The region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace was established in the 1987 administrative reform as theEastern Macedonia and Thrace Region (Greek:Περιφέρεια Ανατολικής Μακεδονίας και Θράκης,romanized: Periféria Anatolikís Makedhonías ke Thrákis. With the 2010Kallikratis plan, its powers and authority were redefined and extended, with the preexisting region in many respects inheriting status and weight of the five now abolishedprefectures,Drama,Evros,Kavala,Rhodope andXanthi.
In this special case, the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace also succeeds the intermediate structure of the twosuper-prefectures ofDrama-Kavala-Xanthi and ofRhodope-Evros into which the five prefectures had been grouped since 1994.
The capital of the region isKomotini, which by population is the fourth largest city, followingAlexandroupolis,Kavala andXanthi. The region is divided into theMacedonianregional units ofDrama,Kavala andThasos and theThracian regional units ofXanthi,Rhodope andEvros, 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.
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 isChristodoulos Topsidis [el], who took office on 1 January 2024.
The region is home to Greece's mainMuslim minority, made up mainly ofPomaks andWestern Thrace Turks, whose presence dates to the Ottoman period. Unlike the Muslims ofMacedonia,Epirus, and elsewhere innorthern Greece, they were exempted from theGreek-Turkish population exchange following the 1923Treaty of Lausanne. According to the 1991 census, the Muslim minority numbered around 98,000 people or 29% of the population ofWestern Thrace, of which about half were Western Thrace Turks and the rest (35%) Pomaks and MuslimRomani people (15%).[4] In the 2014 European elections in Greece, 42,533 people from Eastern Macedonia and Thrace voted for theParty 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-eraGreek Muslims, such as theVallahades ofWestern 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]
TheGross 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 theEU average. Eastern Macedonia and Thrace is the region inGreece with the second lowest GDP per capita and one of the poorest regions in the EU.[5]
