Population, total - Country Ranking - Europe

Definition: Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates.

Source: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2019 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Popu

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Turkey 84,339,060.00 2020
2 Germany 83,160,870.00 2020
3 France 67,379,900.00 2020
4 United Kingdom 67,215,300.00 2020
5 Italy 59,449,530.00 2020
6 Spain 47,363,420.00 2020
7 Ukraine 44,134,690.00 2020
8 Poland 37,899,070.00 2020
9 Romania 19,257,520.00 2020
10 Netherlands 17,441,500.00 2020
11 Belgium 11,544,240.00 2020
12 Greece 10,700,560.00 2020
13 Czech Republic 10,697,860.00 2020
14 Sweden 10,353,440.00 2020
15 Portugal 10,297,080.00 2020
16 Hungary 9,750,149.00 2020
17 Belarus 9,379,952.00 2020
18 Austria 8,916,864.00 2020
19 Switzerland 8,636,561.00 2020
20 Bulgaria 6,934,015.00 2020
21 Serbia 6,899,126.00 2020
22 Denmark 5,831,404.00 2020
23 Finland 5,529,543.00 2020
24 Slovak Republic 5,458,827.00 2020
25 Norway 5,379,475.00 2020
26 Ireland 4,985,674.00 2020
27 Croatia 4,047,680.00 2020
28 Bosnia and Herzegovina 3,280,815.00 2020
29 Albania 2,837,849.00 2020
30 Lithuania 2,794,885.00 2020
31 Moldova 2,620,495.00 2020
32 Slovenia 2,102,419.00 2020
33 North Macedonia 2,072,531.00 2020
34 Latvia 1,900,449.00 2020
35 Estonia 1,329,479.00 2020
36 Cyprus 1,207,361.00 2020
37 Luxembourg 630,419.00 2020
38 Montenegro 621,306.00 2020
39 Malta 515,332.00 2020
40 Iceland 366,463.00 2020
41 Andorra 77,265.00 2020
42 Monaco 39,244.00 2020
43 Liechtenstein 38,137.00 2020
44 San Marino 33,938.00 2020

More rankings: Africa | Asia | Central America & the Caribbean | Europe | Middle East | North America | Oceania | South America | World |

Development Relevance: Increases in human population, whether as a result of immigration or more births than deaths, can impact natural resources and social infrastructure. This can place pressure on a country's sustainability. A significant growth in population will negatively impact the availability of land for agricultural production, and will aggravate demand for food, energy, water, social services, and infrastructure. On the other hand, decreasing population size - a result of fewer births than deaths, and people moving out of a country - can impact a government's commitment to maintain services and infrastructure.

Limitations and Exceptions: Current population estimates for developing countries that lack (i) reliable recent census data, and (ii) pre- and post-census estimates for countries with census data, are provided by the United Nations Population Division and other agencies. The cohort component method - a standard method for estimating and projecting population - requires fertility, mortality, and net migration data, often collected from sample surveys, which can be small or limited in coverage. Population estimates are from demographic modeling and so are susceptible to biases and errors from shortcomings in both the model and the data. In the UN estimates the five-year age group is the cohort unit and five-year period data are used; therefore interpolations to obtain annual data or single age structure may not reflect actual events or age composition. Because future trends cannot be known with certainty, population projections have a wide range of uncertainty.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Population estimates are usually based on national population censuses. Estimates for the years before and after the census are interpolations or extrapolations based on demographic models. Errors and undercounting occur even in high-income countries. In developing countries errors may be substantial because of limits in the transport, communications, and other resources required to conduct and analyze a full census. The quality and reliability of official demographic data are also affected by public trust in the government, government commitment to full and accurate enumeration, confidentiality and protection against misuse of census data, and census agencies' independence from political influence. Moreover, comparability of population indicators is limited by differences in the concepts, definitions, collection procedures, and estimation methods used by national statistical agencies and other organizations that collect the data. The currentness of a census and the availability of complementary data from surveys or registration systems are objective ways to judge demographic data quality. Some European countries' registration systems offer complete information on population in the absence of a census. The United Nations Statistics Division monitors the completeness of vital registration systems. Some developing countries have made progress over the last 60 years, but others still have deficiencies in civil registration systems. International migration is the only other factor besides birth and death rates that directly determines a country's population growth. Estimating migration is difficult. At any time many people are located outside their home country as tourists, workers, or refugees or for other reasons. Standards for the duration and purpose of international moves that qualify as migration vary, and estimates require information on flows into and out of countries that is difficult to collect. Population projections, starting from a base year are projected forward using assumptions of mortality, fertility, and migration by age and sex through 2050, based on the UN Population Division's World Population Prospects database medium variant.

Aggregation method: Sum

Periodicity: Annual

General Comments: Relevance to gender indicator: disaggregating the population composition by gender will help a country in projecting its demand for social services on a gender basis.