Population growth/decline of European countries

Some current and past issues in European demography have included religious emigration, race relations, economic immigration, a declining birth rate and an ageing population. In some countries, such as the Republic of Ireland and Poland, access to abortion is currently limited; in the past, such restrictions and also restrictions on artificial birth control were commonplace throughout Europe. Furthermore, two European countries (currently The Netherlands and Switzerland) have allowed a limited form of voluntary euthanasia. It remains to be seen how much demographic impact this may have.

In 2005 the population of Europe was estimated to be 728 million according to the United Nations, which is slightly more than one-ninth of the world's population. A century ago, Europe had nearly a quarter of the world's population. The population of Europe has grown in the past century, but in other areas of the world (in particular Africa and Asia) the population has grown far more quickly.^[1] In 2005 the EU had an overall net gain from immigration of 1.8 million people, despite having one of the highest population densities in the world. This accounted for almost 85% of Europe's total population growth.^[2] According to UN population projection (medium variant), Europe's share will fall to 7% in 2050, numbering 653 million.^[3]

Regions

Modern Political map

Europe according to the EU^[4]

Council of Europe nations

Regional grouping according to the UN

Europe according to a widely accepted definition

According to different definitions, such as consideration of the concept of Central Europe, the following territories and regions may be subject to various other categorisations.

Age

Perhaps mirroring its declining population growth, European countries tend to have older populations overall. European countries had nine of the top ten highest median ages in national populations in 2005. Only Japan had an older population.^[5]

Religion

Predominant religions in Europe

Ethnic groups

The largest ethnic groups of Europe are the Russians (with some 90 million settling in the European parts of Russia), followed by the Germans (76 million), French (63 million), Italians (58 million), English (45 million), Spanish (42 million), Poles (42 million) and the Ukrainians (41 million).

Language

Europe has 30-40 major languages depending on definition. The European Union (EU), which currently excludes Norway and many eastern European countries, recognises 23 official languages as of 2007.^[6] According to the same source, the seven most natively spoken languages in the EU are (percentage of total European population^[7]):

Modern Linguistic Map of Europe

1. 18% German
2. 13% French
3. 12% English
4. 12% Italian
5. 9% Spanish
6. 9% Polish
7. 5% Dutch

These figures change slightly when foreign language skills are taken into account. The list below shows the top eight European languages ordered by total number of speakers in the EU:^[8]

1. 51% English
2. 33% German
3. 28% French
4. 16% Italian
5. 15% Spanish
6. 10% Polish
7. 7% Russian
8. 6% Dutch

This makes German the most frequently spoken native language and English the most frequently second spoken language overall in the European Union, with German the second-most common language overall.

Foreign language skills

Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark, Malta, Sweden, Slovenia, Belgium, and Finland are the EU countries with the most foreign language skills. This refers to all foreign languages. English is spoken most frequently in Malta, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands. The largest countries in Europe have the following percentages of English language skills: 44% Germany, 32% France, 28% Italy, 22% Poland, 18% Spain. The countries with the least foreign language skills are the UK, Ireland, Italy and Spain.^{[9] [10]}

Extinct and endangered languages

Many languages have become extinct in Europe and the process is continuing. Languages that are already rated as extinct by the UNESCO Red Book include Old Prussian, Cornish, and two Jewish languages. Nearly extinct and seriously endangered languages include several Sami, Frisian, and regional Jewish languages, Tsakonian and Breton.^[11]

Ethnicity

There are indigenous ethnic groups, as well as immigrant groups (ranging from Black Europeans to Asian Europeans).

Genetic origins

Homo sapiens appears in Europe some 40,000 years ago, with the Cro magnon settlement. Over the prehistoric period there was continual immigration to Europe, notably with the neolithic revolution.^[12]

The vast majority of Europe?s inhabitants are of the European (or Caucasoid) geographic race, characterized by white or lightly pigmented skins and variability in eye and hair colour and by a number of biochemical similarities. ^[13].

Genetically, the main substructure within European populations is between the Atlantic ("Basque"), the Balkans ("Near East") and the Northern ("Finnic") poles. The main components in the European genomes appear to derive from ancestors whose features were similar to those of modern Basques and Near Easterners. The lowest degree of either Basque or Near Eastern admixture is found in Finland, whereas the highest values are, respectively, 70% ("Basque") in Spain and more than 60% ("Near Eastern") in the Balkans.http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/21/7/1361/T03http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/21/7/1361

A 2007 study using samples exclusively from Europe found an unusually high degree of European homogeneity: "there is low apparent diversity in Europe with the entire continent-wide samples only marginally more dispersed than single population samples elsewhere in the world." The main component of genetic differentiation in Europe was found to occur on a line from the north to the south-east (northern Europe to the Balkans), ^[14] with another east-west axis of differentiation across Europe.^[15]

See also

• Demographics of the European Union
• Area and population of European countries
• European Union Statistics
• Largest European metropolitan areas
• Largest urban areas of the European Union
• Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits
• Genetic history of Europe
• European diasporas

Notes

External links

cy:Demograffeg Ewrop zh:???? sq: Demografia e Evropës