The list below includes all entities falling even partially under any of the various common definitions of Europe, geographical or political. Fifty generally recognised sovereign states, Kosovo with limited, but substantial, international recognition, and four largely unrecognised de facto states with limited to no recognition have territory in Europe and/or membership in international European organisations. There are eight entities that are not integral parts of a European state or have special political arrangements.

Boundary of Europe Geographical

Under the commonly used geographic definition, the boundary between the continents of Asia and Europe stretches along the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, and the Caspian Sea in the east, the Greater Caucasus mountain range, the Black Sea, and the Turkish Straits (including the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles), in the south. Based on such a commonly used division of the continents, the transcontinental countries of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkey have territory in both Asia and Europe.

The island of Cyprus in West Asia is close to Anatolia (a.k.a. Asia Minor) but is often considered to be a part of Europe and is a member of the European Union. Like Cyprus, Armenia is also entirely in West Asia but is a member of several European organisations.

Although the Mediterranean Sea provides a clearer divide between Africa and Europe, some traditionally European islands such as Malta, Pantelleria, the Pelagian Islands, and a part of Sicily are actually located on the African Plate. The island of Iceland is a part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, straddling the Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate.

Some territories which are geographically outside of Europe have strong connections with European states. Greenland, for example, has socio-political connections with Europe and is part of the Kingdom of Denmark but is located closer to the continent of North America and is usually grouped with that continent.

Other territories are part of European countries but are geographically located on other continents, such as the French overseas regions, the Spanish Canary Islands and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla on the coast of Africa, and the Dutch BES islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba in the Caribbean.

Political

The political boundaries of Europe vary with the definition of Europe that is used by different political organizations. For instance, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights include 46 countries in their definition of Europe. The European Higher Education Area includes 48 countries, and the European Cultural Convention and the European Olympic Committees include 50 countries in their definitions.

Sovereign states

A sovereign state is a political association with effective sovereignty over a population for whom it makes decisions in the national interest. According to the Montevideo Convention, a state must have a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states.

UN member states and UNGA non-member observer state There are 50 sovereign states with territory located within the common definition of Europe and/or membership in international European organisations that are almost universally recognized internationally. All are either member states of the United Nations or non-member observer states at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), and all except Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Vatican City are members of the Council of Europe. 44 countries have their capital city located within Europe, and (as of 2022) 27 of those countries are member states of the European Union, which means that they are highly integrated with one another and share their sovereignty through EU institutions. There are currently nine states recognized as candidate countries for membership in the European Union. Seven of these nine states are located in Europe (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine), while two have territories in both Asia and Europe (Georgia and Turkey).

Each entry in the list below has a map of its location in Europe. Territory in Europe is shown in dark-green; territory not geographically in Europe is shown in a lighter shade of green. The lightest shade of green represents other states in the EU and is shown on the maps of all territories within the EU. For candidate members of the EU, see potential enlargement of the European Union.

Flag Map English short, formal names, and ISO Domestic short and formal name(s) Capital Population Area Currency EU Membership AlbaniaRepublic of AlbaniaALB Tirana Albanian lek Candidate negotiating AndorraPrincipality of AndorraAND Andorra la Vella Euro No ArmeniaRepublic of ArmeniaARM () Yerevan () Armenian dram No AustriaRepublic of AustriaAUT Vienna Euro Yes AzerbaijanRepublic of AzerbaijanAZE Baku Azerbaijani manat No BelarusRepublic of BelarusBLR () () Minsk () () Belarusian rouble No BelgiumKingdom of BelgiumBEL Brussels Euro Yes Bosnia and HerzegovinaBIH Bosnian: Bosna i HercegovinaCroatian: Bosna i HercegovinaSerbian: Босна и Херцеговина SarajevoBosnian: SarajevoCroatian: SarajevoSerbian: Сарајево () Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark Candidate BulgariaRepublic of BulgariaBGR () Sofia () Euro Yes CroatiaRepublic of CroatiaHRV Zagreb Euro Yes CyprusRepublic of CyprusCYP () Nicosia () Euro Yes CzechiaCzech RepublicCZE Prague Czech koruna Yes DenmarkKingdom of DenmarkDNK Copenhagen Danish krone Yes EstoniaRepublic of EstoniaEST Tallinn Euro Yes FinlandRepublic of FinlandFIN Helsinki Euro Yes FranceFrench RepublicFRA Paris Euro Yes GeorgiaGEO () Tbilisi / T'bilisi () Georgian lari Candidate GermanyFederal Republic of GermanyDEU Berlin Euro Yes GreeceHellenic RepublicGRC () Athens () Euro Yes HungaryHUN Budapest Hungarian forint Yes IcelandISL Reykjavík Icelandic króna No IrelandIRL Dublin Euro Yes ItalyItalian RepublicITA Rome Euro Yes KazakhstanRepublic of KazakhstanKAZ () () Astana () () Kazakhstani tenge No LatviaRepublic of LatviaLVA Riga Euro Yes LiechtensteinPrincipality of LiechtensteinLIE Vaduz Liechtenstein franc No LithuaniaRepublic of LithuaniaLTU Vilnius Euro Yes LuxembourgGrand Duchy of LuxembourgLUX Luxembourg Euro Yes MaltaRepublic of MaltaMLT Valletta Euro Yes MoldovaRepublic of MoldovaMDA Chișinău Moldovan leu Candidate negotiating MonacoPrincipality of MonacoMCO Monaco Euro No MontenegroMNE () Podgorica () Euro Candidate negotiating NetherlandsKingdom of the NetherlandsNLD Amsterdam (capital)The Hague (seat of government) Euro Yes North MacedoniaRepublic of North MacedoniaMKD () Skopje () Macedonian denar Candidate negotiating NorwayKingdom of NorwayNOR Oslo Norwegian krone No PolandRepublic of PolandPOL Warsaw Polish złoty Yes PortugalPortuguese RepublicPRT Lisbon Euro Yes RomaniaROU Bucharest Romanian leu Yes RussiaRussian FederationRUS () Moscow () Russian rouble No San MarinoRepublic of San MarinoSMR San Marino Euro No SerbiaRepublic of SerbiaSRB () Belgrade () Serbian dinar Candidate negotiating SlovakiaSlovak RepublicSVK Bratislava Euro Yes SloveniaRepublic of SloveniaSVN Ljubljana Euro Yes SpainKingdom of SpainESP Madrid Euro Yes SwedenKingdom of SwedenSWE Stockholm Swedish krona Yes SwitzerlandSwiss ConfederationCHE Bern / BerneItalian and Romansh: Berna Swiss franc No TurkeyRepublic of TürkiyeTUR Ankara Turkish lira Candidate with frozen negotiations UkraineUKR () Kyiv () Ukrainian hryvnia Candidate negotiating United KingdomUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandGBR London Sterling No Vatican CityVatican City StateVAT Vatican City Euro No

De facto states The following five entities in Europe have partial diplomatic recognition by one or more UN member states (and therefore are defined as states by the constitutive theory of statehood) or have no diplomatic recognition by any UN member state but are defined as states by the declarative theory of statehood. None are members of the UN, Council of Europe or EU.

Flag Map English common and formal names Status Domestic common and formal names Capital Population Area AbkhaziaRepublic of Abkhazia Claimed as an autonomous republic of Georgia. Recognised by five UN member states. () () Sukhumi () () 250,000 KosovoRepublic of Kosovo Claimed by Serbia. Has been recognised as sovereign by 109 UN member states. () Pristina () 1,836,529 Northern CyprusTurkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Claimed as part of the Republic of Cyprus. Recognised by Turkey. North Nicosia 294,906 South OssetiaRepublic of South Ossetia Claimed as part of Georgia. Recognised by five UN member states. () () Tskhinvali () () 56,000 Transnistria / Trans-DniesterPridnestrovian Moldavian Republic Claimed as a territorial unit of Moldova. De facto independent state,. recognised by two non-UN states. () () Tiraspol () () 347,251

Non-sovereign territories Dependent territories The following six European entities are dependent territories.

Flag Map English common and formal names Legal status Domestic common and formal names Capital Population Area Akrotiri and DhekeliaSovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia British Overseas Territory () Episkopi Cantonment () 15,700 Faroe Islands / Faeroe Islands Autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark Tórshavn 54,000 Gibraltar British Overseas Territory Gibraltar 29,185 GuernseyBailiwick of Guernsey Crown Dependency in right of GuernseyQueen and Crown dependencies page of the official website of the British Monarchy Ministry of Justice's fact sheet on the UK's relationship with the Crown Dependencies Guernésiais: Guernési – Bailliage de Guernési Saint Peter PortGuernésiais: Saint Pierre Port 65,849 Isle of Man Crown Dependency in right of ManQueen and Crown dependencies page of the official website of the British Monarchy Douglas 86,866 JerseyBailiwick of Jersey Crown Dependency in right of Jersey Jèrriais: Jèrri – Bailliage de Jèrri Saint HelierJèrriais: Saint Hélyi 96,513

Areas of special sovereignty The following places are considered integral parts of their sovereign state, but have a political arrangement that was decided through an international agreement.

* = A part of the EU, although there may be some special arrangements. Flag Map English common and formal names Legal status Domestic common and formal names Capital Population Area Åland*Åland Islands Self-governing area of Finland, significant autonomy as the result of the Åland crisis Mariehamn 27,500 Northern Ireland Part of the United Kingdom, devolved government determined by the Good Friday Agreement Belfast 1,810,863 Svalbard Special territory of Norway, determined by the Svalbard Treaty Longyearbyen 2,019

See also International organisations in Europe Lists of European countries: by area by GDP by GDP per capita by GDP PPP by population List of former sovereign states in Europe Predecessors of sovereign states in Europe Regions of Europe

Notes

References