Korydallos

One of the main suburbs of metropolitan Athens, the city of Korydallos is located in the Attica region of southern Greece. The city of Athens is 7km away and the port of Piraeus just 3km. Its population is estimated at 64,000 inhabitants, according to the 2011 census. Shops, restaurants and cafés provide the main economic activity within the city limits. It also houses a maximum security prison.

Korydallos’ social and economic situation is inevitably tied to that of Athens, one of the most densely populated areas in Europe (1,540 inhabitants/km²). Nearly half of the Greek population lives in Athens’ Larger Urban Zone, more than 4 million people. Athens is a major regional transport hub for air traffic, rail, roads and ships. The city has many institutions of higher education, a major centre of archaeological research and a world-renowned tourist centre. Its wealth of culture includes ancient monuments, world-class museums, large contemporary exhibition spaces, art galleries, and numerous cultural events. A large part of the town’s historic centre has been converted into a three-kilometre pedestrian zone—the largest in Europe—leading to the major archaeological sites.

Athens, as with the rest of Greece, has also been facing a severe economic crisis and austerity measures. In the Municipality of Athens, average annual income per capita dropped from €24,048 in 2008 to €18,600 in 2011 and continues to decline. Unemployment in Greece as a whole has eased slightly since reaching a peak in September 2013, but it is still over 26%—more than twice the Eurozone average.