Population of Europe in 2023 by country

In 2022, Russia had the largest population among European countries at 144.7 million people. The next largest countries in terms of their population size were Turkey at 85 million, Germany at 83.4 million, the United Kingdom at 67.4 million, and France at 65.6 million. Europe is also home to some of the world’s smallest countries, such as the microstates of Liechtenstein and San Marino, with populations of 39,196 and 33,669 respectively.

Europe’s largest economies

Germany was Europe’s largest economy in 2020, with a Gross Domestic Product of around 3.4 trillion Euros, while the UK and France are the second and third largest economies, at 2.28 trillion and 2.27 trillion euros respectively. Prior to the mid-2000s, Europe’s fourth-largest economy, Italy, had an economy that was of a similar sized to France and the UK, before diverging growth patterns saw the UK and France become far larger economies than Italy.

Moscow and Istanbul the megacities of Europe

Two cities on the eastern borders of Europe were Europe’s largest in 2020. The Turkish city of Istanbul, with a population of 15.19 million, and the Russian capital, Moscow, with a population of 12.5 million. Istanbul is arguably the world’s most famous transcontinental city with territory in both Europe and Asia and has been an important center for commerce and culture for over two thousand years. Paris was the third largest European city with a population of 11 million, with London being the fourth largest at 9.3 million.