost their seats in 2025) 3
Photo (March 2026): Yorgos Karahalis, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
Who are Greece's allies and rivals?
Greece has been in NATO since 1952 and in the European Union since 1981. The United States uses the naval base at Souda Bay on Crete. France signed a mutual defense pact with Greece in 2021 and renewed it in April 2026. Greece flies 24 French Rafale jets and has ordered 20 American F-35s. In August 2026 it bought a 3 billion euro air defense system from Israel. Turkey is Greece's main rival, although both are in NATO. Turkey has occupied the north of Cyprus, Greece's closest partner, since 1974. In the Aegean, both countries claim 6 nautical miles of sea around their coasts. Greece says it may extend this to 12, and in 1995 Turkey's parliament said that would be a cause for war. The two nearly fought over the Imia islets in 1996. A friendship declaration in December 2023 brought a thaw. Tension rose again in 2026, when Turkey declared marine parks in waters Greece claims and moved commandos opposite the island of Samos.
Allies and partners
United StatesNaval base at Souda Bay; 20 F-35 jets ordered
FranceMutual defense pact since 2021; sold 24 Rafale jets
CyprusClosest partner; north held by Turkey since 1974
IsraelSold Greece a 3 billion euro air defense system
EgyptSea border deal signed in 2020
- Imia Two uninhabited islets. Both sides landed troops in January 1996. Three Greek officers died in a helicopter crash.
- Kastellorizo Small Greek island just off Turkey's coast. Turkey protested when Prime Minister Mitsotakis visited Greek troops here in September 2026.
- Souda Bay US and NATO naval base on Crete, with the only pier in the Mediterranean that can berth a US aircraft carrier.
- Alexandroupolis Port near the Turkish border. US forces have used it under a defense deal updated in 2021.
- Greece
- Partner
- Rival
Who does Greece trade with?
Greece sells mostly to other EU countries. In 2025 it exported 48.6 billion euros of goods and imported 82.1 billion euros (ELSTAT). Italy, Germany, Cyprus and Bulgaria are the biggest buyers (chart). About a quarter of exports is fuel from Greek refineries, which buy crude oil from Iraq, Kazakhstan and Libya. Most of the rest is food, aluminum and medicines. Services cover much of the trade gap. In 2025 almost 38 million foreign visitors spent 23.6 billion euros in Greece (Bank of Greece). Tourism makes up about 13% of the economy. In November 2025 a Greek company signed a 20-year deal to import American liquefied natural gas from 2030. The economy grew 2.1% in 2025, and unemployment fell to 7.4% in August 2026, the lowest in about 18 years. But Greeks are among the poorest people in the EU. Adjusted for prices, income per person was 68% of the EU average in 2025, tied with Bulgaria for last place (Eurostat).
Bulgaria
NetherlandsWhy do Greeks own so much of the world's shipping?
Greek owners controlled 397 million deadweight tonnes of shipping at the start of 2026 (UNCTAD). That is about 16% of the world's carrying capacity, more than any other country (chart). China has more ships, but Greek ships are bigger on average. Greek owners have about a quarter of the world's oil tankers and LNG carriers. Most of their ships fly the flags of Liberia or the Marshall Islands. More than 98% of their cargo travels between other countries. In 1946 the Greek government guaranteed loans for up to 100 surplus American Liberty ships, and Greek owners bought about 98 of them. Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos were among the buyers. Greek shipowners pay a tax based on the size of their ships instead of a tax on profits, and the constitution protects this rule. From January to July 2025, Greek tankers carried up to 40% of Russia's crude oil exports by sea. In 2025 Yemen's Houthis sank two Greek-operated ships in the Red Sea.
Merchant fleet by country of the owner, million deadweight tonnes, January 2026
Full ranking →- Greece397
China377
Japan243
Singapore182
South Korea99.2
Germany69.0
United Kingdom61.1- United States45.6
UNCTADstat maritime transport data, from Clarksons Research, 2026
How did Greece get out of its debt crisis?
In October 2009 a new government revealed that Greece's budget deficit was far bigger than reported. Eurostat later put it at 15.4% of GDP. Markets stopped lending to Greece. From 2010 the EU and the IMF lent Greece 288.7 billion euros in three bailouts. In 2012 private bondholders also accepted a 53.5% cut in what they were owed. In return Greece cut wages, pensions and spending. The economy shrank by about a quarter, and unemployment peaked at 27.9% in June 2013. In a referendum on July 5, 2015, 61% of voters rejected the lenders' terms, but the government signed a third bailout weeks later. The bailouts ended on August 20, 2018. Debt peaked at 209% of GDP in 2020, during the pandemic (Eurostat). Since then Greece has run budget surpluses and repaid loans early. Debt fell to 146% of GDP at the end of 2025, still the highest in the EU (chart). By March 2025 every major rating agency had raised Greece back to investment grade.
Government debt, share of GDP, Europe, 2025
Full ranking →- Greece145.7%
Italy137.1%- France116.0%
Belgium106.3%- United Kingdom102.3%
Spain100.4%
Portugal89.9%- Germany62.9%
IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026