Europe consists of 52 countries (7 of which are dependent territories) with a total land area of ten million km² (four million square miles), representing 6.6% of the Earth’s habitable surface. Europe's coastlines have a combined length of 112,483 km (69,909 miles). There are 727.94 million people living in Europe — that's 9.2% of the world's population — and they account for around 24% of global economic output.
Russia is also considered a European country here. Although only 23% of Russia's territory is in Europe, 85% of all inhabitants live in European territory. Furthermore, Moscow is located west of the Ural Mountains, which form the border between Europe and Asia.
The European part of Turkey, on the other hand, is only inhabited by 12% of the country's population and accounts for just 3% of the total area. The capital is geographically not in Europe, which is why Turkey is assigned to Western Asia.
Cyprus is also geographically part of Asia, although the country is a member of the EU and is closer to Europe both politically and economically.
¹ The marked countries are not sovereign states but dependent territories. (Cf.:
What is a country?)
From a geological point of view, Europe is not a continent, but a subcontinent. The Eurasian continental plate not only extends over Europe, but also covers almost the entire Asian continent. Geographically and culturally, a border is drawn in the east, which, according to the most common view, runs along the Ural Mountains and the Ural River, about 1,200 km east of Moscow.
Population
Compared to other continents, Europe is quite densely populated and predominantly urban. On average, a population density of around 60-70 inhabitants per km² is reached, although it is somewhat lower in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Almost all languages in Europe have Indo-European origins. Only in the eastern countries do several languages have different origins. The main religions are also widespread in a similar geographical distribution: While the north and west of Europe is almost exclusively dominated by Christianity, Muslims can be found mainly in eastern and south-eastern Europe.
Time zones in Europe
Even though the European Union is considering a realignment of the European time zones, the old familiar time zones will probably still apply in Europe for some time. The western countries Portugal, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Iceland lead
Western European Time.
Eastern European Time applies to Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria and Greece. Belarus and Russia lead
Moscow time. The
Central European Time Zone applies in all 31 other countries. With the exception of Iceland, Russia and Belarus, there is a changeover between summer and winter everywhere.
Most widely spoken native languages in Europe