Ionian islands

Photo : D.R.

This administrative region covers 32 islands (only 13 are inhabited) includ-ing 6 of the 7 main Ionian islands. Cephalonia (the biggest), Corfu, Ithaka, Leucadia, Paxos and Zante (the island of Cytherea is attached to the region of Attica and more specifically to Piraeus). The other inhabited islands are Antipaxos, Erikoussa, Kalamos, Kastos, Mathraki, Meganissi and Othoni.
All these islands form an archipelago situated to the southwest of Albania, to the west of Epirus and to the northwest of the Peloponnese. Despite being part of a country hard hit by the financial crisis with a resulting rise in the rate of unemployment, the Ionian islands’ third place in the European ranking of regions where employment is increasing comes as a welcome surprise. Although the last industries present in the archipelago are fighting to survive, tourism – the region’s most important resource by far – is looking healthy. This is also the case for cottage industries, not only for objects made for tourists, but also for local food industry products. The share of the service sector in the employment basin is constantly increasing (62%), but the primary sector is holding its own (20%) whilst the secondary is steadily unravelling (18%). Irrespective of sector, most companies are SME-SMIs and VSEs. Besides their own assets (tourist sites, strategic location, skilled labour, etc.), the Ionian islands, like all of western Greece and the Peloponnese, are benefiting from an operational program for the period 2007 – 2013 under the Convergence objective. The public authorities are allocating it a budget of 1.14 billion euros and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is contributing aid amounting to 914 million euros.
Out of the 10 priorities on the program, 3 concern the Ionian islands: infrastructure and accessibility work (improvements to the road network, better access to the ports and airports to facilitate the links between each island and the continent), digital convergence and corporate spirit (aid for the SMEs to help them master new technologies), sustainable development and quality of life (rational use of water, rehabilitation of polluted areas, cultural and educational initiatives, etc.).

Population: 228 572
Surface area: 2 307 km2
Employment: 3,8% (Percentage increase in employment rate in 2008)