Europe is simply a vast area of lands, countries, mountains and cultures which is separated into twenty-two independent languages speaking more than a dozen nations. In fact, Europe has more countries than any other area in the world. It has a population of over forty million people. Europe is a very old continent geographically speaking, having been around for over four thousand years. The word “Europe” is thought to have been derived from the Greek term meaning “a name coming from the gods”.
Today, a large majority of Europeans live in northern europe, whereas the remaining population lives in central europe. Northern europe is characterized by cold weather with long days and snowy winters. Southern europe has hot and sunny summers. Although the countries share many cultural and linguistic similarities, they are very different culturally and linguistically. The northern part of europe is often referred to as Northern Europe, while the southern portion is referred to as Southern Europe.
Northern europe is made up of Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, and France. The countries of these six European countries are sometimes known collectively as Northern Europe. Most countries within this group enjoy relative stability. However, the currency values of some countries in the northern area such as Denmark and Norway are very unstable and their exchange rates tend to vary considerably from time to time. Southern Europe on the other hand has very unpredictable weather and its currency value fluctuates frequently. Italy is the most populous country of this subregion.
Central europe consists of Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia. The currencies of all these countries except Liechtenstein are the euro. The countries are often very closely related and there are common customs and traditions across all but two of the countries (Lithuanian and Austria) that make up this group. As Central europe is made up of ten countries, each with a different language, an interesting cultural heritage can be discovered among all of these countries.
Western europe is made up of countries such as Denmark, Spain, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Switzerland. All of these are member states of the European Union. This is the region that most people think of when they envision what all Europeans look like. The western part of europe has long been considered a bad place to live in but recently several developments have helped this part of europe become a more appealing locale for families seeking to relocate to a new area in Europe.
The differences between Western and Central europe are significant. Western europe is landlocked and has very mild winters. This is contrasted with central europe which is completely landlocked and has cold winters even in the warmest months. Another distinction of the two parts of europe is that the former is more industrial while the latter is more rural. Industrialization in Germany began in the 1950s but by the time the western part of europe began to see a substantial growth, jobs were already available in this country. This industrial boom has, in turn, attracted large numbers of workers from other European countries into the German economy.
The language spoken in each of these areas of europe is different. German is the official language of Germany, while the majority of people in northern europe speak English. In addition, French is widely spoken in many areas of europe while the number of native speakers is extremely low in southern europe. In addition, there are large numbers of people from former Yugoslavia who now live in northern europe. The most populous countries in this part of the world are Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, and Poland.
On a more global perspective, the number of European citizens who live in United States is about a million people while the number of inhabitants in Germany is only around three hundred thousand people. The most populous country in Europe is the United Kingdom with an estimated fifteen million people. It should be noted that the British population is ageing but at the same time, a high birth rate is keeping the population growing. Meanwhile, even though Russia is currently considered as the least populous country in Europe, it is increasing its population at a very fast rate.