The People
Although Europe has only about 7 per cent of the world's land area, its 704,000,000 inhabitants account for about 15 per cent of the world's population. Countries with the largest populations are Russia (European part), Germany, Italy, Great Britain, France, Ukraine, Spain, and Poland. No other continent is so densely settled. There are 173 persons to the square mile (67 per km 2), nearly 2 1/2 times as many as in the United States.
Virtually all the people are of Caucasoid (white) ancestry, but their physical traits vary. As a general rule, but one with many exceptions, the people in the north have a heavier build than those in the south. The northerners' hair and skin tend to be lighter colored, and their heads are generally narrower and longer.
In Europe there are about 40 different nationalities, or groups of people with a common language, history, and culture. Some nationalities are scattered throughout several countries. Others share a single country with one or more other groups. Conflicting nationalities within a country have long been the source of much political unrest, particularly in the countries of eastern Europe.
Almost all of the languages spoken in Europe are part of the Indo-European language family. Each has a large written literature. The most widely used languages are Great Russian, German, English, French, and Italian.
Many Europeans speak more than one language. Some countries have more than one official language. Switzerland, for example, has four—German, French, Italian, and Romansh.
Christianity is the predominant religion, and the Roman Catholic Church has by far the largest membership. It is the dominant church in Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, and Poland. Northern Europe is largely Protestant. Leading Protestant groups include Anglicans in England; Lutherans in northern Germany, Scandinavia, Finland, Latvia, and Estonia; and Calvinists in Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Scotland. The Eastern Orthodox Church is the leading church in eastern and southeastern Europe, including Russia.
Judaism is the largest non-Christian religion. Jews live mainly in the large cities. Muslims are concentrated in parts of the southeast, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Turkey, and Azerbaijan.
Europe has a rich cultural heritage dating from the Greek and Roman civilizations. Many of Europe's schools and universities attract students from all parts of the world. In most European countries, however, higher education is not readily available to the mass of the people. Frequently, only the brighter children and children from wealthy families are given the opportunity of advanced education.
Quality of education varies greatly throughout the continent. In the west, from France to Scandinavia, the people are well educated in public, private, and church schools. Because of compulsory education, almost all the people are literate. In the south and east, education is less advanced. There are fewer schools and universities, and illiteracy is still a problem. In Albania, for example, about 25 per cent of the people over 10 years of age are illiterate; in Portugal, about 11 per cent.
For further information, see subtitle People in articles about individual countries.
The government in Western European countries is democratic. Some of these countries, such as Great Britain, Belgium, Norway, and the Netherlands, are constitutional monarchies. Most of the others are republics or federal republics. Most Western European countries use the British cabinet system. The chief of state—either a president or a monarch—has mainly ceremonial duties and a prime minister, or premier, heads the government.
For many years most of the countries of Eastern Europe had totalitarian regimes dominated by the Communist party. That began to change in the late 20th century, especially in 1989, and various democratic reforms have been introduced in many of these countries. The Soviet Union and its Communist system collapsed in 1991. Many of the new countries formed out of the Soviet Union began to establish democratic governments.
In almost all western European countries, the government is a part or sole owner of public service businesses such as airlines, electric companies, railways, and telephone companies. The government also attempts to provide many types of social welfare programs. For instance, the Swedish government gives every family an allowance for each child under 16 years of age.
Council of Europe, which was formed in 1949 chiefly, seeks to promote unity among the European nations. The council comprises of a joint committee, a secretariat-general, a committee of ministers with one representative from each member nation, and a parliamentary assembly with several members from each nation. The founding countries of the Council were Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The council's main areas of activity include such areas as culture and sport, education, human rights, and public health.
For further information, see subtitle Government in articles about individual European countries.
