Demographics of Europe

The population of Europe varies depending on how we define the continent's borders. As of 2018, Europe was home to over 745 million people. About 448 million lived within the European Union, while around 110 million resided in European Russia. Notably, Russia is the largest country in Europe by population.

Europe experiences slow population growth and has a relatively high median age. Much of the continent faces what is called sub-replacement fertility, meaning that each new generation tends to be smaller than the one before it. However, many Western European nations continue to see their populations increase. This growth is supported by people moving within Europe and from other parts of the world, as well as improvements in life expectancy and population momentum.

Several factors shape Europe’s demographic landscape. These include emigration, the way different ethnic groups interact, economic immigration, a falling birth rate, and the challenge of an ageing population. Understanding these patterns helps us see how Europe is changing and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead.

History

Further information: World population estimates § By world region

Long ago, during a very cold time called the Last Glacial Maximum about 20,000 years ago, only about 5,000 to 130,000 people lived in Europe. By the time called 3000 BC, during what is known as the Neolithic period, the number of people in Europe had grown to as many as 7 million. Estimates suggest there were about 1 million people in Europe around 6500 BC, and this number grew to about 8 million by 2000 BC. These numbers give us an idea of how the population of Europe changed over thousands of years.

Population of Europe, in millions, by year (est.)
Year	Population (millions)	Percentage 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%

Percentages of world population, by year
Country/region	1	1000	1500	1600	1700	1820	1870	1913	1950	1973	1998	2018
Austria	0.2	0.3	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.2	0.1
Belgium	0.1	0.1	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.2	0.2
Denmark	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1
Finland	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1
France	2.2	2.4	3.4	3.3	3.6	3.0	3.0	2.3	1.7	1.3	1.0
Germany	1.3	1.3	2.7	2.9	2.5	2.4	3.1	3.6	2.7	2.0	1.4
Italy	3.0	1.9	2.4	2.4	2.2	1.9	2.2	2.1	1.9	1.4	1.0
Netherlands	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.3
Norway	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Sweden	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.1
Switzerland	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1
United Kingdom	0.3	0.7	0.9	1.1	1.4	2.0	2.5	2.5	2.0	1.4	1.0
Portugal	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2
Spain	1.9	1.5	1.6	1.5	1.5	1.2	1.3	1.1	1.1	0.9	0.7
Other	0.9	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.4	0.3
Total Western Europe	10.7	9.5	13.1	13.3	13.5	12.8	14.8	14.6	12.1	9.2	6.6
Eastern Europe	2.1	2.4	3.1	3.0	3.1	3.5	4.1	4.4	3.5	2.8	2.0
Former USSR	1.7	2.6	3.9	3.7	4.4	5.3	7.0	8.7	7.1	6.4	4.9
Total Europe	14.5	14.5	20.1	20.0	21.0	21.6	25.9	27.7	22.7	18.4	13.5	9.8
World	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Total population

Population pyramid of Europe in 2026 based on the collective United Nations geoscheme for Europe

In 2015, Europe was home to about 741 million people, which was roughly 11% of the world's population. This number changes depending on how we define the borders of Europe. The European Union alone had a population of 509 million in that year.

Today, about 10% of all people worldwide live in Europe. However, this share is expected to drop to around 7% by 2050, though the actual number of people in Europe will still be large, around 716 million. These changes are influenced by differences in family sizes and life expectancies, as well as movement of people both into and out of Europe, especially in Western parts of the continent.

Vital statistics

The population of Europe can vary depending on how its boundaries are defined. In 2018, Europe was home to over 745 million people. About 448 million of these people lived within the European Union, while roughly 110 million resided in the part of Russia that is considered European. This makes Russia the most populous country in the European continent.

Birth and death rates, by year
Year	Average population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude rates (per 1000)				Total fertility rate	Life expectancy
Year	Average population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Births	Deaths	Natural change	Migration change	Total fertility rate	Life expectancy
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
2024	745,083,824	6,345,992	8,431,000	−2,085,008	8.5	11.4	-3.0		1.40	79.5
2025(p)	744,398,832								1.41

Population by country

Further information: List of European countries by life expectancy

The number of people living in Europe can change depending on how we define the borders of Europe. Some places might be grouped in different ways based on cultural or regional ideas, like Central Europe.

Many countries in Europe have their own pages that talk about how many people live there and other details about their populations. The little star (*) next to some names shows that these links lead to information specifically about the number of people and related facts for that country or area, not just general information about the place itself.

Population and area of European countries/territories
Country (or territory)	Population	Area (km²)	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 *	6,029,607	43,094	140
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

Age

Main article: Aging of Europe

Life expectancy in Europe in 2021

European countries often have older populations because of low birth rates and long lifespans. In 2005, nine of the ten countries with the oldest average ages were in Europe, with only Japan having an older population.

Population pyramids show the age distribution in each country. Here is a list of countries included:

Fertility

The average number of children born per woman in the European Union was 1.5 in 2020. Countries like France and Romania had higher rates, while places like Malta and Italy had lower rates.

More children in the EU were born to mothers from outside their home country, and this trend has been growing since 2013. In 2020, about 21% of children had mothers who were not from the same EU country.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Europe

Further information: Christianity in Europe and Islam in Europe

Over the past few centuries, fewer people in Europe have been practicing religion. Many countries have seen fewer people attending church or saying they believe in a religion. Surveys show that about half of people in the European Union believe in a God, while others believe in a spirit or life force, and some believe in nothing at all.

Christianity is still the most common religion in Europe. Most Christians in Europe are Catholics, but there are also many Orthodox and Protestants. Even though fewer people are religious now, Europe still has the largest number of Christians in the world. Some countries, like the Czech Republic and Estonia, have many people who do not follow any religion.

Ethnic groups

Main article: Ethnic groups in Europe

Further information: White people and Immigration to Europe

Europe is home to many different ethnic groups. Some of the largest groups include the Russians and the Germans. In countries like the United Kingdom and France, many smaller groups such as the Scots, Welsh, and Bretons are also part of the larger national identity.

There are also around 10 million Romani people living in Europe, making up one of the notable minority groups on the continent. Europe’s rich mix of cultures and backgrounds helps create its diverse society.

Language

Main article: Languages of Europe

Further information on statistics in EU: Languages of the European Union § Knowledge

Most languages in Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. This family includes groups such as Romance, Germanic, Slavic, and Celtic. Other language families in Europe include the Uralic languages, like Hungarian and Finnish, and the Turkic family. The Basque language is unique because it is not related to any other language group. Russian is the most spoken language in Europe.

Many European countries protect languages that are not official state languages. These include languages like Catalan in Spain, Frisian in the Netherlands, and Scottish Gaelic in the United Kingdom.

Genetic origins

Main article: Genetic history of Europe