Country Profiles

Austria’s present boundaries encompass 83,853 square kilometers and were established in 1919 at the Treaty of St. Germain.  Its strategic location contains the north/south routes between Germany and Italy and the southwest routes into western Europe.  The capital city is Vienna, with a population of 1.6 million, and the primary language is German.  Austria’s total population is about 8.12 million and is growing at 0.1% with 65% living in urban areas.  The people are governed by a parliamentary democracy and are predominately Roman Catholic.

The Kingdom of Belgium shares its borders with France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. It is about the size of Maryland and covers an area of 32,547 sq. kilometers (12,566 sq.mi.). Its capital city of Brussels has a population of 992,041 and the primary languages are Dutch, French and German. Belgium’s total population of 10,396,421 (2004) is growing at about 0.4% with 69% living in urban areas. The people are governed by a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarch and are, predominantly, Roman Catholic or Protestant.

Cyprus has an area of 9,250 square kilometers and is about the size of Connecticut. It received its independence from Britain in 1960 and tensions between the Greek Cypriot majority and the Turkish Cypriot minority continue today. Only the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot-controlled Republic of Cyprus joined the EU in 2004, although any person carrying a Cypriot passport has the status of a European citizen. The capital of the Republic of Cyprus is Nicosia, population 197,800 (2000), and the primary language is Greek with a secondary language of Turkish. Cyprus’ total population is .75 million and is growing at 2.3% with 70% living in urban areas. The internationally recognized part of the country is a republic with Greek Orthodoxy being the primary religion. The Muslims of the Turkish-controlled north make up about 18% of the population.

The Czech Republic is about the size of Virginia and shares its borders with Austria, Germany, Poland and Slovakia. The country was formed in 1993 after a “Velvet Revolution” and its capital city of Prague has a population of 1.16 million. The total population of 10.24 million people is shrinking by 0.1% and the primary language is Czech, with Slovak being spoken as a secondary language. The Czech people are governed by a parliamentary republic with seventy-six percent of the population living in urban areas.  The major denominations are almost evenly split between Roman Catholics and professed atheists, with Protestant and Jewish minorities.

The Kingdom of Denmark is 43,075 square kilometers, excluding Greenland and the Faroe Islands, making it about the size of New Hampshire and Vermont put together. It shares its borders with Germany, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Its capital city is Copenhagen, with a regional population of 1.8 million. Denmark’s total population is 5.36 million and it’s growing at 0.2%, with 85% living in urban areas. The primary language is Danish with secondary languages of English and Faroese. A constitutional monarchy governs the country, and Greenland and the Faroe Islands are self-governed. The Danish government is responsible for foreign relations, monetary affairs and defense. It is represented locally in these islands by high commissioners.

The Republic of Estonia gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. It has an area of 45,226 square kilometers and shares its borders with Russia, Latvia, the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland. Estonia’s capital city is Tallinn, with a population of 397,150. The primary language is Estonian, with Latvian, Lithuanian and Russian all being secondary languages. The total population of 1.35 million is growing at 0.4% with 70% living in urban areas. The people are governed by a parliamentary democracy with the major religions being Lutheran and Estonian Orthodox.

The Republic of Finland gained its independence in 1919 and shares its borders with Russia, Sweden, the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland, and the Baltic Sea. It is 304,473 square kilometers, about the size of New England, New Jersey and New York combined. Its primary language is Finnish, with a minority of Swedish speakers. Its capital city of Helsinki has a population of 560,500 and 62% of its total population of 5.21 million live in urban areas. Finland is a constitutional republic and the major religion is Lutheran.

The French Republic is the largest west European country with an area of 543,965 square kilometers and its primary language is French. It shares its borders with Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, the English Channel, the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean Ocean. France’s capital city is Paris and its total population of 60.14 million is growing at 0.5%, with 75% living in urban areas. The people are governed by a republic made up of 22 regions and the major religion is Roman Catholicism.

The Federal Republic of Germany is Europe’s largest economy and the country with the largest population, at 82.48 million people. The total population is growing at 0.1% and 3.4 million people live in its capital city of Berlin. Eighty-seven percent of the people live in urban areas. Since the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990, the German government has expended considerable funds attempting to bring the Eastern German economy into line with the rest of Germany. A federal republic governs the people in 16 states, 3 of which are free states. The primary language is German and the major religions are Protestantism and Roman Catholicism.

The Hellenic Republic gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1829. Its area is 131,986 square kilometers, about the size of Alabama, and the primary language is Greek, with English and French being common second languages. The total population of 10.98 million is growing at 0.1% with 60% living in urban areas. Greece’s capital city is Athens and the greater Athens area has a population of 3.56 million. The government is a parliamentary republic with 51 prefectures and 1 autonomous region.

The Republic of Hungary is 92,981 square kilometers which is the approximate size of Indiana. It’s located in central Europe and it shares its borders with Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Ukraine, Romania, Croatia and Serbia/Montenegro. The capital city of Budapest has a population of 2 million and the majority of people speak Hungarian, also known as Magyar. Hungary’s total population of 9.87 million is shrinking at -0.5% with 64% living in urban areas. A parliamentary democracy governs 19 counties and one capital city region. Slightly more than half the people are Roman Catholic, with the minority consisting primarily of Protestant religions.

Ireland occupies 5/6ths of the island of Ireland and is 68,894 square kilometers. It shares its borders with Northern Ireland (U.K.), the North Atlantic Ocean, and the Celtic and Irish Seas. The capital city of Dublin contains 495,101 people and the total population of 3.96 million is growing at 1.3%, with 59% living in urban areas. The primary religion is Roman Catholic with the majority of people speaking English, except in the western counties where Irish is the official language. Ireland is governed by a parliamentary democracy with 26 counties.

The Italian Republic’s area of 301,245 square kilometers is about the size of Florida and Georgia combined.  Italy shares its borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the Mediterranean Ocean. The capital city of Rome has about 2.8 million people and the total population of 57.42 million is shrinking at 0.1%, with 67% of the people living in urban areas. While most people in Italy speak Italian, many also speak German and French. The Italian Republic has been a republic since 1946 and the majority religion is Roman Catholic.

The Republic of Latvia is about the size of West Virginia at 64,589 square kilometers. It borders the Baltic Sea, Estonia, Russia, Belarus and Lithuania. Latvia’s capital of Riga is the largest city with about 739,232 people and 66% of Latvians choose to live in urban areas. The total population is about 2.32 million, which is shrinking at 0.9%. Urban populations are decreasing 1.7%. The official language in Latvia is Latvian with Russian often spoken as a first or second language. The people are governed by a parliamentary democracy with 26 counties and 7 urban municipalities, and are primarily Lutheran, with Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic minorities.

The Republic of Lithuania is 65,200 square kilometers and borders Latvia, Belarus, Poland, Russia and the Baltic Sea. In 1990, Lithuania was the first Soviet republic to declare its independence from Russia. Its capital city of Vilnius is the largest city with a population of 541,278. Lithuania’s total population of 3.43 million is shrinking at 0.3%, and 66.6% of the people live in urban areas.  The country is governed by a parliamentary democracy and the official language is Lithuanian, with minorities speaking Russian and Polish. The major religion is Roman Catholic with fewer people practicing Russian Orthodoxy and Protestantism.

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is about half the size of Rhode Island at 2,586 square kilometers.  It’s located between Germany, France and Belgium and its total population of 462,690 is growing at 1.28%.  92.4% of the population lives in an urban area and the capital city of Luxembourg is the largest with 77,300 people.  The primary language is Luxembourgish with both German and French used as administrative languages.  Luxembourg law forbids the collection of religious data, but the country has historically been Roman Catholic. It is governed by a constitutional monarchy.

The Republic of Malta is an island in the Mediterranean Sea that is 316 square kilometers. Malta’s total population of about 398,534 is growing at 0.42% and 92.1% of the people live in an urban setting. The capital city of Valletta is also the largest city.  The people of Malta are nearly exclusively Roman Catholic, and both Maltese and English are used as official languages. The government is a republic with 13 electoral districts.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands shares its borders with Germany, Belgium and the North Sea. It covers 41,160 square kilometers, which is slightly less than double the size of New Jersey. The Netherlands’ total population of 16.15 million is growing at 0.5% and 81% of the people live in urban areas. The capital city of Amsterdam has about 739,104 people and The Hague, where the seat of government is located, has a population of 469,059. The largest group of Dutch people is not affiliated with any religion, and both Dutch and Frisian are official languages. The Netherlands is governed by a constitutional monarchy with 12 provinces and the 2 dependant areas of Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles.

The Republic of Poland is about the size of New Mexico at 311,730 square kilometers and it’s located along the Baltic Sea between Germany and the Ukraine. It also shares a border with Lithuania, Belarus, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The total population of Poland is 38.5 million and it’s shrinking at 0.1%. About 65% of the people live in urban areas with slightly less than 1.7 million living in Warsaw, the capital city. Poland is governed by a republic with 16 provinces, and the people speak Polish. The majority of Polish people adhere to the Roman Catholic religion.

The Portuguese Republic borders Spain and the Atlantic Ocean and is about the size of Indiana with 88,500 square kilometers. The total population is growing at 0.2% and 63% live in an urban area. Portugal’s largest city is the capital, Lisbon, with 1.9 million people. The people speak Portuguese and are 97% Roman Catholic. Portugal is governed by a parliamentary democracy with 18 districts and two autonomous regions, the Azores and Madeira Islands.

The Slovak Republic separated peacefully from the Czech Republic in 1993. It is about twice the size of New Hampshire at 48,845 square kilometers and it shares its borders with the Czech Republic, Poland, the Ukraine, Hungary and Austria. The Slovak population of 5.4 million is growing at 0.15% and 57% of the people live in urban areas. Its capital city of Bratislava is the largest city in Slovakia with about 428,672 people and the official language is Slovak, with Hungarian, Roma, and Ukrainian spoken as secondary languages. The people are governed by a parliamentary democracy with eight administrative regions. The primary religion is Roman Catholic with minorities consisting of Protestants and Greek Catholics.

The Republic of Slovenia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 after a 10 day war. It shares its borders with Italy, Austria, Hungary, Croatia and the Adriatic Sea. Slovenia’s population of 1.97 million is shrinking at 0.1% and its largest city, the capital of Ljubljana, has about 265,881 people. The official language is Slovene, but many people understand English and Croatian is spoken by a large minority. Hungarian, Italian and German are spoken near the border regions. Slightly over half of the population is Roman Catholic with the remainder mostly unaffiliated. Slovenia is a parliamentary democracy with 193 administrative units.

The Kingdom of Spain, including the Balearic and Canary Islands, is about twice the size of Oregon. Its total population of 41.06 million is growing at 0.2% with 77% of the people living in urban settings. The capital of Madrid is the largest city with 5.5 million people and the city of Barcelona has about 4.9 million. Spain shares its borders with Portugal, France, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean and the Bay of Biscay. The Spanish people speak Spanish as their official language and consider Catalan, Galician and Basque regional languages. Spain is largely Roman Catholic and is governed by a parliamentary monarchy with 17 autonomous regions and 2 autonomous cities.

The Kingdom of Sweden is about the size of California with 411,615 square kilometers. Its population of 8.88 million is growing at 0.1% and about 83% of the people live in urban areas. Sweden’s capital city of Stockholm is also its largest city, with 765,044 people. The people speak Swedish as their primary language with Finnish spoken by minorities in the north and English almost universally understood. Sweden is bordered by Norway, Finland and the Baltic Sea. Most Swedes are Lutheran while about 10% are divided into various minority religions. The country is governed by a constitutional monarchy with 21 counties and 289 municipalities.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is slightly smaller than Oregon at 244,855 square kilometers. It shares its borders with Ireland, the North Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean, the Celtic Sea and the English Channel. The population of the U.K. is 59.25 million and it’s growing at 0.3%. Eighty-nine percent of the people live in urban areas with London, the capital city, having a population of about 7.2 million. English is the primary language with Welsh, Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic also spoken. The Church of England is the primary religion with Roman Catholicism, Presbyterianism, and Islam also practiced. The U.K. is governed by a constitutional monarchy.