Population of Europe Throughout History (1600-2020)

The past four centuries have seen great changes in the size and composition countries in Europe and the surrounding area. This data series focuses on what the largest polities were throughout recent history. Given the challenges of demography, the visualization begins in 1600 and details the numerous changes to population within the interim period. Europe today has eight times the amount of people it did just 400 years ago.

A wide variety of sources were employed in order to project the data. Tacitus.nu, Penguin Atlas of Recent History, various academic studies, and Eurostat provided most of the information. The population of colonies and holdings outside of Europe are excluded with the exception of the Russian and Ottoman Empires. Given the numerous changes in borders, the continental total can sometimes be erratic, shifting downwards or upwards for seemingly no reason. Generally, this is because various other nations are either no longer being recorded or diverging sources, not necessarily due to massive casualties. Examples include after the fall of the Soviet Union, where many former Soviet Republics are no longer included in the total, and the decline of the Ottoman Empire, with the loss of Egypt and North Africa. I've attempted to include as many states as possible, though there are a few excluded during portions of the presentation due to logistical difficulties. Obviously no data set is perfect, especially on matters so speculative such as population growth in the 1600s and 1700s, but I have put in my best effort. Please comment if you notice any serious errors so they can be rectified.

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