Europe: Subregions, Climate and Economy

What is Europe?

Europe is the part of Eurasia that lies west of the Ural Mountains. It is a small continent, only about 7 of every 100 square kilometres of land on Earth. But about 1 in 10 people on Earth live here.

The sea is close everywhere. This helped trade, ships and big ports. Most of Europe lies in the temperate belt, so it has four seasons.

To study Europe, we split it into subregions: North, West, East and South. Different books draw the lines a little differently, so think of them as areas, not walls.

Northern Europe

• Land: forests, thousands of lakes, long coasts with deep sea-valleys called fjords, and the Scandinavian Mountains.
• Weather: cold, long winters. In the far north the sun hardly sets in summer and hardly rises in winter.
• People and money: few people for the space. Rich countries that earn from timber, fish, hydropower (electricity from falling water), machines and technology.

Western Europe

• Land and weather: low hills and plains. A warm sea current (the North Atlantic Drift) makes winters mild and the weather wet.
• People: many big cities close together, such as London and Paris. The Rhine river carries goods through busy industrial areas.
• Economy: old coal and steel industries grew into cars, machines, banking, trade and other services. This is the richest and most connected subregion. Most people work in services, not farms or factories.

Eastern Europe

• Land: the great East European Plain, flat for thousands of kilometres. The Volga is the longest river in Europe (about 3,500 km). The Ural Mountains are the eastern edge.
• Weather: cold winters, warm summers, less rain far from the sea.
• Economy: farms (wheat, sunflower), mines (coal, iron), oil and gas, and heavy industry. Many pipelines carry gas and oil to the west.

Southern Europe

• Land: peninsulas with hills and high mountains, the Alps, the Pyrenees and the Apennines. Some volcanoes, such as Etna and Vesuvius, and earthquakes happen here.
• Weather: the Mediterranean climate: hot dry summers and mild wet winters.
• Economy: olives, grapes, citrus fruit, ships, fashion and above all tourism, which brings in a large share of money.

Economy in numbers: how to read statistics

Geographers compare regions with a few simple numbers:

• Population density = people ÷ area (people per km²). Western Europe is crowded; northern Europe is not.
• GDP per person = total value of goods and services in a year ÷ number of people. It shows average income.
• Sectors: what share of jobs is in farming, industry and services. In rich Western Europe, services employ most people (more than 7 in 10).

Use rounded numbers and compare, such as "about 10 times as dense". Always say the year of the data, because numbers change.

Try it: your own Europe map

1. Draw the shape of Europe on paper. Put the Atlantic on the left and the Urals on the right.
2. Use four colours for N, W, E, S.
3. Press each region in the 3D and add one river, one mountain and one city to your map.
4. Guess first: which region has the fewest people per km²? Then check with the readout. (The north.)

Key formulas and definitions

• Population density = population ÷ area (people per km²)
• GDP per person = GDP ÷ population
• Four subregions: North, West, East, South
• Mild West = warm North Atlantic Drift
• Key terms: fjord, plain, Mediterranean climate, hydropower, services sector, tourism

Worked examples

Common mistakes

• Thinking Europe is one block with one climate. It has cold, mild and hot-dry parts.
• Thinking all Europe is rich. Incomes differ a lot between subregions.
• Mixing up density (per km²) with total population.
• Thinking the subregion lines are fixed borders. Different books group countries in different ways.