In 2023, Ukraine had the fastest growing population in Europe. As a result of Ukrainian citizens who had fled Russia's invasion of the eastern European country in 2022 returning to the country in 2023, Ukraine's population grew by 3.68 percent compared to 2022. Excluding this special case, the European countries which saw the greatest population growth in 2023 were Luxembourg, Norway, and Ireland. Overall, Europe's population declined by 0.09 percent in 2022, with this varying by region from a 0.31 percent decline in eastern Europe to an increase of 0.33 percent in northern Europe. All of the countries which saw the largest declines in their population in 2023 were central and eastern European countries which had hosted large numbers of Ukrainian refugees in 2022. Moldova, one of Ukraine's closest neighbours, saw its population decline by 3.6 percent, while Poland's population declined by 2.2 percent, and Slovakia's by 1.8 percent.

In 2024, Germany was the leading EU country in terms of population, with around 85 million inhabitants. In 2050, approximately 89.2 million people will live in Germany, according to the forecast. See the total EU population figures for more information. The global population The global population is rapidly increasing. Between 1990 and 2015, it increased by around 2 billion people. Furthermore, it is estimated that the global population will have increased by another 1 billion by 2030. Asia is the continent with the largest population, followed by Africa and Europe. In Asia,the two most populous nations worldwide are located, China and India. In 2014, the combined population in China and India alone amounted to more than 2.6 billion people. for comparison, the total population in the whole continent of Europe is at around 741 million people. As of 2014, about 60 percent of the global population was living in Asia, with only approximately 10 percent in Europe and even less in the United States. Europe is the continent with the second-highest life expectancy at birth in the world, only barely surpassed by Northern America. In 2013, the life expectancy at birth in Europe was around 78 years. Stable economies and developing and emerging markets in European countries provide for good living conditions. Seven of the top twenty countries in the world with the largest gross domestic product in 2015 are located in Europe.

The population of Europe was estimated to be 742.2 million in 2023, an increase of around 2.2 million when compared with 2013. Over 35 years between 1950 and 1985, the population of Europe grew by approximately 157.8 million. But 35 years after 1985 it was estimated to have only increased by around 38.7 million. Since the 1960s, population growth in Europe has fallen quite significantly and was even negative during the mid-1990s. While population growth has increased slightly since the low of -0.07 percent in 1998, the growth rate for 2020 was just 0.04 percent.

Which European country has the biggest population? As of 2021, the population of Russia was estimated to be approximately 145.9 million and was by far Europe's largest country in terms of population, with Turkey being the second-largest at over 85 million. While these two countries both have territory in Europe, however, they are both only partially in Europe, with the majority of their landmasses being in Asia. In terms of countries wholly located on the European continent, Germany had the highest population at 83.9 million, and was followed by the United Kingdom and France at 68.2 million and 65.4 million respectively.

Characteristics of Europe's population There are approximately 386.5 million females in Europe, compared with 361.2 million males, a difference of around 25 million. In 1950, however, the male population has grown faster than the female one, with the male population growing by 104.7 million, and the female one by 93.6 million. As of 2021, the single year of age with the highest population was 34, at 10.7 million, while in the same year there were estimated to be around 136 thousand people aged 100 or over.

In the Cook Islands in 2024, the population decreased by about 2.24 percent compared to the previous year, making it the country with the highest population decline rate in 2024. Of the 20 countries with the highest rate of population decline, the majority are island nations, where emigration rates are high (especially to Australia, New Zealand, and the United States), or they are located in Eastern Europe, which suffers from a combination of high emigration rates and low birth rates.

The phenomenon of aging of the society, and thus changes in the structure of the share of population in pre- and post-working age, is typical for all European Union countries. The median age of the population in the European Union countries in 2001-2016 increased from 38.5 years to 43 years. This is the scale of the aging of the population (Median age of population, 2017). However, while the aging of the population in the next 30 years will be appropriate for all EU countries, not all countries will experience a demographic crisis related to a decline in population. The population will not decrease according to forecasts, incl. in UK, France, Spain and Italy.

The main reasons for the negative consequences of demographic changes are: natural increase in the life span of the population, decline in fertility and emigration of unusual dimensions.

Historical chart and dataset showing European Union population growth rate by year from 1961 to 2023.

Euro Area population growth rate for 2023 was 0.30%, a 0.14% decline from 2022.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>Euro Area population growth rate for 2022 was <strong>0.44%</strong>, a <strong>0.39% increase</strong> from 2021.</li>
<li>Euro Area population growth rate for 2021 was <strong>0.05%</strong>, a <strong>0.09% decline</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li>Euro Area population growth rate for 2020 was <strong>0.14%</strong>, a <strong>0.03% increase</strong> from 2019.</li>
</ul>Annual population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage . Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.

The world's population first reached one billion people in 1803, and reach eight billion in 2023, and will peak at almost 11 billion by the end of the century. Although it took thousands of years to reach one billion people, it did so at the beginning of a phenomenon known as the demographic transition; from this point onwards, population growth has skyrocketed, and since the 1960s the population has increased by one billion people every 12 to 15 years. The demographic transition sees a sharp drop in mortality due to factors such as vaccination, sanitation, and improved food supply; the population boom that follows is due to increased survival rates among children and higher life expectancy among the general population; and fertility then drops in response to this population growth. Regional differences The demographic transition is a global phenomenon, but it has taken place at different times across the world. The industrialized countries of Europe and North America were the first to go through this process, followed by some states in the Western Pacific. Latin America's population then began growing at the turn of the 20th century, but the most significant period of global population growth occurred as Asia progressed in the late-1900s. As of the early 21st century, almost two thirds of the world's population live in Asia, although this is set to change significantly in the coming decades. Future growth The growth of Africa's population, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, will have the largest impact on global demographics in this century. From 2000 to 2100, it is expected that Africa's population will have increased by a factor of almost five. It overtook Europe in size in the late 1990s, and overtook the Americas a decade later. In contrast to Africa, Europe's population is now in decline, as birth rates are consistently below death rates in many countries, especially in the south and east, resulting in natural population decline. Similarly, the population of the Americas and Asia are expected to go into decline in the second half of this century, and only Oceania's population will still be growing alongside Africa. By 2100, the world's population will have over three billion more than today, with the vast majority of this concentrated in Africa. Demographers predict that climate change is exacerbating many of the challenges that currently hinder progress in Africa, such as political and food instability; if Africa's transition is prolonged, then it may result in further population growth that would place a strain on the region's resources, however, curbing this growth earlier would alleviate some of the pressure created by climate change.

European Union rural population for 2023 was 109,054,784, a 0.76% decline from 2022.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>European Union rural population for 2022 was <strong>109,888,214</strong>, a <strong>0.69% decline</strong> from 2021.</li>
<li>European Union rural population for 2021 was <strong>110,649,438</strong>, a <strong>1.27% decline</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li>European Union rural population for 2020 was <strong>112,070,262</strong>, a <strong>0.8% decline</strong> from 2019.</li>
</ul>Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population. Aggregation of urban and rural population may not add up to total population because of different country coverages.

Globally, about 25 percent of the population is under 15 years of age and 10 percent is over 65 years of age. Africa has the youngest population worldwide. In Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 40 percent of the population is below 15 years, and only three percent are above 65, indicating the low life expectancy in several of the countries. In Europe, on the other hand, a higher share of the population is above 65 years than the population under 15 years. Fertility rates The high share of children and youth in Africa is connected to the high fertility rates on the continent. For instance, South Sudan and Niger have the highest population growth rates globally. However, about 50 percent of the world’s population live in countries with low fertility, where women have less than 2.1 children. Some countries in Europe, like Latvia and Lithuania, have experienced a population decline of one percent, and in the Cook Islands, it is even above two percent. In Europe, the majority of the population was previously working-aged adults with few dependents, but this trend is expected to reverse soon, and it is predicted that by 2050, the older population will outnumber the young in many developed countries. Growing global population As of 2025, there are 8.1 billion people living on the planet, and this is expected to reach more than nine billion before 2040. Moreover, the global population is expected to reach 10 billions around 2060, before slowing and then even falling slightly by 2100. As the population growth rates indicate, a significant share of the population increase will happen in Africa.

This research, designed by the World Bank, and supported by the Department for International Development (DFID), aims to highlight the unprecedented transformation of the urban systems in the ECA region in the last decades, and to look at this shifts from the demographic, economic, and spatial prospectives. Cities in ECA database comprises data from 5,549 cities in 15 countries of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region, as defined by the World Bank Group, and from the United Kingdom and Germany. Database information for each city is in three dimensions: demographic, spatial, and economic. The starting point to construct the Cities in ECA database was to obtain from each of the countries the list of official cities and these cities' population data. Population data collected for cities falls on or around three years: 1989, 1999, and 2010 (or the latest year available). The official list of "cities" was geo-referenced and overlaid with globally-available spatial data to produce city-level indicators capturing spatial characteristics (e.g., urban footprint) and proxies for economic activity. City-level spatial characteristics, including urban footprints (or extents) for the years 1996, 2000, and 2010 and their temporal evolution, were obtained from the Global Nighttime Lights (NTL) dataset. City-level proxies for economic activity were also estimated based on the NTL dataset. Nighttime Lights (NLS) data is produced by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Optical Line Scanner (OLS) database and maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Historical chart and dataset showing European Union death rate by year from 1960 to 2023.

Euro Area rural population for 2023 was 77,080,099, a 0.79% decline from 2022.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>Euro Area rural population for 2022 was <strong>77,694,167</strong>, a <strong>0.63% decline</strong> from 2021.</li>
<li>Euro Area rural population for 2021 was <strong>78,184,518</strong>, a <strong>0.99% decline</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li>Euro Area rural population for 2020 was <strong>78,967,943</strong>, a <strong>0.89% decline</strong> from 2019.</li>
</ul>Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population. Aggregation of urban and rural population may not add up to total population because of different country coverages.

Bird populations are declining globally with losses recorded in many European breeding birds. Habitat management measures have not resulted in a widespread reversal of these declines. We analysed national bird population trends from ten European countries (France, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK) in relation to the species’ nesting strategy (‘ground-nesting’ or ‘other’), Annex I designation (‘designated’ or ‘not designated’) and association with agricultural habitats for breeding (‘associated’ or ‘not associated’). For each country in our dataset, we also defined the following factors: farming intensity; predator community complexity; and predator control effort. Our results showed additive effects of nesting strategy, designation, and breeding habitats on the likelihood of population decline. Ground-nesting birds were 86% more likely to decline than birds with other nesting strategies. Annex I designated species of the Birds D..., Many countries provide data to the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme (PECBMS). We explored the PECBMS web page and the links included therein for each country, to identify if national data on population trends for each species could be obtained. Finally, we obtained national trends data for 10 countries, namely France (FR), Hungary (HU), Ireland (IE), the Netherlands (NL), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Spain (ES), Sweden (SE), Switzerland (CH) and the UK (UK). Specifically, common bird species trends in France were obtained from the monitoring programs coordinated by the Natural History Museum (http://www.vigienature.fr/fr/resultats-especes-3367). These data provided a 20-year trend (1998-2018) for each species. Hungary data from the Monitoring Centre of the Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Association were available at https://mmm.mme.hu/charts/trends and provided species trends for the period 1999-2021. Data from Ireland were available at https://www.npws.ie/sit..., , # The decline of ground-nesting birds in Europe: do we need to manage predation in addition to habitat?

https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.t1g1jwt9k

The data consists of a single Excel file with three sheets. All details about the variables in the sheet are located in the sheet named "Read Me"

Code/Software

All modelling was conducted in R version 4.2.1

The population of Europe is expected to fall from ***** million in 2023 to just ***** million people by 2100, in the medium-variant scenario provided in this projection. In the scenario where the population declines even further, the population of Europe may fall to as low as ***** million by 2100, while in the high-variant projection, the population will increase to approximately ***** million.

The average for 2022 based on 195 countries was 18.38 births per 1000 people. The highest value was in Niger: 45.03 births per 1000 people and the lowest value was in Hong Kong: 4.4 births per 1000 people. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2022. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The European cleaning services industry has rebounded robustly in the post-pandemic era, buoyed by greater office occupancy and a renewed focus on health and hygiene across both commercial and residential environments. As workforces have returned to physical workplaces, especially in key markets like France and Belgium, demand for regular and specialised cleaning contracts has jumped. Cleaning services revenue is forecast to climb at a compound annual rate of 0.3% over the five years through 2025. The industry’s recovery has been further supported by stabilising macroeconomic conditions, falling inflation rates and recent interest rate cuts across the eurozone, which have collectively strengthened consumer confidence and heightened corporate spending on non-core outsourced services like professional cleaning. European businesses have sought to ramp up sanitation protocols to ensure employee safety, triggering a spike in contract renewals and more frequent service cycles. Outfits like ISS A/S capitalised on the post-pandemic recovery, expanding their portfolios across major European economies. In 2025, revenue is expected to swell by 0.4% to €166 billion. There has been a notable shift towards sustainability, with cleaning providers investing in eco-friendly materials and practices, like microfibre technologies, biodegradable soaps and adherence to certifications including the EU Ecolabel, to meet rising demand from environmentally conscious clients. This not only helped retain existing clients but also differentiated providers in a highly competitive landscape. Over the five years through 2030, revenue is forecast to climb at a compound annual rate of 4.4% to €206.3 billion. Population expansion in urban centres, particularly in France, Ireland and the Nordics, is set to fuel ongoing demand for residential and public sector cleaning, while regions facing population decline, like Italy and much of Eastern Europe, may see stiffer competition and narrowing profit. The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic automation promises to redefine operational efficiency, allowing early adopters to secure premium contracts and mitigate chronic labour shortages. Macroeconomic tailwinds, including expected European GDP growth and cooling inflation, will spur commercial construction and facilities management contracts, supporting steady industry growth. However, providers who fail to innovate or differentiate, whether through sustainability or technology, will likely struggle to maintain market share in an industry that’s rapidly evolving on multiple fronts.

Lithuania had the fastest-growing population in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), at an annual rate of 1.14 percent in 2022. Estonia ranked second, with the population growth of 1.03 percent year-on-year. In most CEE countries, the population marked a decrease from the previous year. Ukraine reported the most dramatic population decline, at nearly 14.2 percent.

Europe’s Optical Instrument and Photographic Equipment Manufacturing industry has experienced notable growth driven by healthier demand for optical instruments in the medical and scientific sectors. Technological innovation in medical devices using optical systems has boosted demand, particularly for endoscopy systems, microscopes and optical tomography systems for biomedical research. More advanced equipment typically demands a higher price, aiding revenue growth. Revenue is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 4% over the five years through 2025 to €23.3 billion, including estimated growth of 3.9% in 2025. The rising prevalence of chronic diseases and greater demand for healthcare services due to ageing European populations have also boosted demand for optical instruments and lenses. The industry continues to face challenges like competition from imported products, particularly from countries like China, with cost advantages, pressuring profitability for European manufacturers. The widespread adoption of smartphones has, on the one hand, driven demand for blue light and computer lenses but also caused a dramatic decline in demand for traditional photographic equipment like digital cameras. Manufacturers are trying to counter the decline in camera sales by offering specialised features and high-performance cameras targeted at professional photographers. There has also been a resurgence of film cameras among younger demographics that value the aesthetic and the deliberate process of having to think before each shot. Revenue is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 8.1% over the five years through 2030, reaching approximately €34.4 billion. Manufacturers want to tap into new foreign markets, which are seeing healthy investments in healthcare, to drive future revenue growth. As Europe’s population ages, there will be greater demand for medical equipment using optical instruments, ensuring steady demand for optical products. The automotive industry will be a growing market thanks to self-driving cars and the telecommunications industry will lean toward fibre optic networks.