14
What’s the population of Europe like?
Living in society
Europe’s population is about 730 million people. This is
about 11% of the population of the world. The population
of the 28 European countries that make up the European
Union (EU) is 507 million people.
1
Look at the map. Which EU countries have a high or low
population density?
Sweden has a low population density.
G
E T T I N G S T A R T E D
The
population density
of the EU is
114 per km
2
. There are big differences
between the population densities of
EU countries. For example, Ireland and
Greece have low population densities,
but Germany and the UK have high
population densities.
The
average age
of
people living in the EU is
increasing. This is because
fertility rates are low.
As people get older, and
fewer babies are born,
the average age of the
population increases. This
can cause problems in the
future because there are
many
retired
people, and
fewer people working.
The EU’s population
is 52% female and
48% male.
The
fertility rate
of the EU is 1.6 children
per family. It varies between different
countries. For example, Ireland and
France have higher fertility rates, but
Portugal and Germany have lower
fertility rates.
