In 2024, Russia had the largest population among European countries at ***** million people. The next largest countries in terms of their population size were Turkey at **** million, Germany at **** million, the United Kingdom at **** million, and France at **** million. Europe is also home to some of the world’s smallest countries, such as the microstates of Liechtenstein and San Marino, with populations of ****** and ****** respectively. Europe’s largest economies Germany was Europe’s largest economy in 2023, with a Gross Domestic Product of around *** trillion Euros, while the UK and France are the second and third largest economies, at *** trillion and *** trillion euros respectively. Prior to the mid-2000s, Europe’s fourth-largest economy, Italy, had an economy that was of a similar sized to France and the UK, before diverging growth patterns saw the UK and France become far larger economies than Italy. Moscow and Istanbul the megacities of Europe Two cities on the eastern borders of Europe were Europe’s largest in 2023. The Turkish city of Istanbul, with a population of 15.8 million, and the Russian capital, Moscow, with a population of 12.7 million. Istanbul is arguably the world’s most famous transcontinental city with territory in both Europe and Asia and has been an important center for commerce and culture for over 2,000 years. Paris was the third largest European city with a population of ** million, with London being the fourth largest at *** million.

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.

This dataset provides values for POPULATION reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

As of 2023, ******* was the largest country in the European Union in terms of population. The central European country comprised almost one-fifth of the total population of the EU in that year, with ****** in second place with ***** percent, and ***** in third at ***** percent. While there are ** member states of the European Union in total, approximately two-thirds of the population of the bloc is made up by the * largest countries: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Romania, and the Netherlands. Of the remaining ** member states, no country makes up more than * percent of the EU's total population, with the smallest country, Malta, comprising just **** percent of the total.

The population of Europe was estimated to be 745 million in 2024, an increase of around 4 million when compared with 2012. 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 2024, the population of Russia was estimated to be approximately 144.8 million and was by far Europe's largest country in terms of population, with Turkey being the second-largest at over 87 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 84.5 million, and was followed by the United Kingdom and France at 69.1 million and 66.5 million respectively. Characteristics of Europe's population There are approximately 384.6 million females in Europe, compared with 359.5 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 2024, the single year of age with the highest population was 37, at 10.6 million, while in the same year there were estimated to be around 136 thousand people aged 100 or over.

The average for 2024 based on 47 countries was 51.06 percent. The highest value was in Moldova: 53.99 percent and the lowest value was in Malta: 48.1 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

This graph displays the total population size of citizens aged from between 35 and 39 years old in Europe in 2018, by country. That year there were roughly **** million inhabitants of this age group in Germany, which was followed by the United Kingdom and France with approximately **** million and **** million inhabitants respectively.

The European countries which saw the greatest population growth in 2025 were Gibraltar, Kosovo and Iceland. Overall, Europe's population declined by 3.3 percent in 2025, with this varying by region from a 0.19 percent decline in northern Europe to 4.6 percent in southern Europe. All the countries which saw the largest declines in their population in 2025 were central and eastern European countries.

The average for 2024 based on 27 countries was 74.63 percent. The highest value was in Belgium: 98.22 percent and the lowest value was in Slovakia: 54.17 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The average for 2024 based on 47 countries was 26.66 percent. The highest value was in Liechtenstein: 85.29 percent and the lowest value was in Gibraltar: 0 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

In 2020, Germany remained the largest population in the European Union with over 83 million inhabitants. Most European countries have a larger female than male population. Only in Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Serbia, and Sweden constitute men the majority of inhabitants. Germany had the largest population of both genders in Europe, with 42.1 million women and 41 million men.

The average for 2024 based on 47 countries was 20.13 percent. The highest value was in Monaco: 36.17 percent and the lowest value was in Turkey: 10.28 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The average for 2023 based on 27 countries was 272670 refugees. The highest value was in Germany: 2593007 refugees and the lowest value was in Slovenia: 10525 refugees. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

This graph displays the total population size of citizens aged from between 55 and 59 years old in Europe in 2018, by country. That year there were roughly *** million inhabitants of this age group in Germany, this was followed by France and Italy at *** million inhabitants.

The average for 2024 based on 47 countries was 15.44 percent. The highest value was in Turkey: 21.45 percent and the lowest value was in Andorra: 11.89 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

A data set of cross-nationally comparable microdata samples for 15 Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) countries (Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, USA) based on the 1990 national population and housing censuses in countries of Europe and North America to study the social and economic conditions of older persons. These samples have been designed to allow research on a wide range of issues related to aging, as well as on other social phenomena. A common set of nomenclatures and classifications, derived on the basis of a study of census data comparability in Europe and North America, was adopted as a standard for recoding. This series was formerly called Dynamics of Population Aging in ECE Countries. The recommendations regarding the design and size of the samples drawn from the 1990 round of censuses envisaged: (1) drawing individual-based samples of about one million persons; (2) progressive oversampling with age in order to ensure sufficient representation of various categories of older people; and (3) retaining information on all persons co-residing in the sampled individual''''s dwelling unit. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania provided the entire population over age 50, while Finland sampled it with progressive over-sampling. Canada, Italy, Russia, Turkey, UK, and the US provided samples that had not been drawn specially for this project, and cover the entire population without over-sampling. Given its wide user base, the US 1990 PUMS was not recoded. Instead, PAU offers mapping modules, which recode the PUMS variables into the project''''s classifications, nomenclatures, and coding schemes. Because of the high sampling density, these data cover various small groups of older people; contain as much geographic detail as possible under each country''''s confidentiality requirements; include more extensive information on housing conditions than many other data sources; and provide information for a number of countries whose data were not accessible until recently. Data Availability: Eight of the fifteen participating countries have signed the standard data release agreement making their data available through NACDA/ICPSR (see links below). Hungary and Switzerland require a clearance to be obtained from their national statistical offices for the use of microdata, however the documents signed between the PAU and these countries include clauses stipulating that, in general, all scholars interested in social research will be granted access. Russia requested that certain provisions for archiving the microdata samples be removed from its data release arrangement. The PAU has an agreement with several British scholars to facilitate access to the 1991 UK data through collaborative arrangements. Statistics Canada and the Italian Institute of statistics (ISTAT) provide access to data from Canada and Italy, respectively. * Dates of Study: 1989-1992 * Study Features: International, Minority Oversamples * Sample Size: Approx. 1 million/country Links: * Bulgaria (1992), http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/02200 * Czech Republic (1991), http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/06857 * Estonia (1989), http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/06780 * Finland (1990), http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/06797 * Romania (1992), http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/06900 * Latvia (1989), http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/02572 * Lithuania (1989), http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/03952 * Turkey (1990), http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/03292 * U.S. (1990), http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/06219

Data on European cities were collected in the Urban Audit and in the Large City Audit project. The projects' ultimate goal is to contribute towards the improvement of the quality of urban life: it supports the exchange of experience among European cities; it helps to identify best practices; it facilitates benchmarking at the European level and provides information on the dynamics within the cities and with their surroundings.

At the city level, the Urban Audit contains more than 130 variables and more than 50 indicators. These indicators are derived from the variables collected by the European Statistical System.

The data is published in 20 tables within 2 main groups, plus a perception survey table:

Cities and greater cities (urb_cgc)

Population on 1 January by age groups and sex - cities and greater cities (urb_cpop1)
Population structure - cities and greater cities (urb_cpopstr)
Population by citizenship and country of birth - cities and greater cities (urb_cpopcb)
Fertility and mortality - cities and greater cities (urb_cfermor)

Living conditions - cities and greater cities (urb_clivcon)

Education - cities and greater cities (urb_ceduc)

Culture and tourism - cities and greater cities (urb_ctour)
Labour market - cities and greater cities (urb_clma)
Economy and finance - cities and greater cities (urb_cecfi)
Transport - cities and greater cities (urb_ctran)
Environment - cities and greater cities (urb_cenv)

Functional Urban Area (urb_luz)

Population on 1 January by age groups and sex - Functional Urban Area (urb_lpop1)
Population structure - Functional Urban Area (urb_lpopstr)
Population by citizenship and country of birth - Functional Urban Area (urb_lpopcb)
Fertility and mortality - Functional Urban Area (urb_lfermor)
Living conditions - Functional Urban Area (urb_llivcon)
Education - Functional Urban Area (urb_leduc)
Labour market - Functional Urban Area (urb_llma)
Transport - Functional Urban Area (urb_ltran)
Environment - Functional Urban Area (urb_lenv)
Perception survey results (urb_percep)

Data has been collected on two spatial levels in the Urban Audit:

• The City (C) according to the administrative definition, as the basic level,
• The Functional Urban Area (FUA) being an approximation of the functional urban zone centered around the city

EUROPOP2023 are the latest Eurostat long-term population projections produced at national level for 30 countries: all 27 European Union (EU) Member States and three European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries (Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland), covering the time horizon from 2022 to 2100. Population projections are 'what-if scenario' that aim to show the hypothetically developments of the population size and structure based on a set of assumptions regarding fertility, mortality, and net migration. They are presented for a long time period that covers more than a half-century (50 years).

The datasets consist of the baseline population projections and five sensitivity tests, which are described as follows:

• no migration – it is assumed that net migration is zero for each year within the 2023-2100 time horizon;
• lower migration – it is assumed that the net migration is lower due to a 33% reduction in non-EU immigration flows for each year within the 2023-2100 time horizon;
• higher migration – it is assumed that the net migration is higher due to a 33% increase in non-EU immigration flows for each year within the 2023-2100 time horizon;
• lower fertility – it is assumed that the fertility rates are lower 20% than the baseline assumptions for each year within the 2023-2100 time horizon;
• lower mortality – it is assumed that the mortality rates are lower resulting in an increase of approximately two years in life expectancy at birth by 2070 compared to the baseline assumptions.

In each sensitivity test, the assumptions for the year 2022 were maintained as in the baseline projections. This is because, for that year, there is a combination of observed data (i.e. beneficiaries on temporary protections at the end of December 2022), information from the national authorities, and forecasting.

Data are available by single-year time interval, as detailed below:

• Projected population on 1 January by age and sex;
• Assumptions on future age-specific fertility rates, age-specific mortality rates and net migration levels;
• Projected life expectancy by age (in completed years) and sex.

Additionally, the demographic balances and indicators are available for the baseline projections and each of the five sensitive variants, including also:

• Total numbers of the projected live births and deaths;
• Projected population structure indicators including proportions of broad age groups in total population, age dependency ratios and median ages of the population (for each sex component).

STP2024 are the short-term population projections covering the time horizon from 2023 to 2050, and produced at national level for 30 countries: all 27 European Union (EU) Member States and three European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries (Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland). Similar to long-term projections, these are 'what-if scenario' that aim to show the hypothetically developments of the population size and structure based on a set of assumptions regarding fertility, mortality and net migration. The latest demographic data published on Eurostat website, as of 06 September 2024, were used as input in building the assumptions, thereby including the published post-2021 census revisions and data related to the temporary protection granted to persons displaced from Ukraine due to Russia's invasion.

The dataset (proj_stp24) includes data by single-year time interval for two types of projections:

• Baseline projections:
  • Projected total population on 1 January, the working-age population (defined as persons aged from 15 to 74), and its share in the total population;
  • Assumptions on total fertility rates, life expectancy at birth by sex, and total net migration levels;
  • Total numbers of projected live births and deaths.

• No migration sensitivity test – it is assumed that the net migration is zero for each year within the 2024-2050 time horizon.
  • Projected total population on 1 January, the working-age population (defined as persons aged from 15to 74), and its share in the total population;
  • The 2023 net migration levels remain the same as in the baseline projections to reflect the nowcast data;
  • Total numbers of projected live births and deaths.

STP2025 are the latest short-term population projections covering the time horizon from 2024 to 2050, produced at national level for 30 countries: all 27 European Union (EU) Member States and three European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries (Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland). Similar to long-term projections, these are 'what-if scenario' that aim to show the hypothetically developments of the population size and structure based on a set of assumptions regarding fertility, mortality, and net migration. The latest demographic data published on Eurostat website as of 15 May 2025, were used as input in building the assumptions, thereby including the published post-2021 census revisions and data related to temporary protection granted to persons displaced from Ukraine due to Russia's invasion.

The dataset (proj_stp25) includes data by single-year time interval for two types of projections:

• Baseline projections:
  • Projected total population on 1 January, working-age population (15-74 years) and its share in the total population;
  • Assumptions on total fertility rates, life expectancy at birth by sex, and total net migration levels;
  • Total numbers of projected live births and deaths.

• No migration sensitivity test – it is assumed that the net migration is zero in each year of the 2025-2050 time horizon.
  • Projected total population on 1 January, working-age population (15-74 years) and its share in the total population;
  • The 2024 net migration levels remain as in the baseline projections to reflect the nowcast data;
  • Total numbers of projected live births and deaths.

Context

The European Union is a unique economic and political union between twenty-eight countries that together cover much of the continent. It was created in the aftermath of the Second World War to foster economic cooperation and thus avoid conflict. The result was the European Economic Community (EEC), established in 1958, with Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands as its members. What began as an economic union has evolved into an organization spanning policy areas, from climate, environment and health to external relations and security, justice and migration. The 1993 name change from the European Economic Community (EEC) to the European Union (EU) reflected this.

The European Union has delivered more than half a century of peace, stability and prosperity, helped raise living standards and launched a single European currency: the Euro. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for advancing the causes of peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe. The single market is the EU's main economic engine, enabling most goods, services, money and people to move freely.

Content

The European Union covers over 4 million square kilometers and has 508 million inhabitants — the world’s third largest population after China and India. This dataset includes information on each EU member state, candidate state, or European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) signatory state.

Acknowledgements

The membership, population, and economic data was published by the European Commission's Eurostat. Gross domestic product and GDP per capita in US dollars was provided by the World Bank.

Inspiration

How has the European Union grown in the past fifty years? What is the largest country by population or surface area? Which country has the largest economy by gross domestic product? How many different languages are spoken across all the member states?

This data set contains estimates of the base rates of 550 food safety-relevant food handling practices in European households. The data are representative for the population of private households in the ten European countries in which the SafeConsume Household Survey was conducted (Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, UK).

Sampling design

In each of the ten EU and EEA countries where the survey was conducted (Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, UK), the population under study was defined as the private households in the country. Sampling was based on a stratified random design, with the NUTS2 statistical regions of Europe and the education level of the target respondent as stratum variables. The target sample size was 1000 households per country, with selection probability within each country proportional to stratum size.

Fieldwork

The fieldwork was conducted between December 2018 and April 2019 in ten EU and EEA countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, United Kingdom). The target respondent in each household was the person with main or shared responsibility for food shopping in the household. The fieldwork was sub-contracted to a professional research provider (Dynata, formerly Research Now SSI). Complete responses were obtained from altogether 9996 households.

Weights

In addition to the SafeConsume Household Survey data, population data from Eurostat (2019) were used to calculate weights. These were calculated with NUTS2 region as the stratification variable and assigned an influence to each observation in each stratum that was proportional to how many households in the population stratum a household in the sample stratum represented. The weights were used in the estimation of all base rates included in the data set.

Transformations

All survey variables were normalised to the [0,1] range before the analysis. Responses to food frequency questions were transformed into the proportion of all meals consumed during a year where the meal contained the respective food item. Responses to questions with 11-point Juster probability scales as the response format were transformed into numerical probabilities. Responses to questions with time (hours, days, weeks) or temperature (C) as response formats were discretised using supervised binning. The thresholds best separating between the bins were chosen on the basis of five-fold cross-validated decision trees. The binned versions of these variables, and all other input variables with multiple categorical response options (either with a check-all-that-apply or forced-choice response format) were transformed into sets of binary features, with a value 1 assigned if the respective response option had been checked, 0 otherwise.

Treatment of missing values

In many cases, a missing value on a feature logically implies that the respective data point should have a value of zero. If, for example, a participant in the SafeConsume Household Survey had indicated that a particular food was not consumed in their household, the participant was not presented with any other questions related to that food, which automatically results in missing values on all features representing the responses to the skipped questions. However, zero consumption would also imply a zero probability that the respective food is consumed undercooked. In such cases, missing values were replaced with a value of 0.