Population density in Europe and the surrounding region in 2005 — (legend)

Population growth/decline of European countries for the year 2006.

Figures for the population of Europe vary according to which definition of European boundaries is used. The population within the standard physical geographical boundaries was 825 million in 2005 according the United Nations. In 2009 the population is 831.4 million, using a definition which includes the whole of the transcontinental countries of Russia and Turkey. Population growth is comparatively slow, and median age comparatively high in relation to the world's other continents.

Since the Renaissance, Europe has had a dominating influence in culture, economics and social movements in the world. European demography is important not only historically, but also in understanding current international relations and population issues.

Some current and past issues in European demography have included religious emigration, race relations, economic immigration, a declining birth rate and an ageing population. In some countries, such as Poland, access to abortion is currently limited and entirely illegal in Ireland and the Mediterranean nation of Malta. In the past, such restrictions and also restrictions on artificial birth control were commonplace throughout Europe. Furthermore, some European countries (currently Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland) have allowed a limited form of voluntary euthanasia. It remains to be seen how much demographic impact this may have.

[edit] Total population

In 2009 the population of Europe was estimated to be 830.4 million according to the United Nations,^[1] which was slightly more than 13% of world population. The precise figure depends on the exact definition of the geographic extent of Europe. The population of the EU was 499 million as of 2008. Non-EU countries situated in Europe in their entirety^[2] account for another 94 million. Five trans-continental countries^[3] have a total of 240 million people, of which about half reside in Europe proper.

A century ago, Europe was home to 25% of the world's population. While the population of the continent has grown, it hasn't come close to the pace of Asia or Africa. As it stands now, around 12% of the world's people live on this continent, but if demographic trends keep their pace, Europe's share may fall to around 7% in 2050. Declining birth rates (primarily in Eastern and Roman Catholic Europe) and a high life expectancy in most European states means that the aging and declining population will be a problem for many European economies, political and social institutions.

Death rates in the Eastern Bloc have fallen dramatically over the last decade, especially in Russia. It has been predicted with better living standards, a more vibrant economy and better social institutions, that Russia, (whose population fell from 147 million in 1991 to 142 million in 2009) may start to stabilize and grow in the next couple years. Northern and Western Europe have generally stronger growth than their Southern and Eastern counterparts. Turkey, Albania and Ireland have strong growth, all hitting 1%.

[edit] Population by country

Modern political map (2006).

"European countries" according to the EU.^[4]

Council of Europe nations.

Regional grouping according to the UN.

According to different definitions, such as consideration of the concept of Central Europe, the following territories and regions may be subject to various other categorisations.

Name of regiona[›] and territory, with flag	Area (km²)	Population (1 July, 2002 est.)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Åland (Finland)	1,551	26,008	16.8	Mariehamn
Albania	28,748	3,600,523	125.2	Tirana
Andorra	468	82,403	146.2	Andorra la Vella
Austria	83,858	8,469,929	97.4	Vienna
Armeniak[›]	29,800	3,029,900	101	Yerevan
Azerbaijanl[›]	86,600	8,521,000	97	Baku
Belarus	207,600	9,735,382	49.8	Minsk
Belgium	30,510	10,574,595	336.8	Brussels
Bosnia and Herzegovina	51,129	4,048,500	77.5	Sarajevo
Bulgaria	110,910	7,621,337	68.7	Sofia
Croatia	56,542	4,637,460	77.7	Zagreb
Cypruse[›]	9,251	863,457	85	Nicosia
Czech Republic	78,866	10,256,760	130.1	Prague
Denmark	43,094	5,568,854	124.6	Copenhagen
Estonia	45,226	1,315,681	31.3	Tallinn
Faroe Islands (Denmark)	1,399	46,011	32.9	Tórshavn
Finland	336,593	5,357,537	15.3	Helsinki
Franceh[›]	547,030	65,165,983	109.3	Paris
Georgiam[›]	69,700	4,461,473	64	Tbilisi
Germany	357,021	82,551,851	233.2	Berlin
Gibraltar (UK)	5.9	27,714	4,697.3	Gibraltar
Greece	131,940	11,245,343	80.7	Athens
Guernseyd[›]	78	64,587	828.0	St. Peter Port
Hungary	93,030	10,075,034	108.3	Budapest
Iceland	103,000	304,261	2.7	Reykjavík
Ireland	70,280	4,434,925	60.3	Dublin
Isle of Mand[›]	572	73,873	129.1	Douglas
Italy	301,230	60,051,711	191.6	Rome
Jerseyd[›]	116	89,775	773.9	Saint Helier
Latvia	64,589	2,366,515	36.6	Riga
Liechtenstein	160	35,322	205.3	Vaduz
Lithuania	65,200	3,401,138	55.2	Vilnius
Luxembourg	2,586	472,569	173.5	Luxembourg
Republic of Macedonia	25,333	2,054,800	81.1	Skopje
Malta	316	408,009	1,257.9	Valletta
Moldovab[›]	33,843	3,834,547	131.0	Chişinău
Monaco	1.95	32,087	16,403.6	Monaco
Montenegro	13,812	598,258	44.6	Podgorica
Netherlandsi[›]	41,526	16,518,199	393.0	Amsterdam
Norway	324,220	4,725,116	14.0	Oslo
Poland	312,685	38,125,478	123.5	Warsaw
Portugalf[›]	91,568	10,709,995	110.1	Lisbon
Romania	238,391	21,398,181	91.0	Bucharest
Russiac[›]	17,075,400	141,800,000	26.8	Moscow
San Marino	61	31,730	454.6	San Marino
Serbiag[›]	88,361	9,963,742	109.4	Belgrade
Slovakia	48,845	5,422,366	111.0	Bratislava
Slovenia	20,273	2,012,917	95.3	Ljubljana
Spain	504,851	46,061,274	89.3	Madrid
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (Norway)	62,049	2,868	0.046	Longyearbyen
Sweden	449,964	9,290,113	19.7	Stockholm
Switzerland	41,290	7,507,000	176.8	Bern
Turkeyn[›]	783,562	75,886,256	93	Ankara
Ukraine	603,700	45,996,470	80.2	Kiev
United Kingdom	244,820	61,600,835	244.2	London
Vatican City	0.44	900	2,045.5	Vatican City
Total	10,180,000o[›]	830,364,178o[›]	70

[edit] Age

Perhaps mirroring its declining population growth, European countries tend to have older populations overall. European countries had nine of the top ten highest median ages in national populations in 2005. Only Japan had an older population.^[5]

[edit] Religion

Predominant religions in Europe      Roman Catholicism      Orthodox Christianity      Protestantism      Sunni Islam      Shia Islam      Judaism      Buddhism

Today, theism is losing prevalence in Europe in favour of atheism, and religion is losing prevalence in favour of secularism. European countries have experienced a decline in church attendance, as well as a decline in the number of people professing a belief in a god. The Eurobarometer Poll 2005found that, on average, 52% of the citizens of EU member states state that they believe in a god, 27% believe there is some sort of spirit or life Force while 18% do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god or Life Force, and 3% declined to answer. According to a recent study (Dogan, Mattei, Religious Beliefs in Europe: Factors of Accelerated Decline), 47% of Frenchmen declared themselves as agnostic in 2003. This situation is often called "Post-Christian Europe".

A decrease in religiousness and church attendance in western Europe (especially Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden) has been noted, but there is an increase in Eastern Europe, especially in Greece and Romania (2% in 1 year). The Eurobarometer poll must be taken with caution, however, as there are discrepancies between it and national census results. For example in the United Kingdom, the 2001 census revealed over 70% of the population regarded themselves as "Christian" with only 15% professing to have "no religion", though the wording of the question has been criticized as "leading" by the British Humanist Association.^[6]

[edit] Ethnic groups

The largest ethnic groups of Europe are the Russians (with some 90 million settling in the European parts of Russia), followed by the Germans (80 million), French (65 million), British (61 million), Italians (60 million), Ukrainians (45 million) , Spanish (44 million) and the Poles (40 million). The smallest ethnic group in Europe are the Maltese: Malta has a population of 419,285 and 95.3%^[7] is ethnically Maltese.

Non-European immigrant groups (Middle Eastern, African, Asian etc.) account for about 3% to 4% of the European population or 22 to 30 million people.

v • d • e Overview map of the peoples of Europe Size and geographic distribution of the 87 peoples of Europe according to Pan & Pfeil (2004).[8] Font size reflects population size (groups smaller than 2 million not to scale) Groups not shown due to lack of geographic concentration: Roma (3.8 million), Jews (1.3 million), Karaim (4,600). Small Caucasian groups (<0.2 million) not shown in map: Cherkes, Karachays, Lak, Tabasarans, Balkars, Nogais, Rutuls, Tats, Tsakhurs. Albanians Belarusians Bulgarians Croats Czechs Danes Finns French Occitans Ger ma ns Greeks Hungarians Irish Ita     li         ans Tatars Lithuanians Dutch Norwegians Poles Portu guese Romanians Russians Serbs Slovaks Span iards Catalans Swedes Turks Ukrainians Brit ons Scots Welsh Sardinians Basques Slovenes Macedonians Bosniaks Montenegrins Faroese Sami Icelanders Manx Maltese Latvians Livs Estonians Frisians Chuvash Bashkirs Chechens Avars Dargins Kabards Lezgins Mordvins Ingush Ossetians Udmurts Komi Permyaks Mari Komi Kalmyks Karelians Veps Izhorians Romansh Kashubs Bretons Cornish Aromanians Lux. Sorbs Kumyks Gagauz Inuit

[edit] Language

Europe has 30-40 major languages depending on definition. The European Union (EU), which currently excludes Norway, Switzerland and many eastern European countries, recognises 23 official languages as of 2007.^[9] According to the same source, the eight most natively spoken languages in the EU are (percentage of total European population^[10]):

Simplified linguistic map within the Council of Europe nations

1. 19% German
2. 13% French
3. 12% English
4. 11% Italian
5. 9% Spanish
6. 9% Polish
7. 6% Romanian
8. 5% Dutch

These figures change slightly when foreign language skills are taken into account. The list below shows the top eight European languages ordered by total number of speakers in the EU:^[11]

1. 49% English
2. 35% German
3. 13% French
4. 16% Italian
5. 15% Spanish
6. 10% Polish
7. 7% Russian
8. 6% Dutch

This makes German the most frequently spoken native language and English the most frequently spoken non-native language overall in the European Union, with German the second-most common language overall.

[edit] Foreign language skills

Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark, Malta, Sweden, Slovenia, Belgium, Lithuania and Finland are the EU countries with the most foreign language skills. This refers to all foreign languages. English is spoken most frequently in the UK, Ireland, Malta, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands. The largest countries in Europe have the following percentages of English language skills: 44% Germany, 32% France, 28% Italy, 22% Poland, 18% Spain. The countries with the least foreign language skills are the UK, Ireland, Italy and Spain.^{[12] [13]}

[edit] Extinct and endangered languages

Many languages have become extinct in Europe and the process is continuing. Languages that are already rated as extinct by the UNESCO Red Book include Old Prussian and Cornish. Nearly extinct and seriously endangered languages include several Sami, Frisian, Tsakonian and Breton.^[14]

[edit] Genetic origins

Homo sapiens appeared in Europe roughly 40,000 years ago, with the settlement of the Cro-magnons. Over the prehistoric period there was continual immigration to Europe, notably with the neolithic revolution.^[15]

The vast majority of Europe’s inhabitants are of the European (or Caucasoid) geographic race, characterized by white or lightly pigmented skin, variability in eye and hair colour, and a number of biochemical similarities. ^[16]

[edit] MtDna and Y-Dna

Studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have suggested substantial genetic homogeneity of European populations ^[17], with only a few geographic or linguistic isolates appearing to be genetic isolates as well ^[18]. On the other hand, analyses of the Y chromosome ^{[19] [20]} and of autosomal diversity ^[21] have shown a general gradient of genetic similarity running from the southeast to the northwest of the continent.

But, well-known areas with Mt-Dna and Y-Dna differences, discovered by grouping and tracking prehistorical genotype migrations, are in Iberia, in relation to the Basques of northern Spain and southwest France; and the Balkans of southeast Europe. Both were areas of refuge where early modern humans settled over 50,000 years ago, during the last ice age.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Population structure

A very recent study in May 2009 ^[22] that studied 19 populations from Europe using 270,000 SNPs highlighted the genetic diversity of European populations corresponding to the northwest to southeast gradient and distinguished "four several distinct regions" within Europe:

• Finland, in relation to the Saami.
• the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), western Russia and eastern Poland.
• Central and Western Europe.
• Italy, South-Eastern Europe, Southern Russia.

In this study, Fst (Fixation index) was found to correlate considerably with geographic distances ranging from ≤0.0010 for neighbouring populations to 0.0230 for Southern Italy and Finland. For comparisons, pair-wise Fst of non-European samples were as follows: Europeans – Africans (Yoruba) 0.1530; Europeans – Chinese 0.1100; Africans (Yoruba) – Chinese 0.1900 ^[23].

[edit] See also

• Demographics of the European Union
• Area and population of European countries
• European Union Statistics
• Largest European metropolitan areas
• Largest urban areas of the European Union
• Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits
• Genetic history of Europe
• Classical demography
• Medieval demography
• Ethnic groups in Europe
• European diasporas

[edit] Notes

^ a: Continental regions as per UN categorisations/map. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below may be in one or both of Europe and Asia, or Africa.
^ b: Includes Transnistria, a region that has declared, and de facto achieved, independence; however, it is not recognised de jure by sovereign states.
^ c: Russia is considered a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. However the population and area figures include the entire state.
^ d: Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey are Crown dependencies of the United Kingdom. Other Channel Islands legislated by the Bailiwick of Guernsey include Alderney and Sark.
^ e: Cyprus is sometimes considered transcontinental country. Physiographically entirely in Western Asia it has strong historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe. The population and area figures refer to the entire state, including the de facto independent part Northern Cyprus.
^ f: Figures for Portugal include the Azores and Madeira archipelagos, both in Northern Atlantic.
^ g: Figures for Serbia include Kosovo, a province that unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008, and whose sovereign status is unclear.
^ h: Figures for France include only metropolitan France: some politically integral parts of France are geographically located outside Europe.
^ i: Netherlands population for July 2004. Population and area details include European portion only: Netherlands and two entities outside Europe (Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles, in the Caribbean) constitute the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Amsterdam is the official capital, while The Hague is the administrative seat.
^ j: Kazakhstan is physiographically considered a transcontinental country in Central Asia (UN region) and Eastern Europe, with European territory west of the Ural Mountains and both the Ural and Emba rivers. However, area and population figures refer to the entire country.
^ k: Armenia is physiographically entirely in Western Asia, but it has strong historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe. The population and area figures include the entire state respectively.
^ l: Azerbaijan is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia. However the population and area figures are for the entire state. This includes the exclave of Nakhchivan and the region Nagorno-Karabakh that has declared, and de facto achieved, independence. Nevertheless, it is not recognised de jure by sovereign states.
^ m: Georgia is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Eastern Europe. However, the population and area figures include the entire state. This also includes Georgian estimates for Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two regions that have declared and de facto achieved independence. The International recognition, however, is limited.
^ n: Turkey is physiographically considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Eastern Europe. However the population and area figures include the entire state, both the European and Asian portions.
^ o: The total figures for area and population include only European portions of transcontinental countries.^{[citation needed]} The precision of these figure is compromised by the ambiguous geographical extend of Europe and the lack of references for European portions of transcontinental countries.
^ p: Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008. Its sovereign status is unclear. Its population is a 2007 estimate.
^ r: Abkhazia and South Ossetia unilaterally declared their independence from Georgia on 25 August 1990 and 28 November 1991 respectively. Their sovereign status is unclear. Population figures stated as of 2003 census and 2000 estimates respectively.

[edit] References

[edit] External links