View source for Prefectures of Greece

{{Short description|Former administrative division of Greece}}
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Until the [[Kallikratis reform]] in 2010, the '''prefectures''' ({{langx|el|νομοί}} {{IPA|el|noˈmi|}}, {{singular}} {{lang|el|νομός}} {{IPA|el|noˈmos̠|}}) were the second-level administrative regions of [[Greece]]. They are now defunct, and have been approximately replaced by [[regional units of Greece|regional units]].<ref name=Kallikratis>{{cite web|url=https://www.kodiko.gr/nomothesia/document/132966/nomos-3852-2010|title=Law 3852/2010 (Kallikratis reform)|language=el|access-date=2024-04-01|archive-date=2024-04-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240401181332/https://www.kodiko.gr/nomothesia/document/132966/nomos-3852-2010|url-status=live}}</ref>

They are called [[department (country subdivision)|department]]s in [[ISO 3166-2:GR]] and by the [[United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names]].<ref>[[United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names]]: ''Administrative Division of Greece'' (Working Paper N° 95), New York 2000, ([https://lesnapolana.edu.pl/l/working-paper-95.pdf PDF]  1,3 MB)]</ref>

The prefectures were the second-degree organization of local government, grouped into 13 [[modern regions of Greece|regions]] or (before 1987) 10 [[Traditional geographic divisions of Greece|geographical departments]], and in turn divided into [[provinces of Greece|provinces]] and comprising a number of [[Communities and Municipalities of Greece|communities and municipalities]]. The prefectures became self-governing entities in 1994, when the first prefectural-level elections took place. The prefects were previously appointed by the government. By 2010, their number had risen to 51, of which one, the [[Attica Prefecture]], where more than a third of the country's population resided, was further subdivided into four prefecture-level administrations (νομαρχίες, sing. νομαρχία). In addition, there were three [[Super-prefectures of Greece|super-prefectures]] (υπερνομαρχίες, sing. υπερνομαρχία) controlling two or more prefectures. 

With the Kallikratis reform, which entered into force on 1 January 2011, the prefectures were abolished. Many, especially in the mainland and in Crete, were retained in the form of ''[[regional units of Greece|regional units]]'' (περιφερειακές ενότητες) within the empowered regions, which largely took over the prefectures' administrative role.<ref name=Kallikratis/>

== Organization ==
The "Prefectural Self-Governments" were formed in 1994<ref>Law 2218/1994</ref> and replaced the previous prefectures, whose councils and prefects were appointed by the government.

Prefectures were governed by a Prefectural Council (νομαρχιακό συμβούλιο) made up of 21 to 37 members,<ref>Articles 13 and 14 of the "Code of Prefectural Self-Government" (Presidential Decree 30/1996)</ref> led by the Prefect (νομάρχης) and presided by a Council President (πρόεδρος).

Other organs of the prefectures were:
* The Prefectural Committee, consisted of the Prefect or an assistant appointed by him and 4 to 6 members, elected by the Prefectural Council.<ref>Article 15 of the Code of Prefectural Self-Government</ref>
* The [[Provinces of Greece|Provincial Council]] and
* The [[Provinces of Greece|Eparchos]] (Sub-prefect/eparch, έπαρχος).

[[Super-prefectures of Greece|Super-prefectures]] had their own organs (Council, Committee and Super-prefect).

Prefectural councillors were elected via public election every four years. Three-fifths of all seats went to the combination winning a majority and two-fifths of the seats going to remaining parties based on a proportional system. Prefect became the president of the victorious electoral combination. Victorious is a combination which attains more than 42% in the first round of the prefectural elections. If no combination passes this threshold, a second round takes place between the two combinations that took the most votes in the first round.<ref>According to the legislative reform of 2006 (Law 3463/2006). See also the circular 12 of the Ministry of Interior Affairs about the upcoming local elections.</ref>

== Duties ==
The State ultimately oversaw the actions of local governments, including the prefectures, but the [[Constitution of Greece]]<ref>Article 102 of the Constitution</ref> and the Code of Prefectural Self-Government<ref>Articles 1 and 8 of the Code of Prefectural Self-Government</ref> still provided communities and municipalities with legal control over the administration of their designated areas.

The Code of Prefectural Self-Government did not include a non-restrictive list of prefectural duties, but a general rule, according to which the newly formed Prefectural Self-Governments had all the duties of the previous prefectures, which are related to their local affairs.<ref>About the meaning of local affairs see the Decision 888/1997 of the [[Council of State (Greece)|Council of State]].</ref> Nonetheless, the affairs of "(central) state administration" belonging to the prefects before 1994 are now exerted by the Presidents of the Regions (περιφερειάρχης).<ref>Articles 3 and 8 of the Code of Prefectural Self-Government</ref> The Prefectural Self-Governments kept the "local affairs of prefectureal level" not belonging to the "(central) state administration".<ref>See the Decision 3441/1998 of the Council of State.</ref>

With certain laws specific affairs of certain ministries were transferred to the Prefectural Self-Governments (sanitary committees, urban-planning services etc.).<ref>See the Law 2647/1998 for instance.</ref>

== List of prefectures ==
[[Image:GreekPrefecturesNumbered.png|350px|thumb|right|The prefectures of Greece]]
[[Image:Prefectures of Attica.png|thumb|right|350px|Division of Attica (labelled 1 in the map above): 1 [[Athens Prefecture|Athens]], 2 [[East Attica]], 3 [[Piraeus Prefecture|Piraeus]], 4 [[West Attica]].]]

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Number<br>in map||Prefecture||Area<br>(km<sup>2</sup>)||Population<br>(2001)||Population<br>density<br>(/km<sup>2</sup>)||Region
|-
|46||[[Aetolia-Acarnania]]||5460.888||224,429||41.10||[[Western Greece]]
|-
|42||[[Larissa Prefecture|Larissa]]||5380.943||279,305||51.91||[[Thessaly]]
|-
|24||[[Ioannina Prefecture|Ioannina]]||4990.416||170,239||34.11||[[Epirus (region)|Epirus]]
|-
|5||[[Phthiotis]]||4440.765||178,771||40.26||[[Central Greece (administrative region)|Central Greece]]
|-
|34||[[Arcadia (regional unit)|Arcadia]]||4418.736||102,035||23.09||[[Peloponnese (region)|Peloponnese]]
|-
|19||[[Evros Prefecture|Evros]]||4241.615||149,354||35.21||[[Eastern Macedonia and Thrace]]
|-
|2||[[Euboea]]||4167.449||215,136||51.62||[[Central Greece (administrative region)|Central Greece]]
|-
|12||[[Serres Prefecture|Serres]]||3967.744||200,916||50.64||[[Central Macedonia]]
|-
|13||[[Thessaloniki Prefecture|Thessaloniki]]||3682.736||1,057,825||287.24||[[Central Macedonia]]
|-
|37||[[Laconia]]||3636.058||99,637||27.40||[[Peloponnese (region)|Peloponnese]]
|-
|51||[[Kozani Prefecture|Kozani]]||3515.853||155,324||44.18||[[Western Macedonia]]
|-
|18||[[Drama Prefecture|Drama]]||3468.293||103,975||29.98||[[Eastern Macedonia and Thrace]]
|-
|44||[[Trikala Prefecture|Trikala]]||3383.477||138,047||40.80||[[Thessaly]]
|-
|45||[[Achaea]]||3271.507||322,789||98.67||[[Western Greece]]
|-
|38||[[Messenia]]||2990.901||176,876||59.14||[[Peloponnese (region)|Peloponnese]]
|-
|6||[[Boeotia]]||2951.622||131,085||44.41||[[Central Greece (administrative region)|Central Greece]]
|-
|7||[[Chalkidiki]]||2917.877||104,894||35.95||[[Central Macedonia]]
|-
|40||[[Dodecanese]]||2714.295||190,071||70.03||[[South Aegean]]
|-
|15||[[Heraklion Prefecture|Heraklion]]||2641.220||292,489||110.74||[[Crete]]
|-
|43||[[Magnesia Prefecture|Magnesia]]||2636.272||206,995||78.52||[[Thessaly]]
|-
|41||[[Karditsa Prefecture|Karditsa]]||2635.954||129,541||49.14||[[Thessaly]]
|-
|47||[[Elis Prefecture|Elis]]||2617.776||193,288||73.84||[[Western Greece]]
|-
|39||[[Cyclades]]||2571.691||112,615||43.79||[[South Aegean]]
|-
|21||[[Rhodope Prefecture|Rhodope]]||2543.145||110,828||43.58||[[Eastern Macedonia and Thrace]]
|-
|9||[[Kilkis Prefecture|Kilkis]]||2518.880||89,056||35.36||[[Central Macedonia]]
|-
|10||[[Pella Prefecture|Pella]]||2505.774||145,797||58.18||[[Central Macedonia]]
|-
|14||[[Chania Prefecture|Chania]]||2375.849||150,387||63.30||[[Crete]]
|-
|49||[[Grevena Prefecture|Grevena]]||2290.856||37,947||16.56||[[Western Macedonia]]
|-
|36||[[Corinthia]]||2289.952||154,624||67.52||[[Peloponnese (region)|Peloponnese]]
|-
|35||[[Argolis]]||2154.309||105,770||49.10||[[Peloponnese (region)|Peloponnese]]
|-
|32||[[Lesbos Prefecture|Lesbos]]||2153.727||109,118||50.66||[[North Aegean]]
|-
|4||[[Phocis]]||2120.564||48,284||22.77||[[Central Greece (administrative region)|Central Greece]]
|-
|20||[[Kavala Prefecture|Kavala]]||2111.705||144,850||68.59||[[Eastern Macedonia and Thrace]]
|-
|48||[[Florina Prefecture|Florina]]||1924.564||54,768||28.46||[[Western Macedonia]]
|-
|3||[[Evrytania]]||1868.911||32,053||17.15||[[Central Greece (administrative region)|Central Greece]]
|-
|16||[[Lasithi]]||1822.764||76,319||41.87||[[Crete]]
|-
|22||[[Xanthi Prefecture|Xanthi]]||1792.992||101,856||56.81||[[Eastern Macedonia and Thrace]]
|-
|50||[[Kastoria Prefecture|Kastoria]]||1720.133||53,483||31.09||[[Western Macedonia]]
|-
|8||[[Imathia]]||1700.810||143,618||84.44||[[Central Macedonia]]
|-
|23||[[Arta Prefecture|Arta]]||1662.210||78,134||47.01||[[Epirus (region)|Epirus]]
|-
|11||[[Pieria (prefecture)|Pieria]]||1516.702||129,846||85.61||[[Central Macedonia]]
|-
|26||[[Thesprotia]]||1514.653||46,091||30.43||[[Epirus (region)|Epirus]]
|-
|1-2||[[East Attica]]||1512.993||403,918||266.97||[[Attica (region)|Attica]]
|-
|17||[[Rethymno Prefecture|Rethymno]]||1496.047||81,936||54.77||[[Crete]]
|-
|25||[[Preveza Prefecture|Preveza]]||1035.938||59,356||57.30||[[Epirus (region)|Epirus]]
|-
|1-4||[[West Attica]]||1004.007||151,612||151.01||[[Attica (region)|Attica]]
|-
|1-3||[[Piraeus Prefecture|Piraeus]]||929.382||541,504||582.65||[[Attica (region)|Attica]]
|-
|28||[[Cephalonia Prefecture|Cephalonia]]||904.387||39,488||43.66||[[Ionian Islands]]
|-
|31||[[Chios Prefecture|Chios]]||904.227||53,408||59.06||[[North Aegean]]
|-
|33||[[Samos Prefecture|Samos]]||777.945||43,595||56.04||[[North Aegean]]
|-
|27||[[Corfu Prefecture|Corfu (Kerkyra)]]||641.057||111,975||174.67||[[Ionian Islands]]
|-
|30||[[Zakynthos]]||405.550||39,015||96.20||[[Ionian Islands]]
|-
|1-1||[[Athens Prefecture]]||361.719||2,664,776||7,366.98||[[Attica (region)|Attica]]
|-
|29||[[Lefkada]]||355.936||22,506||63.23||[[Ionian Islands]]
|-
|a||[[Monastic community of Mount Athos|Mount Athos]]<ref>Mount Athos is not a prefecture, but has been listed for completeness.</ref>||335.637||2,262||6.74||—
|}

==History==
The following prefectures have been part of the Greek state since independence:
{|
|
* [[Attica Prefecture|Attica]]
* [[Boeotia Prefecture|Boeotia]]
* [[Phthiotis Prefecture]]
* [[Phocis Prefecture]]
* [[Evrytania Prefecture]]
* [[Euboea Prefecture]]
* [[Aetolia-Acarnania Prefecture]]
* [[Cyclades Prefecture]]
|
* [[Corinthia Prefecture]]
* [[Argolis Prefecture]]
* [[Arcadia Prefecture]]
* [[Laconia Prefecture]]
* [[Messinia Prefecture]]
* [[Achaea Prefecture]]
* [[Elis Prefecture|Elis]]
|}

Notes:
# Many of the prefectures were originally combined in pairs:
## [[Attica Prefecture|Attica]] and [[Boeotia Prefecture|Boeotia]] formed the [[Attica and Boeotia Prefecture]]
## [[Phthiotis Prefecture]] and [[Phocis Prefecture]] formed the [[Phthiotis and Phocis Prefecture]] (in 1833–1836 the [[Phocis and Locris Prefecture]])
## [[Corinthia Prefecture]] and [[Argolis Prefecture]] formed [[Argolis and Corinthia Prefecture]]
## [[Achaea Prefecture]] and [[Elis Prefecture]] formed the [[Achaea and Elis Prefecture]]
# [[Aetolia-Acarnania]] originally also included Evrytania. Unlike the rest mentioned above, the prefecture never broke up into two prefectures, thus being the only one left with a composite appellation.
# Messenia originally included the southern half of what is now Elis.
# Laconia originally included the southern-eastern half of what is now Messinia.
# Euboea originally included the [[Sporades]], which now belong to Magnesia.
# The territory of [[Phthiotis Prefecture]] did not originally include the [[Domokos Province]], which was part of [[Thessaly]] (under Ottoman rule until 1881). The area currently constituting the [[Domokos Province]] of the [[Fthiotis Prefecture]] only became a part of the Greek state in general, and of Phthiotis in particular, after the annexation of Thessaly to Greece in 1881.
# [[Arcadia Prefecture]] and the [[Cyclades Prefecture]] are the only prefectures to have their borders unchanged since independence.
# The capital of [[Argolis Prefecture]], [[Nafplion]] was the first capital of the modern Greek state (1828–1834), before the move of the capital to [[Athens]] by King [[Otto of Greece|Otto]].

There were several short-lived prefectures in areas of present [[Albania]] and [[Turkey]], during the Greek occupation of those areas during [[World War I]] and the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)]] respectively:

* [[Argyrokastron Prefecture|Argyrokastron]] (1915–1916), in [[Northern Epirus]] (southern [[Albania]])
* [[Korytsa Prefecture|Korytsa]] (1915–1916), in [[Northern Epirus]] (southern [[Albania]])
* [[Adrianople Prefecture|Adrianople]] (1920–1922), in [[Eastern Thrace]] (European [[Turkey]])
* [[Kallipolis Prefecture|Kallipolis]] (1920–1922), in [[Eastern Thrace]] (European [[Turkey]])
* [[Rhaedestos Prefecture|Rhaedestos]] (1920–1922), in [[Eastern Thrace]] (European [[Turkey]])
* [[Saranta Ekklisies Prefecture|Saranta Ekklisies]] (1920–1922), in [[Eastern Thrace]] (European [[Turkey]])

== See also ==
* [[ISO 3166-2:GR]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commonscat|Prefectures of Greece}}
* {{webarchive |date=2012-12-04 |url=https://archive.today/20121204184311/http://www.world-gazetteer.com/s/s_gr.htm |title=Map of Greece}}
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Nomarchy|short=x}}

{{Prefectures of Greece}}
{{Greek terms for country subdivisions}}

[[Category:Prefectures of Greece| ]]
[[Category:Former subdivisions of Greece]]
[[Category:Lists of subdivisions of Greece|Prefectures]]