2025 Facts & Figures: Europe

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}

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}

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}

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}