Eastern Macedonia and Thrace

Eastern Macedonia and Thrace
Eastern Macedonia and Thrace
Administrative region of Greece
	Logo
	Coordinates: 41°12′N 25°00′E / 41.2°N 25.0°E
Country	Greece
Decentralized Administration	Macedonia and Thrace
Geographic regions	Macedonia; Thrace
Capital	Komotini
Largest city	Alexandroupolis
Regional units	List Drama; Evros; Kavala; Rhodope; Thasos; Xanthi;
Government
• Regional governor	Christodoulos Topsidis [el] (Independent)
Area
• Total	14,157.76 km2 (5,466.34 sq mi)
Population (2021)
• Total	562,201
• Density	40/km2 (100/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Macedonian, Thracian
GDP
• Total	€7.138 billion (2021)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
ISO 3166 code	GR-A
HDI (2022)	0.862; very high · 13th of 13
Website	www.pamth.gov.gr

Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (/ˌmæsəˈdoʊniə/ MASS-ə-DOH-nee-ə; Greek: Ανατολική Μακεδονία και Θράκη, romanized: Anatolikí Makedonía ke Thráki, [anatoliˈci maceðoˈnia ce ˈθraci]) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It consists of the northeastern parts of the country, comprising the eastern part of the region of Macedonia along with the region of Western Thrace, and the islands of Thasos and Samothrace.

Administration

Administrative history

The region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace was established in the 1987 administrative reform as the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Region (Greek: Περιφέρεια Ανατολικής Μακεδονίας και Θράκης, romanized: Periféria Anatolikís Makedhonías ke Thrákis. With the 2010 Kallikratis plan, its powers and authority were redefined and extended, with the preexisting region in many respects inheriting status and weight of the five now abolished prefectures, Drama, Evros, Kavala, Rhodope and Xanthi.

In this special case, the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace also succeeds the intermediate structure of the two super-prefectures of Drama-Kavala-Xanthi and of Rhodope-Evros into which the five prefectures had been grouped since 1994.

Current status

The capital of the region is Komotini, which by population is the fourth largest city, following Alexandroupolis, Kavala and Xanthi. The region is divided into the Macedonian regional units of Drama, Kavala and Thasos and the Thracian regional units of Xanthi, Rhodope and Evros, which coincide with the territory of the former prefectures, except for Thasos, which was part of the Kavala prefecture. Unlike the former prefectures, the regional units however have very limited administrative powers.

Along with Central Macedonia, the region is supervised by the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace based at Thessaloniki.

Regional governor

The political office of regional governor was also created by the Kallikratis reform and may be considered the successor of the former prefects. The current governor is Christodoulos Topsidis [el], who took office on 1 January 2024.

Demographics

The region is home to Greece's main Muslim minority, made up mainly of Pomaks and Western Thrace Turks, whose presence dates to the Ottoman period. Unlike the Muslims of Macedonia, Epirus, and elsewhere in northern Greece, they were exempted from the Greek-Turkish population exchange following the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. According to the 1991 census, the Muslim minority numbered around 98,000 people or 29% of the population of Western Thrace, of which about half were Western Thrace Turks and the rest (35%) Pomaks and Muslim Romani people (15%).^[4] In the 2014 European elections in Greece, 42,533 people from Eastern Macedonia and Thrace voted for the Party of Friendship, Equality and Peace, which represents what it regards as the Muslim minority in Greece. These Muslim minority populations are completely distinct from the Ottoman-era Greek Muslims, such as the Vallahades of Western Macedonia, who were almost entirely expatriated to Turkey as part of the population exchange.

The region has shrunk by 46,113 people between 2011 and 2021, experiencing a population loss of 7.6%.^[1]

Economy

The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 7.2 billion € in 2018, accounting for 3.9% of Greek economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €14,300 or 48% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 61% of the EU average. Eastern Macedonia and Thrace is the region in Greece with the second lowest GDP per capita and one of the poorest regions in the EU.^[5]