Distillers Greece
A one-page guide to Greece for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Athens
- Official languages
- Greek
- Currency
- Euro (EUR)
- Time zone
- UTC+2 (EET); UTC+3 summer (EEST)
- Area
- 131,960 km²
People
- Population
- 10.4 million (2025)
- Population growth
- 0.1% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 79.2%
- Aged under 15
- 12.9%
- Aged 65 and over
- 24.4%
- Life expectancy
- 81.8 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$280.6 billion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$26,948 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 2.07% (2025)
- Inflation
- 2.48% (2025)
Climate
Mostly Mediterranean: mild to cool wet winters and hot dry summers; mountains have an alpine climate with heavy winter snow; inland north is humid subtropical; some southern coasts are hot and semi-arid. No temperature figures on the source page.
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Legal
- Legal drinking age
- 18 for on- and off-premise sales of all beverages (WHO 2018 country profile, status 2016: https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/country-profiles/substances-abuse/GRC.pdf)
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 8.44 litres of pure alcohol (2022)
- What people drink
- Beer 32%, wine 45%, spirits 22%, other 1% (2016)
- Traditional drinks
- Ouzo (EU GI), Tsipouro (EU GI), Tsikoudia (EU GI), Metaxa (brandy blended with Muscat wine)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia - Greece; Wikipedia - Ouzo; Wikipedia - Metaxa; WHO country profile GRC; EU excise duty tables (position at 1 July 2021); Your Europe: alcohol allowances for travellers entering the EU; SEAOP - Greek Federation of Spirits Producers; ENEAP - Hellenic Association of Drinks Distributors. Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.