Greece is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula. The country has land borders with Albania, the Republic of Macedoniaand Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of mainland Greece, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the tenth longest coastline in the world at 14,880 km (9,246.00 mi) in length, featuring a vast number of islands (approximately 1400, 227 of which are inhabited), including Crete, the Dodecanese, the Cyclades, and the Ionian Islands among others. Eighty percent of Greece consists of mountains, of which Mount Olympus is the highest at 2,917 m (9,570.21 ft).

   Greece has a mixed capitalistic economy with a large public sector that accounts about half of GDP, a factor that is partly blamed for the slow economic growth. Greece is an agricultural country (with agricultural products such as wheat, corn, barley, sugar beets, olives, tomatoes, tobacco, potatoes, beef, dairy products and wine) with 20% of the workforce employed in this sector. 59% of the workforce is employed in the sector of services and the 21% in industry (food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, metal products, mining and petroleum) and construction. 

   Even if Greece is an agricultural country, the agricultural contribution to the economy is only of 15%. The industry which contributes the most to the economy is the tourism industry and shipping. Greece welcomes every year a number of tourists greater than the country's total population and its shipping sector is the most important in the world.