Demographics of Europe

Distribution of population in the EU and EFTA countries, including candidate countries (2007)

  < 50 inhabitants per km²

  50 to 100 inhab. per km²

  100 to 150 inhab. per km²

  150 to 300 inhab. per km²

  300 to 1000 inhab. per km²

  > 1000 inhab. per km²

  no data available

Population growth and decline in Europe

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 731 million in 2005 according to the United Nations. In 2010 the population is 711 million, using the definition which has been used for centuries, that Europe's boundaries are on the continental divides of the Caucasus and Ural mountains and the Bosporous, including the populated parts of countries of Russia, and a portion of Turkey, with tiny parts of Georgia and Azerbaijan. 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, ethnic relations, economic immigration, a declining birth rate and an ageing population. In some countries, such as Poland, access to abortion is currently limited and it is entirely illegal in 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.

Total population

In 2007 the population of Europe was estimated to be 731 million according to the United Nations, which was slightly more than 11% 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 account for another 94 million. Five transcontinental countries 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 (particularly in Germany) 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. Countries on the edges of Europe except for Southern Europe have generally stronger growth than Central European counterparts. Albania (Although in Southern Europe) and Ireland have strong growth, all hitting 1%.

Population by country

Modern political map (2006).

"European countries" according to the EU.

Council of Europe nations, with founding nations in yellow.

Regional grouping according to the UN.

  Northern Europe

  Western Europe

       Eastern Europe
       Southern Europe
             Asian portions of European countries

  Non-European countries

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 aside from geographic conventions.

Name of region and territory, with flag	Area (km2)	Population (1 July 2010 est.)	Population density (per km2)	Capital
Albania	28,748	2,994,667	125.2	Tirana
Andorra	468	82,403	146.2	Andorra la Vella
Armenia	29,743	3,262,000 (in Asia)	108.4	Yerevan
Austria	83,858	8,414,638	100.3	Vienna
Azerbaijan	86,600	9,165,000 (nearly all in Asia)	105.8	Baku
Belarus	207,600	9,503,807	49.8	Minsk
Belgium	30,510	11,007,020	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
Cyprus	9,251	863,457 (in Asia)	85.0	Nicosia
Czech Republic	78,866	10,535,811	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
France	551,695	63,460,000	115.0	Paris
Georgia	69,700	4,461,473 (mostly in Asia)	64.0	Tbilisi
Germany	357,021	81,757,600	233.2	Berlin
Gibraltar (UK)	5.9	27,714	4,697.3	Gibraltar
Greece	131,940	11,645,343	80.7	Athens
Greenland (Denmark)	2,166,086	56,452	0.027	Nuuk
Guernsey	78	66,587	828.0	St. Peter Port
Hungary	93,030	9,979,000	108.3	Budapest
Iceland	103,000	304,261	2.7	Reykjavík
Ireland	70,280	4,434,925	60.3	Dublin
Isle of Man	572	80,873	129.1	Douglas
Italy	301,230	60,418,711	191.6	Rome
Jersey	116	89,775	773.9	Saint Helier
Kosovo	10,908	1,733,872	159.0	Pristina
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	25,713	2,054,800	81.1	Skopje
Malta	316	408,009	1,257.9	Valletta
Moldova	33,843	3,834,547	131.0	Chişinău
Monaco	1.95	32,087	16,403.6	Monaco
Montenegro	13,812	672,180	44.6	Podgorica
Netherlands	41,526	16,696,700	393.0	Amsterdam
Norway	324,220	4,930,116	14.0	Oslo
Poland	312,685	38,192,000	123.5	Warsaw
Portugal	91,568	10,607,995	110.1	Lisbon
Romania	238,391	19,042,936	80.0	Bucharest
Russia	17,075,400 3,960,000 in European Russia	142,905,208 (110,000,000 in European Russia)	8.3 27.8 in European Russia	Moscow
San Marino	61	31,730	454.6	San Marino
Serbia	88,361	7,345,000	94.8	Belgrade
Slovakia	48,845	5,422,366	111.0	Bratislava
Slovenia	20,273	2,012,917	95.3	Ljubljana
Spain	504,851	47,150,800	89.3	Madrid
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (Norway)	62,049	2,868	0.046	Longyearbyen
Sweden	449,964	9,360,113	19.7	Stockholm
Switzerland	41,290	7,785,000	176.8	Bern
Turkey	744,820	73,722,988 (10,920,000 in Europe)	98.9	Ankara
Ukraine	603,628	45,939,820	76.0	Kiev
United Kingdom	244,820	62,041,708	244.2	London
Vatican City	0.44	900	2,045.5	Vatican City
Total	10,180,000	711,064,145	69.85
Åland (within Finland)	1,551	26,008	16.8	Mariehamn

Age

Main article: Aging of Europe

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.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Europe

Further information: Christianity in Europe and Islam in Europe

Over the last several decades, religious practice has been on the decline in a process of "Secularization." 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 2005 found 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, 47% of Frenchmen declared themselves as agnostic in 2003. This situation is often called "Post-Christian Europe". Despite the declining numbers, Christianity remains the dominant religion in Europe, and a study by the Pew Research Center's found that 76.2% of the Europe population considering themselves Christians,

A decrease in religiousness and church attendance in western Europe (especially Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden) has been noted. 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.

Ethnic groups

Main article: Ethnic groups in Europe

Further information: Immigration to Europe

The largest ethnic groups of Europe are the Russians with 105 million (in European Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States, and Western Europe), followed by the Germans (80 million), Turkish (68 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% is ethnically Maltese.

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

Language

Main article: Languages of Europe

Europe has 30-40 major languages depending on definition.

The European Union (EU), which currently excludes many European countries (i.e. Norway, Russia and Switzerland), recognises 23 official languages as of 2007. According to the same source, the eight most natively spoken languages in the EU are (percentage of total EU population):

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

These figures change 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:

1. 49% English
2. 35% German
3. 26% 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.

Foreign language skills

Luxembourg, Romania, the Netherlands, Denmark, Iceland, Malta, Sweden, Slovenia, Belgium, Lithuania and Finland are the European countries with the most foreign language skills. This refers to all foreign languages. English is spoken most frequently in the UK, Ireland, Malta, Sweden, Iceland, 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 (although it should be noted Irish is the main second language taught in schools, although this is not a foreign language), Italy and Spain.

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.

Genetic origins

Main article: Genetic history of Europe

Further information: White people and Caucasoid

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 by the immediate descendents of the Proto-Indo-Europeans who migrated west after the advent of the Neolithic revolution.

MtDna and Y-Dna

Studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have suggested substantial genetic homogeneity of European populations, with only a few geographic or linguistic isolates appearing to be genetic isolates as well. On the other hand, analyses of the Y chromosome and of autosomal diversity 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.

Population structure

A very recent study in May 2009 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 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.

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
• List of European countries by population growth rate
• Genetic history of Europe
• Classical demography
• Medieval demography
• Ethnic groups in Europe
• European diasporas

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: Area figure for Serbia includes Kosovo, a province that unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008, and whose sovereign status is unclear. Population and density figures are 2010 estimates and are given without the disputed territory of Kosovo.
^ h: Figures for France include metropolitan France but not overseas departments and territories as they are not part of the European continent.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ o: The total figures for area and population includes the whole of the transcontinental countries. 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.

External links

• 10 Million Europeans - Will Europe's population collapse?
• Eurostat - Population and population change statistics
• Eurostat - Population projections