Europe Map

Europe is the second smallest continent in terms of area. It covers 10 530 751 square kilometers or 2% of the world's surface and around 6.8% of the total land area. Europe had a total population of about 741 million (about 11% of the world population) as of 2016.

It houses a large number of sovereign states, whose exact number depends on the definition of the European frontier, as well as on the exclusion or inclusion of partially recognized states. Of all the European countries, Russia is the largest by area (at the same time it is the largest internationally recognized sovereign state in the world), while the Vatican City is the smallest (at the same time it is the smallest sovereign state internationally recognized in the world).

In its most widespread and conventional definition Europe is divided politically into 50 sovereign states, eight states with limited recognition, six dependent territories and three autonomous regions integrated into the European Union. On the continent there are some of the oldest nation-states in the world.

28 European states are members of the politico-economic European Union, 26 of the border-free Schengen Area and 19 of the monetary union Eurozone. Among the smaller European organizations are the Nordic Council, the Benelux, the Baltic Assembly and the Visegrád Group.

The list below includes all entities falling even partially under any of the various common definitions of Europe, geographic or political.

Within the political entities mentioned below there are several de facto independent countries with limited international recognition. None of them is a member of the UN:

Several dependencies and similar territories with broad autonomy are also found within or in close proximity to Europe. This includes Åland (a region of Finland), two constituent countries of the Kingdom of Denmark (other than Denmark itself), three Crown dependencies, and two British Overseas Territories. Svalbard is also included due to its unique status within Norway, although it is not autonomous. Not included are the three countries of the United Kingdom with devolved powers and the two Autonomous Regions of Portugal, which despite having a unique degree of autonomy, are not largely self-governing in matters other than international affairs. Areas with little more than a unique tax status, such as Heligoland and the Canary Islands, are also not included for this reason.