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 857 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. Contents 1 Total population 2 Population by country 3 Age 4 Religion 5 Ethnic groups 6 Language 6.1 Foreign language skills 6.2 Extinct and endangered languages 7 Genetic origins 7.1 MtDna and Y-Dna 7.2 Population structure 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 External links Total population In 2009 the population of Europe was estimated to be 852.4 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 entirety2 account for another 94 million. Five transcontinental countries3 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. Northern and Western Europe have generally stronger growth than their Southern and Eastern counterparts. Turkey, Albania and Ireland have strong growth, all hitting 1%. Population by country Modern political map (2006). "European countries" according to the EU.4 Council of Europe nations, with founding nations marked. 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. See also: List of European countries by population Name of regiona[›] and territory, with flag Area (km²) Population (1 July 2010 est.) Population density (per km²) Capital Åland (within 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 Armenia 29,800 3,299,000 108.4 Yerevan Austria 83,858 8,470,929 97.4 Vienna 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 65,447,374 109.3 Paris Georgiam[›] 69,700 4,461,473 64 Tbilisi Germany 357,021 81,757,600 233.2 Berlin Gibraltar (UK) 5.9 27,714 4,697.3 Gibraltar Greece 131,940 11,245,343 80.7 Athens Greenland (Denmark) 2,166,086 56,452 0.027 Nuuk Guernseyd[›] 78 66,587 828.0 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 80,873 129.1 Douglas Italy 301,230 60,418,711 191.6 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 13,812 672,180 44.6 Podgorica Netherlandsi[›] 41,526 16,518,199 393.0 Amsterdam Norway 324,220 4,930,116 14.0 Oslo Poland 312,685 38,192,000 123.5 Warsaw Portugalf[›] 91,568 11,317,995 110.1 Lisbon Romania 238,391 21,959,278 91.0 Bucharest Russiac[›] 17,075,400 141,927,297 8.5 Moscow San Marino 61 31,730 454.6 San Marino Serbiag[›] 88,361 7,302,742 109.4 Belgrade Slovakia 48,845 5,422,366 111.0 Bratislava Slovenia 20,273 2,012,917 95.3 Ljubljana Spain 504,851 46,030,109 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 Turkeyn[›] 783,562 77,804,122 93 Ankara Ukraine 603,628 45,939,820 76.0 Kyiv United Kingdom 244,820 62,041,708 244.2 London Vatican City 0.44 900 2,045.5 Vatican City Total 10,180,000o[›] 830,364,178o[›] 70 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.5 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,6 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. 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.7 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), 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%8 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 · eOverview map of the peoples of Europe Size and geographic distribution of the 87 peoples of Europe according to Pan & Pfeil (2004).9 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: 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 English 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 Vepsians Izhorians Romansh Kashubs Bretons Cornish Aromanians Lux. Sorbs Kumyks Gagauz Inuit

Language Main article: Languages of Europe 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 2007.10 According to the same source, the eight most natively spoken languages in the EU are (percentage of total European population11): 19% German 13% French 12% English 11% Italian 9% Spanish 9% Polish 6% Romanian 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:12 49% English 35% German 26% French 16% Italian 15% Spanish 10% Polish 7% Russian 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, 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.13 14 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.15 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.16 The vast majority of Europe’s inhabitants are of the European (or Caucasoid) geographic race, characterized by pale or lightly pigmented skin, variability in eye and hair colour, and a number of biochemical similarities.17 MtDna and Y-Dna

Studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have suggested substantial genetic homogeneity of European populations,18 with only a few geographic or linguistic isolates appearing to be genetic isolates as well.19 On the other hand, analyses of the Y chromosome 20 21 and of autosomal diversity 22 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 Population structure A very recent study in May 2009 23 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 0.1900.24 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: 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 metropolitan France and overseas departments and territories. ^ 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 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 ^ "World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision Population Database". UN — epartment of Economic and Social Affairs. http://esa.un.org/unpp. Retrieved 2008-06-10.  ^ Albania 3.6, Belarus 10.3, Bosnia and Herzegovina 4.4, Croatia 4.4, Iceland 0.3, Republic of Macedonia 2.0, Moldova 4.4, Norway 4.5, Serbia+Kosovo 9.7, Switzerland 7.5, Ukraine 45.4 ^ Russia 142, Kazakhstan 15.2, Turkey 70.5, Georgia 4.7, Azerbaijan 8.6 ^ "European countries according to the EU". European Commission. http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries. Retrieved 2008-06-13.  ^ United Nations Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision Highlights. 2005 ^ Dogan, Mattei, Religious Beliefs in Europe: Factors of Accelerated Decline, 2003 ^ Census 2011 ^ "MALTA : general data". Populstat.info. http://www.populstat.info/Europe/maltag.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-28.  ^ Pan and Pfeil, National Minotiries in Europe (2004), ISBN 978-3700314431. The Peoples of Europe by Demographic Size, Table 1, pp. 11f. (a breakdown by country of these 87 groups is given in Table 5, pp. 17-31.) ^ EUROPA - Education and Training - Languages in Europe ^ see http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/lang/languages/index_en.html#languages%20of%20EU%2015 for full list ^ see http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/lang/languages/index_en.html#Foreign%20language%20skills for full list ^ Eurobarometer 54 Special - Europeans and languages ^ EUROPA - Education and Training - Languages in Europe ^ Endangered languages in Europe: indexes ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, s.v. "Europe : The people". ^ Europe, Encyclopædia Britannica Online ^ Torroni A, Achilli A, Macaulay V, Richards M, Bandelt HJ (2006) Harvesting the fruit of the human mtDNA tree. Trends Genet 22: 339–345 ^ Simoni L, Calafell F, Pettener D, Bertranpetit J, Barbujani G (2000) Geographic patterns of mtDNA diversity in Europe. Am J Hum Genet 66: 262–278 ^ Chikhi L, Nichols RA, Barbujani G, Beaumont MA (2002) Y genetic data support the Neolithic demic diffusion model. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 99: 11008–11013 ^ Roewer L, Croucher PJ, Willuweit S, Lu TT, Kayser M, et al. (2005) Signature of recent historical events in the European Y-chromosomal STR haplotype distribution. Hum Genet 116: 279–291 ^ Barbujani G, Goldstein DB (2004) Africans and Asians abroad: genetic diversity in Europe. Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet 5: 119–150 ^ Genetic Structure of Europeans: A View from the North–East, Nelis et al. 2009 ^ Pair-wise Fst between European samples External links 10 Million Europeans - Will Europe's population collapse? v · d · eDemographics of Europe Sovereign states

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