Cypriots are, by reputation and in practice, an unusually hospitable people. Visitors are made to feel at home quickly, and the first expression of that is almost always something offered to eat or drink — a Cypriot coffee, or a glyko tou koutaliou, the spoon sweet of fruit or nuts preserved in syrup that is kept in the house specifically for guests.
The communities of the island
Cyprus has never been a single community. The census taken at independence in 1960 recorded Greek Cypriots at 77 per cent of the population and Turkish Cypriots at 18.3 per cent, alongside long-established Armenian, Maronite and Latin (Roman Catholic) communities. Those smaller communities are still present and still distinct.
Since the division of the island the distribution has changed considerably, with movement of population in both directions, and the two main communities have developed largely separately.
Language in practice
The official languages are Greek and Turkish. The Greek spoken here is a strong dialect — roughly 15 per cent of its vocabulary is particular to Cyprus and will be unfamiliar even to mainland Greek speakers.
For a visitor this rarely matters. English is very widely spoken, and you can expect to be served in English in restaurants, shops and hotels across the island without any difficulty. The Maronite community additionally speaks Cypriot Maronite Arabic, and there are Armenian and Romani speakers.
Where people live
The population of the government-controlled areas stands at about 983,000 (2024), concentrated heavily in the two largest districts: Lefkosia (Nicosia) at roughly 369,400 and Lemesos (Limassol) at 280,300, followed by Larnaka at 165,500, Pafos at 108,900 and Ammochostos at 58,900.
Those figures come from the Cyprus statistical service and are broken down further, including how they have moved over time, on our Cyprus population statistics page.
Meeting people
Hospitality here is practical rather than ceremonial. It shows up as being fed, being given directions at length, and being asked where you are from. In the villages this is more pronounced than in the cities, and it is one of the reasons the rural interior rewards a slow visit — see Cyprus villages for where to start.
The other reliable meeting point is the table. A meze is not a menu choice so much as a social arrangement: a long sequence of small dishes, shared, over a couple of hours. If you are invited to one, accept.
More on Cypriot culture
Language, literature, religion, education and the wider cultural picture are covered on our Cyprus culture page, and the food itself under Cypriot cuisine.
