Ionian Islands (region)

Ionian Islands Περιφέρεια Ιονίων Νήσων
Administrative region of Greece
Coordinates: GR 38°42′N 20°18′E / 38.7°N 20.3°ECoordinates: GR 38°42′N 20°18′E / 38.7°N 20.3°E
Country	Greece
Decentralized Administration	Peloponnese, Western Greece and the Ionian
Capital	Corfu
Regional units	List Corfu Ithaca Kefalonia Lefkada Zakynthos
Government
• Regional governor	Theodoros Galiatsatos (SYRIZA)
Area
• Total	2,306.94 km^2 (890.71 sq mi)
Population (2011)[1]
• Total	207,855
• Density	90/km^2 (230/sq mi)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
ISO 3166 code	GR-F
Website	www.pin.gov.gr

Ionian Islands (Greek: Περιφέρεια Ιονίων Νήσων) constitute one of the thirteen regions of Greece. The modern region of the Ionian Islands does not include the island of Kythera, which historically belonged to it, but now belongs to Attica.

Demographics

The population of the Ionian Islands in 2011 was 207,855, decreased by 1,50% compared to the population in 2001. Nevertheless, the region remains the third by population density with 90.1/km² nationwide, well above the national of 81.96/km². The most populous of the major islands is Corfu with a population of 104,371, followed by Zante (40,759), Cephalonia (35,801), Leucas (23.693) and Ithaca (3.231). The foreign-born population was in 2001 19,360 or 9.3%, the majority of which was concentrated in Corfu and Zante. Most of them originate from Albania (13,536). The fertility rate for 2011 according to Eurostat was 1.35 live births per woman.^[2]

Economy

The regional Gross Domestic Product for 2010 was 4,029 million euros. The GDP per capita for the same year was 18,440 euros per capita which was lower than the national median of 20,481. However, the GDP per capita of Cephalonia and Zante, 23,275 and 24,616 respectively, was much higher than the national figure.^[3] Additionally, unemployment for 2012 was 14.7, the lowest among all Greek regions, and much lower compared to the national unemployment of 24.2.^[4]

Tourism

A Corfu beach

The region is a popular tourist destination. The airports of Corfu, Zante and Cephalonia were in the top ten in Greece by number of international arrivals, with 1,386,289 international arrivals for 2012, with Corfu being the sixth airport by number of arrivals nationwide, while Zante and Cephalonia also being in the top ten. Cephalonia Airport had the biggest increase nationwide by 13.11% compared to 2011, while Corfu had an increase of 6.31%.^[5][6]

Administration

The region was established in the 1987 administrative reform, comprising the prefectures of Corfu, Kefalonia and Ithaca, Lefkada and Zakynthos.

With the 2010 Kallikratis plan, its powers and authority were redefined and extended. Along with West Greece and Peloponnese regions, it is supervised by the Decentralized Administration of the Peloponnese, West Greece and the Ionian Islands based at Patras. The region is based at Corfu and is divided into 5 regional units:^[7]

Paraskeví Church, Kipséli, Zakynthos

• Corfu (Kerkyra)
• Ithaca (Ithaki)
• Kefalonia
• Lefkada
• Zakynthos

The region's governor is, since 1 September 2014, Theodoros Galiatsatos, who was elected in the May 2014 local administration elections for the Coalition of the Radical Left party.

Historical population

Year	Population	Density
1862	228,631	87.8/km²
1864	229,516
1879	244,433	106.0/km²
1889	238,783
1896	282,853
1907	254,494
1920	224,189	97.1/km²
1928	213,157	92.4/km²
1940	219,562	95.1/km²
1951	228,597	99.0/km²
1961	207,061	89.7/km²
1971	184,443
1981	182,651	79.1/km²
1991	193,734	83.9/km²
2001	212,984	92.3/km²
2011	207,855	90/km²

^{[8][9][10][11][12][13]}

References

1. "Demographic and social characteristics of the Resident Population of Greece according to the 2011 Population - Housing Census revision of 20/3/2014" (PDF). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 12 September 2014.
2. "Eurostat - Tables, Graphs and Maps Interface (TGM) table". Epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
3. "PAGE-themes". Statistics.gr. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
4. "EUROPA - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - Unemployment in the EU27 regions in 2012 Regional unemployment rates ranged from 2.5% in Salzburg and Tirol to 38.5% in Ceuta and 34.6% in Andalucía". Europa.eu. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
5. "SETE : Greek Tourism : Facts and Figures" (PDF). Sete.gr. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
6. "International Tourist Arrivals at the Main Airports : January-December 2011-12" (PDF). Tovima.gr. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
7. "Kallikratis reform law text" (PDF). Kedke.gr. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
8. "Statistics". Xantho.lis.upatras.gr. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
9. "Document" (PDF). Dlib.statistics.gr. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
10. Archived May 30, 2013 at the Wayback Machine
11. "Εργαστήριο Δημογραφικών και Κοινωνικών Αναλύσεων Πανεπιστημίου Θεσσαλίας - Εργο e-Demography - Δεδομένα απογραφής 1971 - Πραγματικός πληθυσμός - Συνολικά". E-demography.gr. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
12. "Statistical Yearbook of Greece" (PDF). Dlib.statistics.gr. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
13. Archived March 25, 2012 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Official website (Greek)