Greece is in the far south of the Balkan peninsula, Greece combines the
towering mountains of the mainland with over 1,400 islands, the largest
of which is Crete.
Post-World War II Greece saw rapid economic and social
change, with tourism and shipping becoming major contributors to the
economy.
The financial crisis of the late 2000s hit Greece
particularly hard, as the legacy of high public spending and widespread
tax evasion combined with the credit crunch and the resulting recession
to leave the country with a crippling debt burden.
Greece has more than 1,400 islands
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At a glance
- Politics: After inconclusive elections in May
2012, a further round of voting in June restored a shaky coalition of
the advocates of austerity measures
- Economy: Enormous debts have sent Greece into
deep recession. Multi-billion-euro bailouts from the EU and IMF are
conditional on tough austerity measures
- International: Greece calls for the restoration of a unified state in Cyprus. It is involved in a naming dispute with Macedonia
Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring
In the spring of 2010, amid fears
of an imminent default on debt payments and of the debt contagion
spreading to other countries, Greece's fellow eurozone countries agreed
an unprecedented 110bn euro package to rescue its teetering economy. The
main condition attached to the loan - drastic cuts in public spending
and tax hikes - prompted protracted social unrest.
The 2010 rescue package soon proved to be unequal to the task
of plugging the hole in Greece's finances, and the following year an
even bigger bailout of 130bn euros was required to stave off the
imminent danger of the country defaulting on its debts
