731 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.
Europe is the western part of the continent of Eurasia, sometimes thought of as its own continent. It is separated from Asia by the Ural Mountains in Russia and the Bosporus strait in Turkey.
Europe is bordered by water on three sides. On the west is the Atlantic Ocean. To the north is the Arctic Ocean. The Mediterranean Sea separates Southeastern Europe from Africa. On the eastern border of Europe are the Ural River and Ural Mountains.
There are at least 43 countries in Europe (the European identities of 5 transcontinental countries:Cyprus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkey are disputed). Most of these countries are members of the European Union.
Over 100 languages are spoken today in Europe and many hundreds of others were spoken in the past. The European Union (EU) 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.