THE NATIONAL SYSTEM OF DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS
Population Structure
Population censuses have been taken since the Greek state’s declaration of independence in 1821. During the
first half of the nineteenth century population censuses were taken at short intervals, sometimes every year. After
1861, the interval was increased to every ten years. The early censuses were mostly published only in
rudimentary form, but at least the population figures are available in regional distribution. Beginning with the
1870 census the data were published in more detailed tables with introductory descriptions. For the newly
acquired territories a special population census was regularly organized in order to gain reliable information on
the topic.
Population by age, sex, marital status, literacy, etc. was first published in 1870. The combination of the
population by age, sex, and marital status is available since 1879. The 1907 census was the first to be published
very extensively and in great detail. The 1920 population census made considerable innovations. Unfortunately
the 1928 census was restricted to a few major topics, and the 1940 population census was never fully analysed
due to the war. That is why the 1920 census is the most important census in the inter-war period.
The history of the population censuses is described and documented in several important publications:
Chouliarakis (1975a), ‘The Statistical Measurement of the Population of Greece 1821–1900’ and Chouliarakis
(1975b), ‘History of Population Census in Relation to Greece 1900–1971’. The development of state statistics
from 1821–1971, which in the nineteenth century is dominated by the population census, is described in National
Centre für Social Research (1972). The population censuses from 1828 to 1981 are described in the publication
of the 1981 population census results (NSSG 1994, pp. 11–3). Chouliarakis (1973/76) documents the whole
period from 1821 to 1971 by geographical division. The most recent work by Chouliarakis (1988) assesses the
agricultural population from 1920 to 1981.
The history of population censuses from 1821 to 1896 is furthermore described in Royaume de Grèce,
Ministère de l’Intérieur, Service du Recensement (1909, vol. II: ε’ff.).
Vital Statistics
Vital statistics were introduced rather late in Greece, in 1860 and gathered until 1884, after which vital statistics
recording was discontinued until the General Statistical Service of Greece was established in 1925. Only the
three major demographic variables, births, deaths, and marriages, are available until the 1920s. More detailed
disaggregations for legitimacy, infant mortality, and stillbirths are only available since the 1920s or even only
since the 1950s. Statistical data on divorces come from the judicial statistics and are also only available after
1945.
The figures for the nineteenth century are incorrect because of severe underregistration of births and deaths,
especially infant and neonatal deaths, and by sex: the registration of girls is too low. This underreporting is
obvious in the demographic transition, where both the birth and the death rates are well below the European
average. Underreporting was greatest during the nineteenth century, but still had some impact during the interwar period of the 1930s. Infant and neonatal deaths in particular were prone to underregistration (NSSG, 1966:
37, 53ff., 77). Another analysis by the NSSG (1980: 31, 59) attributes the anomalies in perinatal and infant
mortality to the underregistration of both stillbirths and neonatal deaths in rural areas.
Households and Families
Data on households (oikogéneiai or ménages) were already collected in the census of 1861. But the number of
households was long the only item to be collected and published by the population censuses. Not until 1920 were
more elaborated household statistics produced. For this census households were published by size from 1 to 16
and more household members, and institutional households were distinguished for the first time. Earlier censuses
made no distinction between family households, one-person households, and institutional households, but
probably counted private households only.
Some disaggregations have been made according to nómoi and lower administrative units. Furthermore, data
for the larger cities have been published.
The definition of a household (oikogéneia) was more or less the same from 1861 until 1940. The definition
principally included all private households: households consisting of a single person, and households consisting
of a family. Institutional households were not considered households. Most the time household and dwelling
were the same, given the low urbanization. Official statistics of household composition are not available for the
whole period. There is no information on servants, lodgers and boarders, or relatives in the households, but the
1920 census introduced the occupational status of the household head, rather early in household statistics
compared with other countries.
Family statistics were introduced in 1920, but this investigation was the only one during the time period in
consideration. Families have been analysed by the number of children born, surviving, and deceased.
Remarks (also see introductory Table 6.1)
Statistics on population movement are only available for the years 1860–1884, 1921–1940, and 1949 to the
present. A short history of the Greek statistics on the population movement is given in National Statistical
Service of Greece (1960), p. XXIX. The historical data are published in this title on page LXXXIf., in most of
the statistical abstracts, and in nearly every edition of the annual ‘Mouvement naturel de la population de la
Grèce en ...’. The data on the mid-year population have been taken from Chouliarakis (1973), pp. XXf., where
the best estimates for the annual population development have been made. These figures are much more reliable
and complete than the figures available from the official statistical sources. In this respect the data are also more
complete than those published by Mitchell (1992), who was only able to use the data from the official sources.
Chouliarakis (1973) made good estimates for the numerous boundary changes in Greece. The data refer to the
period from 1821 to 1971. From 1972 to the present estimates of the mid-year population have been taken from
the official sources. The inter- and extrapolation of the variables v16–v21 have been made taking into account
these numerous boundary changes, taking the growth rates between censuses and extrapolating forward or back
to the time point of the boundary change.