Greece Map with Regions

Greece has 13 administrative regions: Attica, Central Greece, Central Macedonia, Crete, East Macedonia and Thrace, Epirus, the Ionian Islands, North Aegean, the Peloponnese, South Aegean, Thessaly, West Greece and West Macedonia. This map shows 14 units, because Mount Athos is drawn as a separate shape rather than folded into Central Macedonia. The 13 regions were created in 1987 and became self-governing on 1 January 2011 under the Kallikratis reform, which gave each one a directly elected governor and regional council. Beneath them sit the regional units, the second administrative tier introduced by the same reform.

Central Macedonia is the largest Greek region by area at 18,811 km² (7,263 sq mi). It runs from Mount Olympus and the Thermaic Gulf north to the frontiers with North Macedonia and Bulgaria, and includes the three prongs of the Halkidiki peninsula. Central Macedonia is also the second most populous region, with 1,795,669 residents (2021 census), and its capital Thessaloniki is the country's second city. The easternmost Halkidiki peninsula holds Mount Athos, which is not administered as part of the region. The smallest region by area is the Ionian Islands at 2,307 km² (891 sq mi).

Attica is the most populated region of Greece, with 3,814,064 residents at the 2021 census, roughly 36% of the national total. It covers 3,808 km² (1,470 sq mi) and contains Athens, the national capital, together with Piraeus, the main passenger port. That gives Attica close to 1,000 residents per km², a density no other region approaches. Central Macedonia ranks second at 1,795,669, followed by Thessaly with 688,255, West Greece with 648,220 and Crete with 624,408. All 2021 census figures come from ELSTAT, the Hellenic Statistical Authority.

North Aegean has the smallest population of any Greek region, 194,943 residents at the 2021 census, spread over Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Ikaria, Limnos and smaller islands, with Mytilene as its seat. The Ionian Islands come next at 204,532, then West Macedonia at 254,595 and Epirus at 319,991. The Ionian Islands region is also the smallest in area, 2,307 km² (891 sq mi). Because island regions cluster at the bottom of the population table, thematic maps of Greece often work better with per capita values than with raw totals.

Mount Athos is not one of Greece's 13 regions. It is an autonomous monastic state under Greek sovereignty, run by its own monastic community and placed under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Between 1,700 and 2,000 monks live on the peninsula, and the avaton rule bars women from entering, while male visitors need a permit. Since its legal status differs from that of an ordinary region, cartographers usually give it a shape of its own. That is why this map carries 14 units while the official regional count stays at 13.

Regions (peripheries) are the first level of Greek local self-government, 13 in total, each headed by a governor and council elected directly since 1 January 2011. Regional units (perifereiakes enotites) sit one level below and divide each region into smaller districts. Both were reorganized by the Kallikratis reform of 2011, which abolished the old prefectures (nomoi) that had structured Greek administration for decades. Many regional units inherited the borders and names of those prefectures, so older maps of Greece and current ones often look similar at the second level while the top level differs.

Athens sits in Attica and Thessaloniki in Central Macedonia, the two most populous regions of Greece at 3,814,064 and 1,795,669 residents respectively (2021 census). Patras belongs to West Greece, Heraklion to Crete, Larissa and Volos to Thessaly, Ioannina to Epirus, and Kavala and Alexandroupolis to East Macedonia and Thrace. Kalamata and Corinth fall within the Peloponnese, Rhodes within the South Aegean, Mytilene within the North Aegean and Corfu within the Ionian Islands. Naming a region's largest town is the quickest way to identify it on a blank outline map.

Greece borders four countries: Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia to the north, Bulgaria to the northeast and Turkey in the far east along the Evros river. Epirus and West Macedonia meet Albania, West Macedonia and Central Macedonia meet North Macedonia, Central Macedonia and East Macedonia and Thrace meet Bulgaria, and East Macedonia and Thrace alone touches Turkey. The rest of the boundary is water: the Ionian Sea on the west, the Aegean Sea on the east and the Sea of Crete between the mainland and Crete.

A finished Greek data map typically shows all 14 shapes tinted by value, with the darkest shade over Attica. To get there, paste in a spreadsheet that pairs each region name with a number, and Ultimaps reads it and colors the 14 shapes accordingly. Single regions can also be filled by hand when you only want Crete or Epirus highlighted. You pick the color ramp, and background, label text and outline weight are edited separately. To flag a city, drop a captioned pin on Athens, Thessaloniki or Heraklion. Ultimaps runs in the browser with no registration, and saves to PNG, PDF or SVG.