Europe

This article is about the continent. For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation).

Europe
Area10,180,000 km2 (3,930,000 sq mi)[1] (6th)[a]
Population745,173,774 (2021; 3rd)[2][3]
Population density72.9/km2 (188/sq mi) (2nd)
GDP (PPP)$33.62 trillion (2022 est; 2nd)[4]
GDP (nominal)$24.02 trillion (2022 est; 3rd)[5]
GDP per capita$34,230 (2022 est; 3rd)[c][6]
HDIIncrease 0.845[7]
Religions
DemonymEuropean
CountriesSovereign (44–50)
De facto (2–5)
DependenciesExternal (5–6)
Internal (3)
LanguagesMost common:
Time zonesUTC−1 to UTC+5
Largest citiesLargest urban areas:
UN M49 code150 – Europe
001 – World
  • a. ^ Figures include only European portions of transcontinental countries.[n]
  • b. ^ Includes Asian population. Istanbul is a transcontinental city which straddles both Asia and Europe.
  • c. ^ "Europe" as defined by the International Monetary Fund

Europe is a continent[t] located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east. Europe shares the landmass of Eurasia with Asia, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Asia and Africa.[10][11] Europe is commonly considered to be separated from Asia by the watershed of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Greater Caucasus, the Black Sea, and the waterway of the Bosporus Strait.[12]

Europe covers about 10.18 million km2 (3.93 million sq mi), or 2% of Earth's surface (6.8% of land area), making it the second-smallest continent (using the seven-continent model). Politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states, of which Russia is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a total population of about 745 million (about 10% of the world population) in 2021; the third-largest after Asia and Africa.[2][3] The European climate is affected by warm Atlantic currents, such as the Gulf Stream, which produce a temperate climate, tempering winters and summers, on much of the continent. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable producing more continental climates.

European culture consists of a range of national and regional cultures, which form the central roots of the wider Western civilisation, and together commonly reference ancient Greece and ancient Rome, particularly through their Christian successors, as crucial and shared roots.[13][14] Beginning with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, Christian consolidation of Europe in the wake of the Migration Period marked the European post-classical Middle Ages. The Italian Renaissance spread in the continent a new humanist interest in art and science which led to the modern era. Since the Age of Discovery, led by Spain and Portugal, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs with multiple explorations and conquests around the world. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers colonised at various times the Americas, almost all of Africa and Oceania, and the majority of Asia.

The Age of Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars shaped the continent culturally, politically, and economically from the end of the 17th century until the first half of the 19th century. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to radical economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe and eventually the wider world. Both world wars began and were fought to a great extent in Europe, contributing to a decline in Western European dominance in world affairs by the mid-20th century as the Soviet Union and the United States took prominence and competed over dominance in Europe and globally.[15] The resulting Cold War divided Europe along the Iron Curtain, with NATO in the West and the Warsaw Pact in the East. This divide ended with the Revolutions of 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which allowed European integration to advance significantly.

European integration is being advanced institutionally since 1948 with the founding of the Council of Europe, and significantly through the realisation of the European Union (EU), which represents today the majority of Europe.[16] The European Union is a supranational political entity that lies between a confederation and a federation and is based on a system of European treaties.[17] The EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. A majority of its members have adopted a common currency, the euro, and participate in the European single market and a customs union. A large bloc of countries, the Schengen Area, have also abolished internal border and immigration controls. Regular popular elections take place every five years within the EU; they are considered to be the second-largest democratic elections in the world after India's. The EU is the third-largest economy in the world.

  1. ^ "Largest Countries In Europe 2020". worldpopulationreview.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  2. ^ a b "World Population Prospects 2022". United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  3. ^ a b "World Population Prospects 2022: Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XSLX) ("Total Population, as of 1 July (thousands)"). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  4. ^ "GDP PPP, current prices". International Monetary Fund. 2022. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  5. ^ "GDP Nominal, current prices". International Monetary Fund. 2022. Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Nominal GDP per capita". International Monetary Fund. 2022. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Reports". Human Development Reports. Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  8. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Survey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Demographia World Urban Areas" (PDF). Demographia. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  10. ^ "Europe". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  11. ^ "Europe: Human Geography | National Geographic Society". education.nationalgeographic.org. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  12. ^ National Geographic Atlas of the World (7th ed.). Washington, DC: National Geographic. 1999. ISBN 978-0-7922-7528-2. "Europe" (pp. 68–69); "Asia" (pp. 90–91): "A commonly accepted division between Asia and Europe ... is formed by the Ural Mountains, Ural River, Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains, and the Black Sea with its outlets, the Bosporus and Dardanelles."
  13. ^ Lewis & Wigen 1997, p. 226
  14. ^ Covert, Kim (2011). Ancient Greece: Birthplace of Democracy. Capstone. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-4296-6831-6. Archived from the original on 27 July 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022. Ancient Greece is often called the cradle of western civilization. ... Ideas from literature and science also have their roots in ancient Greece.
  15. ^ National Geographic, 534.
  16. ^ "History of the European Union 1945–59". european-union.europa.eu. Archived from the original on 23 April 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  17. ^ "The European union—a federation or a confederation?" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 March 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.