Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiogeographic one. Physically and geologically, Europe is a subcontinent or large peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the south by the Mediterranean and the Caucasus. Europe's boundary to the east is vague, but has traditionally been given as the watershed of the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea to the southeast: the Urals are considered by most to be a geographical and tectonic landmark separating Asia from Europe.
Europe is the world's second-smallest continent in terms of area, covering around 10,430,000 square kilometres (4,020,000 sq mi) or 2.0% of the Earth's surface, and is only larger than Australia. In terms of population, it is the third-largest continent (Asia and Africa are more populous) with a population of more than 820,000,000, or about 15% of the world's population.
