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 740 million in 2010 according to the United Nations.^[1] In 2010 the population was 711 million, using the definition 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. 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.

Total population

In 2010 the population of Europe was estimated to be 740 million according to the United Nations,^[1] which was slightly less 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^[2] account for another 94 million. Five transcontinental countries^[3] have a total of 240 million people, of which about half reside in Europe proper.

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, hitting over 1% annually.^[4]

Population by country

Modern political map (2006).

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 regiona[›] and territory, with flag	Area (km2)	Population (1 December 2014 est.)	Population density (per km2)	Capital
Albania	28,748	3,020,209	105.1	Tirana
Andorra	468	85,082	181.8	Andorra la Vella
Armenia	29,743	3,018,854 (in Asia)	101.5	Yerevan
Austria	83,879	8,504,850	101.4	Vienna
Azerbaijan	86,600	9,494,600 (nearly all in Asia)	109.6	Baku
Belarus	207,595	9,475,100	45.6	Minsk
Belgium	30,528	11,198,638	366.8	Brussels
Bosnia and Herzegovina	51,197	3,871,643	75.6	Sarajevo
Bulgaria	110,994	7,364,570	66.4	Sofia
Croatia	56,594	4,284,889	75.7	Zagreb
Cypruse[›]	9,251	1,117,000	120.7	Nicosia
Czech Republic	78,866	10,513,209	133.3	Prague
Denmark	42,916	5,655,750	131.8	Copenhagen
Estonia	45,227	1,315,819	29.1	Tallinn
Faroe Islands (Denmark)	1,399	49,709	35.6	Tórshavn
Finland	338,424	5,470,820	16.2	Helsinki
Franceh[›]	551,695	63,929,000	115.8	Paris
Georgiam[›]	69,700	4,935,880 (mostly in Asia)	70.8	Tbilisi
Germany	357,168	80,716,000	226.0	Berlin
Gibraltar (UK)	6.8	30,001	4,348.0	Gibraltar
Greece	131,957	10,816,286	82.0	Athens
Greenland (Denmark)	2,166,086	56,968	0.026	Nuuk
Guernseyd[›]	78	65,345	837.8	St. Peter Port
Hungary	93,030	9,877,365	106.2	Budapest
Iceland	103,001	325,671	3.2	Reykjavík
Ireland	70,273	4,609,600	65.6	Dublin
Isle of Mand[›]	572	84,497	147.8	Douglas
Italy	301,338	60,782,668	201.7	Rome
Jerseyd[›]	118	97,857	827.9	Saint Helier
Kosovop[›]	10,908	1,859,203	170.4	Pristina
Latvia	64,589	1,990,300	30.8	Riga
Liechtenstein	160	37,132	232.1	Vaduz
Lithuania	65,300	2,944,459	45.1	Vilnius
Luxembourg	2,586	549,680	212.6	Luxembourg
Republic of Macedonia	25,713	2,058,539	80.1	Skopje
Malta	316	446,547	1,413.1	Valletta
Moldovab[›]	33,846	3,557,600	105.1	Chişinău
Monaco	2.02	36,371	18,005.4	Monaco
Montenegro	13,812	647,905	46.9	Podgorica
Netherlands	41,543	16,856,620	405.8	Amsterdam
Norway	385,178	5,136,700	13.3	Oslo
Poland	312,679	38,483,957	123.1	Warsaw
Portugalf[›]	92,212	10,427,301	113.1	Lisbon
Romania	238,391	19,942,642	83.7	Bucharest
Russiac[›]	17,075,400 (3,960,000 in European Russia)	143,700,000 (110,000,000 in European Russia)[5]	8.3 (27.8 in European Russia)	Moscow
San Marino	61.2	32,576	532.3	San Marino
Serbiag[›]	88,361	7,209,764	81.6	Belgrade
Slovakia	49,035	5,415,949	110.5	Bratislava
Slovenia	20,273	2,061,085	101.7	Ljubljana
Spain	504,645	46,704,314	92.6	Madrid
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (Norway)	62,049	2,868	0.046	Longyearbyen
Sweden	449,964	9,716,962	21.6	Stockholm
Switzerland	41,285	8,183,800	198.2	Bern
Turkey	783,562	76,667,864 (nearly 80% in Asia)	97.8	Ankara
Ukraine	603,628	44,291,413	73.4	Kiev
United Kingdom	243,610	64,100,000	263.1	London
Vatican City	0.44	842	1,913.6	Vatican City
Total	10,180,000o[›]	742,452,000o[›]	72.9
Åland (within Finland)	1,580	28,666	18.1	Mariehamn

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.^[6]

Religion

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 2010 found that, on average, 51% of the citizens of EU member states state that they believe in a god, 26% believe there is some sort of spirit or life Force while 20% do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god or Life Force, and 3% declined to answer.^[7] 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.^[8] The 2011 census showed a dramatic reduction to less than 60% of the population regarding themselves as "Christian".^[9]

Despite of the decline Christianity still the largest religion in Europe, according to a survey published in 2011, 76.2% of Europeans considered themselves Christian.^[10][11]

According to a 2003 study,^[12] 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, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden) has been noted. According to a survey published in 2012 agnostic and atheist make up about 18.2% of Europeans population.^[13] According to the same survey religiously unaffiliated make up a majority of the population only in two European countries: Czech Republic (75%) and Estonia (60%).^[14]

According to another poll about Religiosity in the European Union from 2012 by Eurobarometer, Christianity was the largest religion in the European Union (account 72% of EU population), Catholics were with 48% the largest Christian group in EU, Protestants made up 12%, and Eastern Orthodoxs made up 8%, and Other Christians accounted for 4% of the EU population.^[15] Non believer/Agnostic account 16%, Atheist account's 7%, and Muslim 2%.^[16]

Ethnic groups

Pan and Pfeil (2004) count 87 distinct "peoples of Europe", of which 33 form the majority population in at least one sovereign state, while the remaining 54 constitute ethnic minorities. The total number of national minority populations in Europe is estimated at 105 million people, or 14% of 770 million Europeans. (including Europeans in Asian Russia)^[17]

The largest ethnic groups are the Russians, of whom 92 million reside in Europe, the Germans, with 72 million. In some countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Spain, the designation of nationality may controversially take on ethnic aspects, subsuming smaller ethnic groups such as Welsh, Bretons and Basques, making it difficult to quantify a "British" or "French" ethnicity, for example.

Approximately 20 million non-Europeans live in the EU, 4% of the overall population.^[18]

Overview map of the peoples of Europe Size and geographic distribution of the 87 peoples of Europe, according to Pan & Pfeil (2003).[19] Font size reflects population size (groups smaller than 2 million not to scale) Groups not shown due to lack of geographic concentration: Romani (3.8 million), Jews (1.3 million), Karaim (4,600). Small Caucasian groups (<0.2 million) not shown in map: Circassians, 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 Galicians iards Catalans Swedes Turks Ukrainians English Scots Welsh 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 Kazakhs Kalmyks Karelians Vepsians Izhorians Romansh Kashubs Bretons Cornish Aromanians Lux. Sorbs Kumyks Gagauz Inuit

Language

Most of the languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. This family is divided into a number of branches, including Romance, Germanic, Baltic, Slavic, Albanian, Celtic and Greek. The Uralic languages, which include Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian, also have a significant presence in Europe. The Turkic and Mongolic families also have several European members, while the North Caucasian and Kartvelian families are important in the southeastern extremity of geographical Europe. The Basque language of the western Pyrenees is an isolate unrelated to any other group, while Maltese is the only Semitic language in Europe with national language status.

The European Union (EU), which currently excludes many European countries (i.e. Norway, Russia and Switzerland), recognises 23 official languages as of 2007.^[20] According to the same source, the eight most natively spoken languages in the EU are (percentage of total EU population^[21]):

1. 19% German
2. 13% French
3. 12% English
4. 11% Italian
5. 9% Polish
6. 9% Spanish
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:^[22]

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.

Languages that are not official state languages are protected in many European countries by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. These can include languages spoken by relatively many people, such as Catalan and Basque in Spain, as well as languages spoken by relatively few such as Welsh, Cornish and Scottish Gaelic in the United Kingdom.

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 by the immediate descendents of the Proto-Indo-Europeans who migrated west after the advent of the Neolithic revolution.^[23]

MtDna and Y-Dna

Studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have suggested substantial genetic homogeneity of European populations,^[24] with only a few geographic or linguistic isolates appearing to be genetic isolates as well.^[25] On the other hand, analyses of the Y chromosome ^[26][27] and of autosomal diversity ^[28] 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 study in May 2009 ^[29] that examined 19 populations from Europe using 270,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) highlighted the genetic diversity of European populations corresponding to the northwest to southeast gradient and distinguished "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.^[30]

See also

• Area and population of European countries
• Classical demography
• European diasporas
• European Union statistics
• Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits
• Largest urban areas of the European Union
• List of European countries by population growth rate
• List of metropolitan areas in Europe
• Medieval demography

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.

References

External links

• Eurostat - Population and population change statistics
• Eurostat - Population projections