List of 44 Countries in Europe and Their Currency

Last updated on March 31st, 2022 at 04:48 pm

There are 50 countries in Europe: 44 are independent countries, six of them are dependent territories. The continent is situated in the Northern Hemisphere; bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and Asia to the east.

Europe is sitting on about 10.18 million km2 (3.93 million sq mi), making it the second-smallest continent after Oceania.

Using sub-region, Europe is divided into West, East, South, and Northern Europe, using the United Nations’ Geoscheme.

In the western part, there are nine countries; the Eastern region houses 10 countries; there are 15 countries in the Southern part while the Northern region has 10 countries.

This division doesn’t include countries that have territory in Europe and Asia (they are called transcontinental countries).

Western Europe

Western Europe has nine countries most of which are the founders of the European Economic Community before it was re-organised in 1993 and known as the European Union.

Western Europe holds the most powerful positions in the EU: European Central Bank is based in Frankfurt, Germany; European Parliament is headquartered in Strasbourg, France while European Commission is located in Brussels, Belgium.

Of all the nine countries in the western part of Europe, Germany has the highest population of over 83 million people while the Principality of Liechtenstein has just over 38,000, making it the smallest in that sub-region.

Most of the EU founding fathers are members of the 19 EU countries that adopt Euro as the official currency.

Note: Monaco is one of the non-EU members that use Euro as its official currency

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe houses Russia which has the highest population across the continent. Currently, at war with its neighbour, Ukraine, Russia has over 145 million residents.

In that sub-region, Moldova has 4,024,019 population, making it the smallest in terms of the number of residents in it. It also ranks as the poorest country in the whole of Europe.

Eastern Europe is famous for its opposition to the existence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) during the Cold War between the United States and the now-defunct Soviet Union.

Even today, Russia and U.S.A. are not at peace with each other because of the move by the U.S.A to lure some of Russia’s neighbours to join NATO.

This can be seen in the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24, 2022, over the move by the former to join NATO. (Read more about why Russia invaded Ukraine)

Below countries fall under Eastern Europe and their population

Northern Europe

Northern Europe’s most populous country is the United Kingdom, which has a total of approximately 68,207,116 as of 2021. The least populous country in that sub-region is Iceland, with 343,353 in 2021.

Southern Europe

Southern Europe houses 15 countries. Italy is the most populated country in the sub-region while Vatican City has less than a thousand people living in it, making it the smallest in terms of population and land area in the region, across Europe and the smallest sovereign country in the world.

In the 1990s, Southern Europe was the scene of some armed conflicts, during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. But Southern Europe is now the epicentre of war following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

What are the currencies in Europe?

Of all the 44 countries in Europe, 22 of them are in the Euro-area, by adopting the Euro as their official currency.

Note: Of all the listed currencies above, GBP, Euro and Swiss franc are the top strongest currencies in Europe

Sources:

1. Featured image by pixabay
2. Macro Trends. “Germany Population Growth Rate 1950-2022”. Macrotrends.net. Retrieved March 24, 2022
3. Austria “Living and working in Austria: Geography and population”. Migration.gv.at. Retrieved March 28, 2022