EUROPE: TOTAL COUNTRIES: 46 | TOTAL POPULATION: 828 million Jim McMahon (map)

2025 Facts & Figures: Europe

December 9, 2024

16

VOTING AGE in AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, GERMANY, and MALTA. In GREECE, 17-year-olds can vote. In most of the rest of Europe, people have to be 18 to cast a ballot.

^{Source: Euronews}

JOINING NATO

SWEDEN, a historically neutral country for more than two centuries, became the newest member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as of March 2024. Both Sweden and its neighbor Finland joined NATO after Russian troops invaded Ukraine in 2022, bringing to 32 the number of members in the military alliance of European nations, the U.S., and Canada.

^{Source: The New York Times}

5

NUMBER OF YEARS it has taken France to restore Notre Dame Cathedral (above) in Paris, FRANCE, following a massive fire in 2019. The cathedral, which dates back to the 12th century, suffered a collapsed roof and spire in the blaze, which also gutted the church’s interior. An 8,000-pipe organ, France’s largest musical instrument, survived the fire.

^{Source: AP News}

SILENCED VOICE

In February 2024, ALEKSEI NAVALNY, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent political opponent, died at the Arctic prison where he was serving a 19-year sentence for what critics say were bogus charges. A lawyer and opposition leader, Navalny (above) organized antigovernment demonstrations and advocated against corruption in Russian government.

^{Source: The New York Times}

800

NUMBER OF YEARS the volcanoes on ICELAND’s Reykjanes Peninsula had remained dormant before 2021. Since then, eruptions and earthquakes have occurred regularly, displacing villagers, destroying homes, and hampering tourism in a nation heavily reliant on visitors.

^{Source: The New York Times}