Russia is the largest country in Europe, and also the largest in the world, its total size amounting to 17 million square kilometers (km2). It should be noted, however, that over three quarters of Russia is located in Asia, and the Ural mountains are often viewed as the meeting point of the two continents in Russia; nonetheless, European Russia is still significantly larger than any other European country. Ukraine, the second largest country on the continent, is only 603,000 km2, making it about 28 times smaller than its eastern neighbor, or seven times smaller than the European part of Russia. France is the third largest country in Europe, but the largest in the European Union. The Vatican City, often referred to as the Holy Sea, is both the smallest country in Europe and in the world, at just one km2. Population Russia is also the most populous country in Europe. It has around 144 million inhabitants across the country; in this case, around three quarters of the population live in the European part, which still gives it the largest population in Europe. Despite having the largest population, Russia is a very sparsely populated country due to its size and the harsh winters. Germany is the second most populous country in Europe, with 83 million inhabitants, while the Vatican has the smallest population. Worldwide, India and China are the most populous countries, with approximately 1.4 billion inhabitants each. Cities Moscow in Russia is ranked as the most populous city in Europe with around 13 million inhabitants, although figures vary, due to differences in the methodologies used by countries and sources. Some statistics include Istanbul in Turkey* as the largest city in Europe with its 15 million inhabitants, bit it has been excluded here as most of the country and parts of the city is located in Asia. Worldwide, Tokyo is the most populous city, with Jakarta the second largest and Delhi the third.

Land area (sq. km) in European Union was reported at 3996695 sq. Km in 2022, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. European Union - Land area (sq. km) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on August of 2025.

The average for 2021 based on 47 countries was 221323.2 sq. km. The highest value was in Russia: 8153116 sq. km and the lowest value was in Gibraltar: 0 sq. km. The indicator is available from 1990 to 2022. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Population density (people per sq. km of land area) in European Union was reported at 112 sq. Km in 2022, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. European Union - Population density (people per sq. km) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on August of 2025.

Russia is the largest country in the world by far, with a total area of just over 17 million square kilometers. After Antarctica, the next three countries are Canada, the U.S., and China; all between 9.5 and 10 million square kilometers. The figures given include internal water surface area (such as lakes or rivers) - if the figures were for land surface only then China would be the second largest country in the world, the U.S. third, and Canada (the country with more lakes than the rest of the world combined) fourth. Russia Russia has a population of around 145 million people, putting it in the top ten most populous countries in the world, and making it the most populous in Europe. However, it's vast size gives it a very low population density, ranked among the bottom 20 countries. Most of Russia's population is concentrated in the west, with around 75 percent of the population living in the European part, while around 75 percent of Russia's territory is in Asia; the Ural Mountains are considered the continental border. Elsewhere in the world Beyond Russia, the world's largest countries all have distinctive topographies and climates setting them apart. The United States, for example, has climates ranging from tundra in Alaska to tropical forests in Florida, with various mountain ranges, deserts, plains, and forests in between. Populations in these countries are often concentrated in urban areas, and are not evenly distributed across the country. For example, around 85 percent of Canada's population lives within 100 miles of the U.S. border; around 95 percent of China lives east of the Heihe–Tengchong Line that splits the country; and the majority of populations in large countries such as Australia or Brazil live near the coast.

The average for 2021 based on 27 countries was 148029 sq. km. The highest value was in France: 547557 sq. km and the lowest value was in Malta: 320 sq. km. The indicator is available from 1961 to 2022. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

This dataset provides values for ROAD DENSITY KM OF ROAD PER SQ KM OF LAND AREA WB DATA.HTML reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Surface area (sq. km) in European Union was reported at 4254541 sq. Km in 2022, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. European Union - Surface area (sq. km) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on August of 2025.

This dataset provides values for SURFACE AREA SQ KM WB DATA.HTML reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

The average for 2021 based on 27 countries was 187 people per square km. The highest value was in Malta: 1620 people per square km and the lowest value was in Finland: 18 people per square km. The indicator is available from 1961 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Available data for gross domestic product (GDP) and population density are useful for defining divisions in socio-economic gradients across Europe, since economic power and human population pressure are recognised as two of the most critical factors causing ecosystem changes. To overcome both the limitations in data availability and in the distortions caused by using administrative regions, we decided to base the socio-economic dimension on an economic density indicator, defined as the income generated per square kilometre (EUR km-2), which can be mapped at a 1km2 spatial resolution. Economic density forms an integrative indicator that is based on two key drivers that were identified above: economic power and human population pressure. The indicator, which has been used to rank countries by their level of development, can be considered a crude measure for impacts on the environment caused by economic activity. An economic density map (EUR km-2) at 1 km2 spatial resolution was constructed by multiplying economic power (EUR person-1) with population density (person km-2). Subsequent logarithmic divisions resulted in an aggregated map of four economic density zones. Although the map has a fine spatial resolution it has to be realised that they form a spatial disaggregation of coarser census statistics. Importantly, the finer resolution discerns regional gradients in human activity that are required for many environmental studies, whilst broad gradients in economic activity is also treated consistently across Europe. GDP and population density data used were for the year 2001. The dataset consists of GeoTiff files of the economic density map and the four economic density zones.

Monaco led the ranking for countries with the highest population density in 2024, with nearly 26,000 residents per square kilometer. The Special Administrative Region of Macao came in second, followed by Singapore. The world’s second smallest country Monaco is the world’s second-smallest country, with an area of about two square kilometers and a population of only around 40,000. It is a constitutional monarchy located by the Mediterranean Sea, and while Monaco is not part of the European Union, it does participate in some EU policies. The country is perhaps most famous for the Monte Carlo casino and for hosting the Monaco Grand Prix, the world's most prestigious Formula One race. The global population Globally, the population density per square kilometer is about 60 inhabitants, and Asia is the most densely populated region in the world. The global population is increasing rapidly, so population density is only expected to increase. In 1950, for example, the global population stood at about 2.54 billion people, and it reached over eight billion during 2023.

a Eurogeosurveys led project on mapping the geochemistry of Europe. This aims to establish a global geochemical reference baseline for more than 60 determinants in a range of media for environmental and other applications. The European contribution to the programme has been carried out by government institutions from 26 countries under the auspices of the Forum of European Geological Surveys (FOREGS) The main objectives of this European survey were: 1) to apply standardised methods of sampling, chemical analysis and data management to prepare a geochemical baseline across Europe; and 2) to use this reference network to level national baseline datasets. Samples of stream water, stream sediment and three types of soil (organic top layer, minerogenic top and sub soil) have been collected at nearly 900 stations, each representing a catchment area of 100 km2, corresponding to a sampling density of about one sample per 4700 km2. In addition, the uppermost 25 cm of floodplain sediment was sampled from 750 sites each representing a catchment area of 1000 km2.

Website: http://weppi.gtk.fi/publ/foregsatlas/index.php

Land use is given as the percentage of one of 9 land use classes within a subbasin (i.e. subbasin level). The classes are Water, Glacier/Snow, Urban area, Forest, Agricultural land, Other and > 500 m, Wetland, Tundra/Permafrost, Extensive grassland/pasture. This is also given as percentage of each land use class upstream of (and including) a subbasin (i.e. catchment level, mean area 215 km2). Original data source: CORINE Land Cover (CLC2000), GLC2000 Northern Eurasia v4.0, GLC2000 Asia v1.0, GLC2000 Europe v2.0, Euroland SoilSealing 2009. Tools for repurposing: WHIST. Data format: Table (Excel file) with unique subID which could be linked to the shapefile EHYPE_polygons_v2pt5.shp.

The Core Area Population Density is given in persons per 100 km2. The Quartiles (Q) 1,2,3 of the size of Catchment Areas (CatA, S1 Table) and the number of datasets are listed. Only catchments located inside the TAC were considered.

The GEMAS dataset is based on low density geochemical sampling of agriculture (Ap) and grassland (Gr) soils across 34 European countries. Sample density covering an area of 5.6 million km2 of 1 site each, arable land (0-20 cm) and land under permanent grass cover (0-10 cm), per 2500 km2. The Geochemical Mapping of Agricultural and Grazing Land Soil comprises more than 70 chemical elements and parameters determined on more than 4000 soil samples. The geochemistry of European agriculture and grazing soils are depicted graphically on maps of the GEMAS geochemical atlas.

In 2016 the Geological Survey of Ireland as a European partner contributes to GEMAS and EGDI (European Geological Data Infrastructure) with provision of a GIS spatial data classification and publication of WMS geochemical web mapping services to support European data interoperability of EGDI web portal.

The GIS GEMAS sample classification were constructed in ArcGIS 10.1 and the original GEMAS dataset is available as ESRI shapefile format.

Soil is the outside layer of Earth. It is a made up of living organisms, gases, minerals, and organic matter. Knowing what elements are in the soil helps to work out where it came from and how it was made.The GEMAS (geochemical mapping of agricultural soils and grazing land of Europe) project provides harmonised geochemical data of arable land and land under permanent grass cover across Europe. Geological Surveys in 34 European countries collected soil samples. Soil samples were taken on arable land from the top 0–20 cm of the soil and land under permanent grass cover from the top 0–10 cm. One sample was taken per 2500 km2. The total area covered was 5.6 million km2.Sampling took place during 2008, and early 2009 following a jointly agreed field protocol. All samples were sent to the same lab to be tested for the chemicals that make up the soil. This was done using two different methods. The Aqua Regia (AR) method was used to extract 52 chemical elements and the X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) method was used to extract 41 chemical elements. Soil properties such as Cation exchange capacity (CEC), Total organic carbon (TOC) and pH (calcium chloride - CaCl2). In addition, the agricultural soil samples were analysed for 57 elements in a mobile metal ion (MMI®) extraction, Lead (Pb) isotopes and magnetic susceptibility.Knowing the types of elements in the soil can point to where they came from and how the soils were made. CEC, pH and TOC tell us about the soil's ability to hold onto essential nutrients, how acid or basic the soils are, and the amount of organic carbon in the soil. When the data is mapped, you can see the spread of elements across Europe. This allows the mapping of different soil types. Shallower soil is worth testing as it is good for showing us if any of the changes were caused by the actions of humans. It is also good for farming and the health of soil.It is a vector dataset. Vector data portray the world using points, lines, and polygons (areas).The data is shown as points, which shows where the sample was collected and the results for that sample.

As of 2025, Asia was the most densely populated region of the world, with nearly 156 inhabitants per square kilometer, whereas Oceania's population density was just over five inhabitants per square kilometer.

This land system map is a comprehensive and high resolution representation of European land systems on a 1-km2 grid integrating important land use and landscape characteristics. There are four main land systems that are dominated by one land cover : settlement systems, forest systems, cropland systems, and grassland systems. Under each of these systems, there are low, medium, and high land use intensity classes. There are also mosaic systems that are not dominated by any land cover, including forest/shrub mosaics and agricultural mosaics. Other land systems in this map include water and wetland systems, shrubs, and rocks and bare soil. Details of the map and applications on Species distribution models can be found in this article: Dou, Y., Cosentino, F., Malek, Z. et al. A new European land systems representation accounting for landscape characteristics. Landscape Ecol (2021). https://doi-org/10.1007/s10980-021-01227-5

Agricultural land (sq. km) in European Union was reported at 1627106 sq. Km in 2022, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. European Union - Agricultural land (sq. km) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on August of 2025.