Wikijunior Europe: People of Europe

Europeans

Europe

745 million people live in Europe. The largest countries, by population, are Russia (143 million but many of these live in Asian parts of Russia) and Germany (80 million). The smallest countries, by population, are the Vatican City (1,000 inhabitants), Monaco, San Marino and Liechtenstein.

Religion

The major religion in Europe is Christianity. Most countries in Europe have a majority of people who are Christian - generally Roman Catholic (most of southern Europe, central Europe and Ireland), Protestant varieties (the UK, Germany and parts of central Europe) and Orthodox (eastern and south-eastern Europe). Large minorities of

Map of Europe showing the major languages

Jews live in the UK and France (and Poland, Germany and central Europe in the past). Turkey, Albania, Kosovo and Azerbaijan have majority Muslim populations with large numbers also in Bosnia Herzegovina and Russia. Several countries including Czech Republic, Estonia and the United Kingdom have large numbers of people who don't follow any religion

Languages

Over 100 languages are spoken today in Europe and many hundreds of others were spoken in the past. The European Union has 24 official languages although there are 28 countries in the EU. This is because some languages are spoken in more than one country. English is spoken in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta. German is an official language in Germany, Austria and parts of Belgium. French is spoken in France and Belgium. Russian is the main language in Russia and is also spoken by large numbers of people in Ukraine, Belarus and other countries which were formerly part of the Soviet Union. Italian is spoken in Italy and also in parts of Slovenia and Croatia.

The most spoken native EU language is German. English is spoken by more people as a second language than any other language in the EU.

There are many languages in Europe which don't have large numbers of native speakers like Manx and Kashubian.

• Images of European People
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  Albert Einstein, scientist from Germany
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  Pope John Paul II from Poland
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  Oscar Wilde, writer from Ireland
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  Yuri Gagarin, cosmonaut from Russia
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  David Beckham, footballer from the United Kingdom
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  Mozart, composer from Austria
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  Pablo Picasso, artist from Spain
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  Nikola Tesla, inventor from Serbia
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  Leonardo Da Vinci, artist from Italy
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  Alfred Nobel, scientist from Sweden
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  Rita Ora, singer from Kosovo

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