Land use: arable land: 22% permanent crops: 9% other: 69% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land: 14,220 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards: severe earthquakes

Environment - current issues: air pollution; water pollution

Environment - international agreements: party to: Air Pollution,
Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources,
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified:
Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Volatile
Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography - note: strategic location dominating the Aegean Sea and southern approach to Turkish Straits; a peninsular country, possessing an archipelago of about 2,000 islands

People Greece

Population: 10,645,343 (July 2002 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 14.8% (male 814,605; female 765,613) 15-64 years: 67.1% (male 3,579,945; female 3,564,068) 65 years and over: 18.1% (male 851,087; female 1,070,025) (2002 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.2% (2002 est.)