EUROPEAN HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Population and culture

World population by continentWorld population by continent

AsiaAsia 3,737,000,0003,737,000,000

AfricaAfrica 823,000,000823,000,000

EuropeEurope 729,000,000 729,000,000

North AmericaNorth America 486,000,000486,000,000

South AmericaSouth America 351,000,000 351,000,000

Oceania (incl. Oceania (incl. Australia)   Australia)   31,000,000 31,000,000

AntarcticaAntarctica no permanent no permanent population population

Europe’s Population• Europe is one of the most densely populated

areas in the world.• Europe is highly urbanized → it has many

large cities that serve as centres of culture and trade.

• Characteristics of Europeans: long life expectancy low infant mortality rate low population growth

Long Life Expectancy

• Men on average live 75-78 years

• Women on average live 80-83 years

Low infant mortality rate

• Defined as the number of infants per year who do not survive more than twelve months

• The infant mortality rate is less than ten per 1000

European population growth in history

• From the 18th century, Europe’s population greatly increases.

• Reasons:medical advances and

improved hygienic conditions introduction of new foods,

especially the potato Industrial Revolution

Low population growth today

• Now, the European population is growing at a slow rate.

• Some countries have negative growth.

Where people liveFavourable climatesPlainsFertile soilMineral resourcesInland waterways

Most densely populated areas:

a.United Kingdom to France into the Czech Republic and Poland

b.Southeastern France to Northern Italy

Most populated countries in Europe

• The six European countries with the highest number of inhabitants are:

RussiaGermanyFrance United KingdomItalySpain

Culture• Europe has many different ethnic groups,

languages, religions and customs.

• Most people in Europe are Christians: Catholics are the largest Christian group, followed by Orthodox and Protestant Christians.

• Most languages in Europe belong to the Indo-European family. This family is divided into a number of branches.

MajorReligiousGroups inEurope

Indo-European languages

• Most languages in Europe, the Middle-East, and India appear to descend from a common ancestral language.

• The term Indo-European is essentially geographical, because these languages are spoken from Western Europe to Northeast India.

• The most important languages in the Indo- European family are Romance, German and Slavic languages.

Languages in Europe

Standard of living

• Europeans are healthy, wealthy and wise:

- high life expectancy

- high income per person

- high literacy rate

High literacy rateOver 95% of Europeans know how to read and

write

From emigration to immigration

• 1800’s and early 1900’s: many Europeans emigrated to the Americas or to Australia for economic opportunities.

• Now people are immigrating into Europe! Immigration increased from 1980.

• There is also internal migration: people from Eastern Europe move to the richer countries in Western Europe