How Many Greek Islands Are There?

The short answer

There's no single number, and that's not evasion — it depends on where you draw the line between an island, an islet, and a rock sticking out of the Aegean. The three figures worth remembering:

• ~6,000
  Islands and islets in total
• ~1,200
  Large enough to be named
• ~227
  Actually inhabited

Greece has more islands than any other country in the Mediterranean, and its coastline — about 13,676 km — is the longest in the region and the eleventh longest in the world. Roughly one in seven Greeks lives on an island.

The island groups

Greeks don't think in terms of one big blob of islands. They think in groups, each with its own dialect, food, music and architecture.

• Cyclades
  ~220 islands, 24 inhabited

  Santorini, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Milos, Ios.

• Dodecanese
  12 major islands, 150+ islets

  Rhodes, Kos, Patmos, Karpathos, Symi.

• Ionian Islands
  7 principal islands

  Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Ithaca, Lefkada.

• North Aegean
  9 inhabited islands

  Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Ikaria, Limnos.

• Sporades
  4 inhabited islands

  Skiathos, Skopelos, Alonnisos, Skyros.

• Saronic Islands
  6 inhabited islands

  Hydra, Aegina, Poros, Spetses, Salamina.

• Crete
  1 island, 4 regions

  Chania, Rethymno, Heraklion, Lasithi.

The five largest Greek islands

1. 1
   Crete

   8,336 km² — bigger than every other Greek island combined region-for-region.

2. 2
   Euboea (Evia)

   3,684 km² — connected to the mainland by a bridge at Chalkida.

3. 3
   Lesbos

   1,633 km² — home of Sappho and much of Greece's ouzo.

4. 4
   Rhodes

   1,401 km² — the medieval Old Town is a UNESCO site.

5. 5
   Chios

   842 km² — the only place on earth producing mastiha.

Common questions

How many Greek islands are there?

Estimates range from about 1,200 to 6,000 depending on what counts as an island. Greece has roughly 6,000 islands and islets in total, around 1,200 landmasses large enough to be named, and only about 227 that are inhabited.

How many Greek islands are inhabited?

Around 227 Greek islands have permanent residents. Fewer than 80 have populations above 100 people, and just a handful — Crete, Euboea, Rhodes, Lesbos, Chios, Kefalonia, Corfu — hold the majority of the island population.

What is the largest Greek island?

Crete is the largest Greek island at about 8,336 km², followed by Euboea (Evia), Lesbos, Rhodes, and Chios.

What are the Greek island groups called?

The main groups are the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, the Ionian Islands, the North Aegean Islands, the Sporades, the Saronic Islands, and Crete, which stands on its own.

Which Greek island has the most visitors?

Crete and Rhodes draw the highest total visitor numbers, while Santorini and Mykonos are the most famous per square kilometre in the Cyclades.