Wikipedia

Demographics of Europe

Figures for the population of Europe vary according to the particular definition of Europe's boundaries. In 2018, Europe had a total population of over 751 million people.[1][2] 448 million of them lived in the European Union and 110 million in European Russia; Russia is the most populous country in Europe.

European countries by population in 2023
  More than 100 million
  Between 30 and 100 million
  Between 10 and 30 million
  Between 3 and 10 million
  Between 1 and 3 million
  Between 0.3 and 1 million
  Less than 0.3 million
Population growth in 2021

Europe's population growth is low, and its median age high. Most of Europe is in a mode of sub-replacement fertility, which means that each new(-born) generation is less populous than the one before.[3] Nonetheless, most West European countries still have growing populations, mainly due to immigration within Europe and from outside Europe and some due to increases in life expectancy and population momentum. Some current and past factors in European demography have included emigration, ethnic relations, economic immigration, a declining birth rate and an ageing population.

History

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Further information: World population estimates § By world region
See also: Classical demography, Demography of the Roman Empire, and Medieval demography

Prehistory

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Approximately 5,000–130,000 people lived in Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum about 20,000 years ago.[4][5]

According to Volker Heyd, an archaeologist at the University of Helsinki, up to 7 million people lived in Neolithic Europe in 3000 BCE.[6]

According to archaeologist Johannes Müller, the European population was about 1 million around 6500 BCE but increased to 8 million in 2000 BCE.[7]

Estimates of historical population sizes of Europe (including Central Asia, listed under "former USSR") based on Maddison (2007),[8] in millions, with estimated percentage of world population
Year Population
Millions % of
world total
AD 1 34 15%
1000 40 15%
1500 78 18%
1600 112 20%
1700 127 21%
1820 224 21%
1913 498 28%
2000 742 13%

Past populations of Europe in modern national borders, AD 1–2020

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Population by year (in thousands)
Country/region 1 1000 1500 1600 1700 1820 1870 1913 1950 1973 1998 2020
Austria 500[9] 700[9] 2000[9] 2500[9] 2500[9] 3369[9] 4520[9] 6767[9] 6935[9] 7586[9] 8078[9] 8901[9]
Belgium 300[9] 400[9] 1400[9] 1600[9] 2000[9] 3424[9] 5096[9] 7666[9] 8640[9] 9738[9] 10197[9] 11493[9]
Denmark 180[9] 360[9] 600[9] 650[9] 700[9] 1155[9] 1888[9] 2983[9] 4269[9] 5022[9] 5303[9] 5823[9]
Finland 20[9] 40[9] 300[9] 400[9] 400[9] 1169[9] 1754[9] 3027[9] 4009[9] 4666[9] 5153[9] 5536[9]
France 5000[9] 6500[9] 15000[9] 18500[9] 21471[9] 31246[9] 38440[9] 41463[9] 41836[9] 52118[9] 58805[9] 67287[9]
Germany 3000[9] 3500[9] 12000[9] 16000[9] 15000[9] 24905[9] 39231[9] 65058[9] 68371[9] 78956[9] 82029[9] 83191[9]
Italy 7000[9] 5000[9] 10500[9] 13100[9] 13300[9] 20176[9] 27888[9] 37248[9] 47105[9] 54751[9] 57592[9] 59258[9]
Netherlands 200[9] 300[9] 950[9] 1500[9] 1900[9] 2355[9] 3615[9] 6164[9] 10114[9] 13438[9] 15700[9] 17425[9]
Norway 100[9] 200[9] 300[9] 400[9] 500[9] 970[9] 1735[9] 2447[9] 3265[9] 3961[9] 4432[9] 5368[9]
Sweden 200[9] 400[9] 550[9] 760[9] 1260[9] 2585[9] 4164[9] 5621[9] 7015[9] 8137[9] 8851[9] 10379[9]
Switzerland 300[9] 300[9] 650[9] 1000[9] 1200[9] 1829[9] 2664[9] 3864[9] 4694[9] 6441[9] 7130[9] 8667[9]
United Kingdom 800[9] 2000[9] 3942[9] 6170[9] 8565[9] 21226[9] 31393[9] 45649[9] 50363[9] 56223[9] 59237[9] 67886[9]
Portugal 500[9] 600[9] 1000[9] 1100[9] 2000[9] 3297[9] 4353[9] 6004[9] 8512[9] 8634[9] 9968[9] 10305[9]
Spain 4500[9] 4000[9] 6800[9] 8240[9] 8770[9] 12203[9] 16201[9] 20263[9] 27868[9] 34810[9] 39371[9] 48692[9]
Greece 2000[9] 1000[9] 1000[9] 1500[9] 1500[9] 2312[9] 7554[9] 8929[9] 10835[9] 10689[9]
13 small countries 100[9] 113[9] 276[9] 358[9] 394[9] 657[9]
Total Western Europe 24700[9] 25413[9] 57268[9] 73778[9] 81460[9] 132888[9] 187532[9] 261007[9] 305060[9] 358390[9] 388399[9] 419639[9]
Albania 200[9] 200[9] 200[9] 200[9] 300[9] 437 1215[9] 2296[9] 3108[9] 2878[9]
Bulgaria 500[9] 800[9] 800[9] 1250[9] 1250[9] 2187[9] 4200[9] 7251[9] 8621[9] 8257[9] 6917[9]
Czechoslovakia 1000[9] 1250[9] 3000[9] 4500[9] 4500[9] 7190[9] 12393[9] 14563[9] 15686[9] 16366[9]
- Czech Rep. 10221[9] 8930[9] 10295[9] 10702[9]
- Slovakia 3463[9] 4642[9] 5391[9] 5460[9]
Hungary 300[9] 500[9] 1250[9] 1250[9] 1500[9] 4571[9] 9338[9] 10432[9] 10237[9] 9770[9]
Poland 450[9] 1200[9] 4000[9] 5000[9] 6000[9] 10426[9] 25753[9] 33363[9] 38666[9] 38268[9]
Romania 800[9] 800[9] 2000[9] 2000[9] 2500[9] 6389[9] 7360[9] 16311[9] 20828[9] 22503[9] 19266[9]
Yugoslavia 1500[9] 1750[9] 2250[9] 2750[9] 2750[9] 5215[9] 16578[9] 21088[9]
Eastern Europe 4750[9] 6500[9] 13500[9] 16950[9] 18800[9] 36415[9] 52182[9] 79604[9] 139428[9] 173037[9] 164513[9] 151529[9]
Former USSR 3900[9] 7100[9] 16950[9] 20700[9] 26550[9] 54765[9] 88672[9] 156192[9] 180050[9] 249748[9] 290866[9] 299173[9]
- Russia 102833[9] 132434[9] 147671[9] 146171[9]
- Ukraine 31142[9] 36905[9] 48274[9] 50370[9] 41902[9]
World 230820[9] 268273[9] 437818[9] 555828[9] 603410[9] 1041092[9] 1270014[9] 1791020[9] 2524531[9] 3913482[9] 5907680[9] 7800000[9]
(%) Percentages of world population, by year
Country/region 1 1000 1500 1600 1700 1820 1870 1913 1950 1973 1998 2018
Austria 0.2[9] 0.3[9] 0.5[9] 0.4[9] 0.4[9] 0.3[9] 0.4[9] 0.4[9] 0.3[9] 0.2[9] 0.1[9]
Belgium 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.3[9] 0.3[9] 0.3[9] 0.3[9] 0.4[9] 0.4[9] 0.3[9] 0.2[9] 0.2[9]
Denmark 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.2[9] 0.2[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9]
Finland 0.0[9] 0.0[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.2[9] 0.2[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9]
France 2.2[9] 2.4[9] 3.4[9] 3.3[9] 3.6[9] 3.0[9] 3.0[9] 2.3[9] 1.7[9] 1.3[9] 1.0[9]
Germany 1.3[9] 1.3[9] 2.7[9] 2.9[9] 2.5[9] 2.4[9] 3.1[9] 3.6[9] 2.7[9] 2.0[9] 1.4[9]
Italy 3.0[9] 1.9[9] 2.4[9] 2.4[9] 2.2[9] 1.9[9] 2.2[9] 2.1[9] 1.9[9] 1.4[9] 1.0[9]
Netherlands 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.2[9] 0.3[9] 0.3[9] 0.2[9] 0.3[9] 0.3[9] 0.4[9] 0.3[9] 0.3[9]
Norway 0.0[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9]
Sweden 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.2[9] 0.2[9] 0.3[9] 0.3[9] 0.3[9] 0.2[9] 0.1[9]
Switzerland 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.1[9] 0.2[9] 0.2[9] 0.2[9] 0.2[9] 0.2[9] 0.2[9] 0.2[9] 0.1[9]
United Kingdom 0.3[9] 0.7[9] 0.9[9] 1.1[9] 1.4[9] 2.0[9] 2.5[9] 2.5[9] 2.0[9] 1.4[9] 1.0[9]
Portugal 0.2[9] 0.2[9] 0.2[9] 0.2[9] 0.3[9] 0.3[9] 0.3[9] 0.3[9] 0.3[9] 0.2[9] 0.2[9]
Spain 1.9[9] 1.5[9] 1.6[9] 1.5[9] 1.5[9] 1.2[9] 1.3[9] 1.1[9] 1.1[9] 0.9[9] 0.7[9]
Other 0.9[9] 0.4[9] 0.3[9] 0.3[9] 0.3[9] 0.3[9] 0.4[9] 0.4[9] 0.5[9] 0.4[9] 0.3[9]
Total Western Europe 10.7[9] 9.5[9] 13.1[9] 13.3[9] 13.5[9] 12.8[9] 14.8[9] 14.6[9] 12.1[9] 9.2[9] 6.6[9]
Eastern Europe 2.1[9] 2.4[9] 3.1[9] 3.0[9] 3.1[9] 3.5[9] 4.1[9] 4.4[9] 3.5[9] 2.8[9] 2.0[9]
Former USSR 1.7[9] 2.6[9] 3.9[9] 3.7[9] 4.4[9] 5.3[9] 7.0[9] 8.7[9] 7.1[9] 6.4[9] 4.9[9]
Total Europe 14.5[9] 14.5[9] 20.1[9] 20.0[9] 21.0[9] 21.6[9] 25.9[9] 27.7[9] 22.7[9] 18.4[9] 13.5[9] 9.8[10]
World 100.0[9] 100.0[9] 100.0[9] 100.0[9] 100.0[9] 100.0[9] 100.0[9] 100.0[9] 100.0[9] 100.0[9] 100.0[9] 100.0[9]
Note: These numbers do not include the population of European countries' colonies. Only population within Europe.

Total population

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Population pyramid of Europe in 2023 based on the collective United Nations geoscheme for Europe
 
Europe population pyramid from 1950 to 2023

330,000,000 people lived in Europe in 1916.[11] In 1950 there were 549,000,000.[12] The population of Europe in 2015 was estimated to be 741 million according to the United Nations,[12] which was slightly less than 11% of the world population. The precise figure depends on the exact definition of the geographic extent of Europe. The population of the European Union (EU) was 509 million as of 2015.[13] Non-EU countries situated in Europe in their entirety[14] account for another 90 million. Five transcontinental countries[15] have a total of 247 million people, of which about half reside in Europe proper.

As it stands now, around 10% of the world's people live in Europe. If demographic trends keep their pace, its share may fall to around 7% in 2050, but still amounting to 716 million people in absolute numbers, according to the United Nations estimate.[12] (The decline in the percentage is partly due to high fertility rates in Africa and South America.) The sub-replacement fertility and high life expectancy in most European states mean a declining and aging population. High immigration and emigration levels within and from outside the continent are taking place and quickly changing countries, specifically in Western Europe, from a single ethnic group to a multicultural society. These trends can change societies' economies as well as their political and social institutions. [how?][citation needed]

Vital statistics

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Birth and death rates, by year[16]
Year Average
population 		Live births Deaths Natural
change 		Crude rates (per 1000) Total
fertility
rate 		Life
expectancy
Births Deaths Natural
change 		Migration
change
1950 549,721,718 12,202,220 6,473,233 5,728,987 22.2 11.8 10.4 -1.6 2.70 62.8
1951 554,559,502 12,112,425 6,609,794 5,502,631 21.8 11.9 9.9 -0.8 2.66 62.8
1952 559,609,904 12,142,368 6,265,135 5,877,233 21.7 11.2 10.5 -0.8 2.66 64.0
1953 565,058,633 12,120,826 6,220,937 5,899,889 21.5 11.0 10.4 -0.5 2.64 64.7
1954 570,670,994 12,151,779 6,072,645 6,079,134 21.3 10.6 10.7 -0.8 2.64 65.5
1955 576,304,974 12,134,270 5,987,151 6,147,119 21.1 10.4 10.7 -0.9 2.63 66.0
1956 581,975,516 12,133,583 5,899,594 6,233,989 20.8 10.1 10.7 -0.8 2.62 66.9
1957 587,711,635 12,194,100 5,963,269 6,230,831 20.7 10.1 10.6 -0.5 2.62 66.9
1958 593,669,297 12,177,600 5,647,571 6,530,029 20.5 9.5 11.0 -0.9 2.60 68.2
1959 599,684,870 12,178,245 5,816,056 6,362,189 20.3 9.7 10.6 -0.7 2.60 68.1
1960 605,629,870 12,098,378 5,783,828 6,314,550 20.0 9.6 10.4 -0.4 2.58 68.8
1961 611,711,020 11,990,399 5,749,292 6,241,107 19.6 9.4 10.2 -0.5 2.56 69.1
1962 617,672,206 11,784,056 6,023,706 5,760,350 19.1 9.8 9.3 -0.1 2.53 68.9
1963 623,335,994 11,654,646 6,031,219 5,623,427 18.7 9.7 9.0 0 2.52 69.2
1964 628,944,878 11,467,618 5,843,514 5,624,104 18.2 9.3 8.9 -0.4 2.50 69.9
1965 634,267,606 11,141,596 6,058,752 5,082,844 17.6 9.6 8.0 -0.1 2.45 69.8
1966 639,264,461 10,950,076 6,074,808 4,875,268 17.1 9.5 7.6 0 2.42 70.0
1967 644,114,436 10,969,039 6,204,646 4,764,393 17.0 9.6 7.4 -0.4 2.42 70.0
1968 648,610,191 10,821,004 6,427,622 4,393,382 16.7 9.9 6.8 -0.4 2.38 69.9
1969 652,740,596 10,685,498 6,652,543 4,032,955 16.4 10.2 6.2 -0.4 2.33 69.6
1970 656,521,426 10,568,071 6,602,177 3,965,894 16.1 10.1 6.0 0 2.28 70.0
1971 660,476,010 10,662,541 6,675,051 3,987,490 16.1 10.1 6.0 0.5 2.27 70.1
1972 664,799,679 10,499,844 6,699,913 3,799,931 15.8 10.1 5.7 0.5 2.21 70.3
1973 668,909,022 10,322,172 6,814,598 3,507,574 15.4 10.2 5.2 0.8 2.14 70.4
1974 672,912,941 10,406,013 6,818,259 3,587,754 15.5 10.1 5.3 0.4 2.13 70.6
1975 676,770,845 10,285,047 7,009,188 3,275,859 15.2 10.4 4.8 0.5 2.07 70.5
1976 680,361,150 10,242,399 7,085,837 3,156,562 15.1 10.4 4.6 0.5 2.03 70.6
1977 683,848,710 10,171,264 7,039,667 3,131,597 14.9 10.3 4.6 0.2 1.99 70.9
1978 687,149,553 10,143,418 7,183,531 2,959,887 14.8 10.5 4.3 0.3 1.96 70.9
1979 690,287,705 10,159,933 7,268,744 2,891,189 14.7 10.5 4.2 0.4 1.95 71.0
1980 693,437,228 10,156,371 7,422,720 2,733,651 14.6 10.7 3.9 0.4 1.93 70.9
1981 696,429,190 10,053,030 7,404,116 2,648,914 14.4 10.6 3.8 0.2 1.89 71.2
1982 699,220,370 10,102,647 7,373,734 2,728,913 14.4 10.5 3.9 0.1 1.89 71.5
1983 702,014,774 10,078,184 7,562,097 2,516,087 14.4 10.8 3.6 0.4 1.87 71.5
1984 704,798,623 10,050,688 7,584,914 2,465,774 14.3 10.8 3.5 0.4 1.86 71.6
1985 707,516,287 9,969,920 7,702,883 2,267,037 14.1 10.9 3.2 0.9 1.84 71.7
1986 710,385,076 9,987,274 7,423,641 2,563,633 14.1 10.5 3.6 0.7 1.84 72.5
1987 713,465,338 9,966,304 7,407,417 2,558,887 14.0 10.4 3.6 0.6 1.84 72.7
1988 716,444,431 9,840,567 7,475,880 2,364,687 13.7 10.4 3.3 0.4 1.82 72.8
1989 719,107,883 9,495,117 7,527,904 1,967,213 13.2 10.5 2.7 0.6 1.76 72.9
1990 721,497,282 9,235,425 7,681,197 1,554,228 12.8 10.6 2.2 0.7 1.72 72.9
1991 723,602,898 8,888,909 7,796,555 1,092,354 12.3 10.8 1.5 0.8 1.66 72.9
1992 725,259,493 8,523,515 7,935,829 587,686 11.8 10.9 0.8 0.8 1.60 72.7
1993 726,441,892 8,138,793 8,412,609 -273,816 11.2 11.6 -0.4 1.4 1.53 72.1
1994 727,063,162 7,913,453 8,492,472 -579,019 10.9 11.7 -0.8 1.1 1.50 72.1
1995 727,300,408 7,663,831 8,553,348 -889,517 10.5 11.8 -1.2 1.4 1.46 72.2
1996 727,453,566 7,581,575 8,394,631 -813,056 10.4 11.5 -1.1 1.3 1.45 72.7
1997 727,566,480 7,476,674 8,240,385 -763,711 10.3 11.3 -1.0 0.8 1.43 73.2
1998 727,445,606 7,369,527 8,193,143 -823,616 10.1 11.3 -1.1 0.6 1.42 73.6
1999 727,100,016 7,264,382 8,402,774 -1,138,392 10.0 11.6 -1.6 1.4 1.40 73.4
2000 726,968,473 7,325,763 8,401,888 -1,076,125 10.1 11.6 -1.5 1.4 1.42 73.5
2001 726,878,371 7,277,594 8,364,598 -1,087,004 10.0 11.5 -1.5 1.6 1.41 73.8
2002 726,939,358 7,330,526 8,520,890 -1,190,364 10.1 11.7 -1.6 2.3 1.42 73.8
2003 727,424,988 7,442,475 8,655,471 -1,212,996 10.2 11.9 -1.7 2.7 1.45 73.8
2004 728,163,243 7,558,652 8,381,363 -822,711 10.4 11.5 -1.1 2.2 1.47 74.4
2005 728,950,486 7,568,637 8,494,391 -925,754 10.4 11.7 -1.3 2.5 1.47 74.5
2006 729,857,708 7,703,029 8,237,212 -534,183 10.6 11.3 -0.7 2.8 1.50 75.2
2007 731,393,136 7,886,129 8,187,820 -301,691 10.8 11.2 -0.4 2.9 1.54 75.6
2008 733,256,182 8,169,398 8,195,293 -25,895 11.1 11.2 0.0 2.2 1.59 75.8
2009 734,902,805 8,208,268 8,099,043 109,225 11.2 11.0 0.1 1.8 1.60 76.3
2010 736,276,813 8,227,484 8,128,387 99,097 11.2 11.0 0.1 1.7 1.61 76.5
2011 737,589,666 8,132,980 7,958,960 174,020 11.0 10.8 0.2 1.6 1.60 77.1
2012 738,907,594 8,178,804 8,078,292 100,512 11.1 10.9 0.1 1.4 1.62 77.3
2013 740,013,806 8,039,791 8,033,963 5,828 10.9 10.9 0.0 1.4 1.60 77.6
2014 741,014,147 8,067,454 7,955,740 111,714 10.9 10.7 0.2 1.3 1.62 77.9
2015 742,107,449 8,004,465 8,177,599 -173,134 10.8 11.0 -0.2 1.8 1.62 78.0
2016 743,318,582 7,950,684 8,009,194 -58,510 10.7 10.8 -0.1 1.6 1.62 78.4
2017 744,449,361 7,617,755 8,076,159 -458,404 10.2 10.8 -0.6 1.8 1.56 78.7
2018 745,359,130 7,375,157 8,112,356 -737,199 9.9 10.9 -1.0 2.1 1.53 78.8
2019 746,189,645 7,108,392 8,020,246 -911,854 9.5 10.7 -1.2 1.2 1.49 79.1
2020 746,225,356 6,938,739 9,119,281 -2,180,542 9.3 12.2 -2.9 1.5 1.47 77.7
2021 745,173,774 6,879,818 9,656,398 -2,776,580 9.2 13.0 -3.7 1.48 77.0
2022 746,964,593 6,520,637 8,811,692 -2,291,055 8.7 11.8 -3.1 1.41 78.2
2023 745,602,875 6,337,695 8,293,264 -1,955,569 8.5 11.1 -2.6 1.40 79.1

Population by country

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Population density in the European Union and the EFTA countries, along with candidate countries (2017)
Further information: List of European countries by life expectancy

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.

Population and area of European countries/territories
Country (or territory) Population
[1][2] 		Area
(km2)[17] 		Density
(per km2)
  Albania * 2,854,710 28,748 99
  Andorra * 79,034 468 169
  Armenia * 2,790,974 29,743 94
  Austria * 8,922,082 83,871 106
  Azerbaijan * 10,312,992 86,600 119
  Belarus * 9,578,167 207,600 46
  Belgium * 11,611,419 30,528 380
  Bosnia and Herzegovina * 3,270,943 51,209 64
  Bulgaria * 6,520,314 110,900 59
  Croatia * 4,060,135 56,594 72
  Cyprus * 1,244,188 9,251 134
  Czech Republic * 10,510,751 78,866 133
  Denmark * 5,854,240 43,094 136
  Estonia * 1,328,701 45,227 29
  Faroe Islands * (Denmark) 49,709 1,399 35.6
  Finland * 5,535,992 336,852 16
  France * 64,531,444 551,500 117
  Georgia * 3,757,980 69,700 54
  Germany * 83,408,554 357,137 234
  Gibraltar * (UK) 32,669 6 5,445
  Greece * 10,445,365 131,957 79
  Guernsey *[d] 65,345 63 1,037
  Hungary * 9,709,786 93,026 104
  Iceland * 370,335 103,000 4
  Ireland * 4,986,526 69,825 71
  Isle of Man *[d] 84,263 572 147
  Italy * 59,240,329 301,339 197
  Jersey *[d] 97,857 116 844
  Kosovo **[p] 1,859,203 10,887 171
  Latvia * 1,873,919 64,562 29
  Liechtenstein * 39,039 160 244
  Lithuania * 2,786,651 65,300 43
  Luxembourg * 639,321 2,586 247
  Malta * 526,748 316 1,667
  Moldova * 3,061,506 33,846 90
  Monaco * 36,686 2 18,343
  Montenegro * 627,859 13,812 45
  Netherlands * 17,501,696 37,354 469
  North Macedonia * 2,103,330 25,713 82
  Norway * 5,403,021 323,787 17
  Poland * 38,307,726 311,888 123
  Portugal *[f] 10,290,103 92,212 112
  Romania * 19,328,560 238,391 81
  Russia * 145,102,755 17,098,246 8
  San Marino * 33,745 61 553
  Serbia *[g] 7,296,769 88,361 83
  Slovakia * 5,447,622 49,036 111
  Slovenia * 2,119,410 20,273 105
  Spain * 47,486,935 505,992 94
  Svalbard and Jan Mayen (Norway) 2,868 62,422 0
  Sweden * 10,467,097 450,295 23
  Switzerland * 8,691,406 41,285 211
  Transnistria * 505,000 4,163 121.3
  Turkey * 84,775,404 783,562 108
  Ukraine * 43,531,422 603,500 72
  United Kingdom * 67,281,039 242,495 277
  Vatican City * 842 0.4 1,913.6
  Åland (Finland) 28,666 1,580 18

* indicates link goes to article on demographics of the country (or territory), not just the country itself.

Age

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Life expectancy in Europe in 2021
Main article: Aging of Europe

Mirroring their mostly sub-replacement fertility and high life expectancy, European countries tend to have older populations overall. They had nine of the top ten highest median ages in national populations in 2005. Only Japan had an older population.[18]

Population pyramids by country (mostly 2020 and 2023 unless stated otherwise)
Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City excluded due to lack of graphic

Fertility

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According to Eurostat, the average birth rate in the European Union was 1.5 children per woman in 2020. The EU countries with the highest rates were France (1.83 live births per woman), Romania (1.80) and Czechia (1.71). The lowest rates were found in Malta (1.13), Spain (1.19) and Italy (1.24).[19]

The reasons that Italian citizens give for not having children are economic costs, fear of losing their jobs, and lack of services for families.[20]

Eurostat says that the proportion of children born to foreign mothers, including both from other EU member states and from non-EU countries, has been increasing in the EU since 2013 and stood at 21% in 2020.[19]

Religion

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Main article: Religion in Europe
Further information: Christianity in Europe and Islam in Europe

Over the last several centuries, religious practice has been on the decline in a process of secularization. Several European countries have experienced a decline in church attendance as well as a decline in the number of people professing a religious belief. The 2010 Eurobarometer survey found that, on average, 51% of the citizens of the European Union that they believe there is a God, 26% believe there is some sort of spirit or life force and 20% don't believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force. 3% declined to answer.[21] The Eurobarometer survey 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 that over 70% of the population regarded themselves as "Christians" with only 15% professing to have no religion, though the wording of the question has been criticized as "misleading" by the British Humanist Association.[22] The 2011 census showed a dramatic reduction to less than 60% of the population regarding themselves as "Christians".[23]

Despite its decline, Christianity is still the largest religion in Europe. According to a survey published in 2010, 76.2% of Europeans identified themselves as Christians.[24][25] Catholics were the largest Christian group in Europe, accounting for more than 48% of European Christians.[26] The second-largest Christian group in Europe was the Orthodox, who made up 32% of European Christians.[26] And about 19% of European Christians were part of the Protestant tradition. Europe constitutes in absolute terms the world's largest Christian population.[27] According to Scholars, in 2017, Europe's population was 77.8% Christian (up from 74.9% 1970),[28][29] these changes were largely result of the collapse of Communism and switching to Christianity in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries.[28]

According to a 2003 study,[30] 47% of French people declared themselves as agnostics in 2003. This situation is often called "Post-Christian Europe". A decrease in religiousness and church attendance in western Europe (especially in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden) has been noted. According to a survey published in 2012, atheists and agnostics make up about 18.2% of the European population.[31] According to the same survey the religiously unaffiliated make up the majority of the population only in two European countries: Czech Republic (75%) and Estonia (60%).[31]

According to another survey about Religiosity in the European Union from 2012 by Eurobarometer, Christianity was the largest religion in the Union (accounting for 72% of the total population), Catholics were with 48% the largest Christian group in the Union, Protestants made up 12%, Eastern Orthodox made up 8% and other Christians accounted for 4% of the total population.[32] non-believers/agnostics accounted for 16%, atheists accounted for 7% and Muslims accounted for 2%.[33]

Ethnic groups

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Main article: Ethnic groups in Europe
Further information: White people and Immigration to Europe

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 Siberia)[34]

The largest ethnic groups are the Russians, with 117 million, and 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 Scots, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, Bretons, Catalans, and Basques, making it difficult to quantify a "British" or "French" ethnicity, for example.

There are an estimated 10 million Romani people in Europe.[35]

Language

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Main article: Languages of Europe
Further information on statistics in EU: Languages of the European Union § Knowledge
 
Map of Europe showing the major languages

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, Armenian and Greek. The Uralic languages, which include Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Udmurt, Mordvin and Sami also have a significant presence in Europe. The Turkic family also has several European members, while the North Caucasian and Kartvelian families which include Georgian, Circassian, Chechen and Abkhaz anong others 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, although Arabic, Hebrew and Neo-Aramaic dialects are spoken by migrant populations. The Kalmyk language, is a Mongolic language, spoken in Kalmykia, located directly north of the North Caucasus in Eastern Europe. The most spoken language of Europe is Russian, which belongs to the group of Slavic languages.

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, Frisian in the Netherlands, as well as languages spoken by relatively few such as Cornish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic in the United Kingdom, and Romansch in Switzerland.

Genetic origins

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Main article: Genetic history of Europe
See also: Caucasian race
 
Bronze Age spread of Yamnaya Steppe pastoralist ancestry. The Yamnaya culture is identified with the late Proto-Indo-Europeans.

Homo sapiens appeared in Europe roughly 40,000 years ago, with the settlement of the Cro-Magnons, followed by European hunter-gatherers and Early European Farmers (EEF). Over the prehistoric period there was continuous settlement in Europe, notably by the immediate descendants of the Proto-Indo-Europeans who migrated west after the advent of the Neolithic Revolution.[37]

Mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome DNA

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Studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have suggested substantial genetic homogeneity of European populations,[38] with only a few geographic or linguistic isolates appearing to be genetic isolates as well.[39] On the other hand, analyses of the Y chromosome[40][41] and of autosomal diversity[42] have shown a general gradient of genetic similarity running from the southeast to the northwest of the continent.

Autosomal DNA

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Population genomic PCA map, showing Europeans (CEU) among other sampled Eurasian populations[43]

According to geneticist David Reich, based on ancient human genomes that his laboratory sequenced in 2016, Europeans formed from four West-Eurasian ancestral components in varying degrees: Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHG), Eastern Hunter-Gatherers (EHG), Neolithic Levant farmers and Neolithic Iranian farmers respectively.[44]

Population structure

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A study in May 2009[45] 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:

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 – Yoruba (West Africans) 0.1530; Europeans – Chinese 0.1100; Yoruba (West Africans) – Chinese 0.1900.[45]: Table S2 

See also

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Notes

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^ 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 in the Bailiwick of Guernsey include Alderney and Sark.
^ e: Cyprus is physiographically entirely in Western Asia, but 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

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