Demographics of Europe

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The Demographics of Europe refers to the changing number and composition of the population of Europe.

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

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

In 2005, the population of Europe was estimated to be 728 million according United Nations, which is slightly more than one-ninth of the world's population. A century ago, Europe had nearly a quarter of the world's population. The population of Europe has grown in the past century, but in other areas of the world (in particular Africa and Asia) the population has grown far more quickly.^[1] According to UN population projection (medium variant), Europe's share will fall to 7% in 2050, numbering 653 million. ^[2]

Contents 1 Total population 2 Population of European countries 3 Distribution of population 4 Age 5 Sex 6 Religion 7 Nationality 8 Language 8.1 Foreign language skills 8.2 Extinct and endangered languages 9 Occupation 10 See also 11 References

[edit] Total population

In 2005, the population of Europe was 728 million or 11% of the world population. It has been growing from 500 million after World War II to the present size of more than 700 million. The United Nations Population Division estimates that Europe's population peaked in early 2000s and has now begun a decline.

Year	Population in thousands[1]
1950	547,405
1960	604,406
1970	655,862
1980	692,435
1990	721,390
2000	728,463
2005	728,389
2010	725,786
2020	714,959
2030	698,140
2040	677,191
2050	653,323

[edit] Population of European countries

The countries in this table are categorised according to the scheme for geographic subregions used by the United Nations, and data included are per sources in cross-referenced articles. Where they differ, provisos are clearly indicated.

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 region[3] and territory, with flag	Area (km²)	Population (1 July 2002 est.)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Eastern Europe
Belarus	207,600	10,335,382	49.8	Minsk
Bulgaria	110,910	7,621,337	68.7	Sofia
Czech Republic	78,866	10,256,760	130.1	Prague
Hungary	93,030	10,075,034	108.3	Budapest
Moldova[4]	33,843	4,434,547	131.0	Chişinău
Poland	312,685	38,625,478	123.5	Warsaw
Romania	238,391	21,698,181	91.0	Bucharest
Russia[5]	3,960,000	106,037,143	26.8	Moscow
Slovakia	48,845	5,422,366	111.0	Bratislava
Ukraine	603,700	48,396,470	80.2	Kiev
Northern Europe
Åland (Finland)	1,552	26,008	16.8	Mariehamn
Denmark	43,094	5,368,854	124.6	Copenhagen
Estonia	45,226	1,415,681	31.3	Tallinn
Faroe Islands (Denmark)	1,399	46,011	32.9	Tórshavn
Finland	336,593	5,157,537	15.3	Helsinki
Guernsey[6]	78	64,587	828.0	St Peter Port
Iceland	103,000	307,672	2.7	Reykjavík
Ireland	70,280	4,234,925	55.3	Dublin
Isle of Man[7]	572	73,873	129.1	Douglas
Jersey[8]	116	89,775	773.9	Saint Helier
Latvia	64,589	2,366,515	36.6	Riga
Lithuania	65,200	3,601,138	55.2	Vilnius
Norway	324,220	4,525,116	14.0	Oslo
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (Norway)	62,049	2,868	0.046	Longyearbyen
Sweden	449,964	9,090,113	19.7	Stockholm
United Kingdom	244,820	60,201,000	244.2	London
Southern Europe
Albania	28,748	3,544,841	123.3	Tirana
Andorra	468	68,403	146.2	Andorra la Vella
Bosnia and Herzegovina	51,129	3,964,388	77.5	Sarajevo
Croatia	56,542	4,390,751	77.7	Zagreb
Gibraltar (UK)	5.9	27,714	4,697.3	Gibraltar
Greece	131,940	10,645,343	80.7	Athens
Italy	301,230	58,751,711	191.6	Rome
Macedonia	25,333	2,054,800	81.1	Skopje
Malta	316	397,499	1,257.9	Valletta
Montenegro[9]	13,812	616,258	44.6	Podgorica
Portugal[10]	91,568	10,084,245	110.1	Lisbon
San Marino	61	27,730	454.6	San Marino
Serbia[11]	88,361	9,663,742	109.4	Belgrade
Slovenia	20,273	1,932,917	95.3	Ljubljana
Spain[12]	498,506	40,077,100	80.4	Madrid
Vatican City	0.44	900	2,045.5	Vatican City
Western Europe
Austria	83,858	8,169,929	97.4	Vienna
Belgium	30,510	10,274,595	336.8	Brussels
France[13]	547,030	59,765,983	109.3	Paris
Germany	357,021	83,251,851	233.2	Berlin
Liechtenstein	160	32,842	205.3	Vaduz
Luxembourg	2,586	448,569	173.5	Luxembourg
Monaco	1.95	31,987	16,403.6	Monaco
Netherlands[14]	41,526	16,318,199	393.0	Amsterdam
Switzerland	41,290	7,301,994	176.8	Bern
Central Asia
Kazakhstan[15]	150,000	600,000	4.0	Astana
Western Asia[16]
Azerbaijan[17]	39,730	4,198,491	105.7	Baku
Georgia[18]	49,240	2,447,176	49.7	Tbilisi
Turkey[19]	24,378	11,044,932	453.1	Ankara
Total	10,176,246	709,608,850	69.7

[edit] Distribution of population

[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.^[20]

[edit] Sex

As Europe is a 'developed' continent, and people have a long life expectancy, there are quite a few more 75+ women than there are men. There are slightly more men born than women, but they have a slightly shorter life span.

[edit] Religion

Main article: Religion in Europe

Religion in Europe spans approximately 50,000 years of human settlement on the continent. It has developed from the earliest prehistoric spirituality via the Ancient Greek, Roman and Nordic faiths to the spread of the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Europe has a rich and diverse religious history, and its various faiths have been a major influence on European art, culture, philosophy and law. In modern times, the overwhelming majority of religious Europeans are Christian; the second-largest religion in Europe is Islam, followed by Judaism. Europe also has the largest number and proportion of agnostics and atheists in the Western world.

[edit] Nationality

[edit] Language

Main article: Languages of Europe

Europe has 30-40 major languages depending on definition. The BBC states that there are 40 main European languages.^[21] The European Union (EU), which currently excludes Norway and many eastern European countries, recognises 23 official languages as of 2007.^[22] According to the same source, the seven most natively spoken languages in the EU are (percentage of total European population^[23]):

1. 18% German
2. 12% French
3. 13% English
4. 13% Italian
5. 9% Spanish
6. 9% Polish
7. 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:^[24]

1. 51% English
2. 32% 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 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, and Finland are the EU countries with the most foreign language skills. This refers to all foreign languages. English is spoken most frequently in 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, Germany, Italy and Spain.^{[25] [26]}

[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, Cornish, and two Jewish languages. Nearly extinct and seriously endangered languages include several Sami and regional Jewish languages, Frisian, and Breton.^[27]

[edit] Occupation

[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

[edit] References