Transport and infrastructure in Greece

Our listing of the primary types of transport compares the infrastructure of Greece with the average of all countries in Europe. Overall, the main traffic and transport routes are well developed and in comparatively good condition.

In terms of the length of its rail network, Greece ranks 63rd in the world with 0.21 meters per inhabitant. In total, the rail network is 2,279 kilometers long. Freight traffic on the rails most recently totaled 579.00 million tons and kilometers traveled. Passenger traffic reached 653.00 million passenger-kilometers in 2021.

The waterways listed refer to inland traffic on rivers and canals. The number of ports includes those located on the 13,676 km of coastline. In 2020, about 6.18 million freight containers were transported.

› Airports in Greece

Back to overview: Greece

Road traffic

The network of roads and highways has a total length of 117,000 km. For each of the country's 10.64 million inhabitants, this corresponds to 10.99 meters. This puts Greece in 49th place in the global ranking. However, the country's size and population density of around 81 inhabitants per km² must also be taken into account. Countries with fewer inhabitants in the same or even larger area naturally achieve quite different values here and have to connect remote areas to the transport network despite a smaller population.

With an average of 982 traffic fatalities per year (2013 - 2019), road traffic in Greece is considered relatively safe. This corresponds to 9.1 accident fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year. By comparison, this figure is 12.3 in the USA and 17.0 worldwide.

In Greece, traffic drives on the right-hand side of the road, i.e. people drive in the right-hand lane and overtake on the left. Oncoming traffic comes toward you on the left side. This rule was introduced at the end of the 18th century during the Napoleonic Wars. Here you can also find an overview of all countries with left-hand traffic.

	total	per 1 mio inhabitants	per km²
	Greece
Roadways	117,000 km	10,994.98 km	886.63 m
Railroads	2,300 km	214.17 km	17.27 m
Waterways	6 km	0.56 km	0.05 m
Commercial harbors	1,236	116.15	0.009
Airports	38	3.57	0.288

	total	per 1 mio inhabitants	per km²
	Europe
Roadways	6,708,900 km	11,154.38 km	1,111.71 m
Railroads	258,600 km	429.97 km	42.85 m
Waterways	54,800 km	91.17 km	9.09 m
Commercial harbors	15,273	25.39	0.003
Airports	573	0.95	0.000

Data sources used

• Global Health Observatory Data Repository (World Health Organization)
• UNCTAD
• Internation Union of Railways (UIC)
• CIA Factbook
• OECD Statistics
• Wikipedia (german)

Largest airports and airlines in GreeceThe 30 biggest airports and 5 airlines in Greece with further information and data with further information on airlines and destinations

Climate and temperature development in GreeceA climate analysis for Greece incl. temperatures, humidity, rain days per month, hours of sunshine, water temperature, rainfalls

Mega cities - the biggest cities all over the worldRanking of the biggest cities worldwide. On top: Shanghai, Chongqing and Beijing