Historical dataset of population level and growth rate for the Athens, Greece metro area from 1950 to 2025.

Prior to 1829, the area of modern day Greece was largely under the control of the Ottoman Empire. In 1821, the Greeks declared their independence from the Ottomans, and achieved it within 8 years through the Greek War of Independence. The Independent Kingdom of Greece was established in 1829 and made up the southern half of present-day, mainland Greece, along with some Mediterranean islands. Over the next century, Greece's borders would expand and readjust drastically, through a number of conflicts and diplomatic agreements; therefore the population of Greece within those political borders** was much lower than the population in what would be today's borders. As there were large communities of ethnic Greeks living in neighboring countries during this time, particularly in Turkey, and the data presented here does not show the full extent of the First World War, Spanish Flu Pandemic and Greko-Turkish War on these Greek populations. While it is difficult to separate the fatalities from each of these events, it is estimated that between 500,000 and 900,000 ethnic Greeks died at the hands of the Ottomans between the years 1914 and 1923, and approximately 150,000 died due to the 1918 flu pandemic. These years also saw the exchange of up to one million Orthodox Christians from Turkey to Greece, and several hundred thousand Muslims from Greece to Turkey; this exchange is one reason why Greece's total population did not change drastically, despite the genocide, displacement and demographic upheaval of the 1910s and 1920s. Greece in WWII A new Hellenic Republic was established in 1924, which saw a decade of peace and modernization in Greece, however this was short lived. The Greek monarchy was reintroduced in 1935, and the prime minister, Ioannis Metaxas, headed a totalitarian government that remained in place until the Second World War. Metaxas tried to maintain Greek neutrality as the war began, however Italy's invasion of the Balkans made this impossible, and the Italian army tried invading Greece via Albania in 1940. The outnumbered and lesser-equipped Greek forces were able to hold off the Italian invasion and then push them backwards into Albania, marking the first Allied victory in the war. Following a series of Italian failures, Greece was eventually overrun when Hitler launched a German and Bulgarian invasion in April 1941, taking Athens within three weeks. Germany's involvement in Greece meant that Hitler's planned invasion of the Soviet Union was delayed, and Hitler cited this as the reason for it's failure (although most historians disagree with this). Over the course of the war approximately eight to eleven percent of the Greek population died due to fighting, extermination, starvation and disease; including over eighty percent of Greece's Jewish population in the Holocaust. Following the liberation of Greece in 1944, the country was then plunged into a civil war (the first major conflict of the Cold War), which lasted until 1949, and saw the British and American-supported government fight with Greek communists for control of the country. The government eventually defeated the Soviet-supported communist forces, and established American influence in the Aegean and Balkans throughout the Cold War. Post-war Greece From the 1950s until the 1970s, the Marshall Plan, industrialization and an emerging Tourism sector helped the Greek economy to boom, with one of the strongest growth rates in the world. Apart from the military coup, which ruled from 1967 to 1974, Greece remained relatively peaceful, prosperous and stable throughout the second half of the twentieth century. The population reached 11.2 million in the early 2000s, before going into decline for the past fifteen years. This decline came about due to a negative net migration rate and slowing birth rate, ultimately facilitated by the global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008; many Greeks left the country in search of work elsewhere, and the economic troubles have impacted the financial incentives that were previously available for families with many children. While the financial crisis was a global event, Greece was arguably the hardest-hit nation during the crisis, and suffered the longest recession of any advanced economy. The financial crisis has had a consequential impact on the Greek population, which has dropped by 800,000 in 15 years, and the average age has increased significantly, as thousands of young people migrate in search of employment.

Greece Population: Economically Inactive: Urban: Greater Athens data was reported at 1,174.800 Person th in Dec 2024. This records a decrease from the previous number of 1,190.100 Person th for Sep 2024. Greece Population: Economically Inactive: Urban: Greater Athens data is updated quarterly, averaging 1,192.550 Person th from Mar 2021 (Median) to Dec 2024, with 16 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,429.500 Person th in Mar 2024 and a record low of 1,163.000 Person th in Jun 2024. Greece Population: Economically Inactive: Urban: Greater Athens data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Hellenic Statistical Authority. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Greece – Table GR.G008: Labour Force Survey: Economically Inactive: New Methodology.

Population, female (% of total population) in Greece was reported at 51.56 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Greece - Population, female (% of total) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on September of 2025.

Greece Population: Economically Inactive: Quarterly: Urban: Greater Athens data was reported at 1,258.000 Person th in Jun 2018. This records a decrease from the previous number of 1,265.100 Person th for Mar 2018. Greece Population: Economically Inactive: Quarterly: Urban: Greater Athens data is updated quarterly, averaging 1,333.800 Person th from Mar 1998 (Median) to Jun 2018, with 82 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,423.500 Person th in Dec 2001 and a record low of 1,244.600 Person th in Jun 2017. Greece Population: Economically Inactive: Quarterly: Urban: Greater Athens data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Hellenic Statistical Authority. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Greece – Table GR.G008: Labour Force Survey: Economically Inactive.

The statistic depicts the median age in Greece from 1950 to 2100. The median age of a population is an index that divides the population into two equal groups: half of the population is older than the median age and the other half younger. In 2020, the median age of Greece's population was 44.3 years. See the Greek population figures for comparison.

According to the 2021 census, 643,450 people lived in the Athens municipality, making it the largest city in Greece. The second-most populated municipality, Thessaloniki, had approximately 319,050 inhabitants.

This statistic depicts the age distribution of Greece from 2013 to 2023. In 2023, about 13.59 percent of the Greek population fell into the 0-14 year category, 62.93 percent into the 15-64 age group and 23.48 percent were over 65 years of age.

Around 3.15 million people lived in the Athens metropolitan area, making it the largest metropolitan area in Greece in 2021. The second-most populated metropolitan area, Thessaloniki, had approximately 802,390 inhabitants. At the municipality level, Athens was the largest city in the country with 643,452 residents.

Between 2010 and 2023, the population of pet cats in Greece has grown by about ** thousand. The cat population stayed fairly constant from 2010 to 2020 and only started to increase more significantly in 2021.