Europe is one of the world's seven continents, second-smallest continent by surface area, covering about 10,180,000 square kilometres (3,930,000 sq mi) or 2% of the Earth's surface and about 6.8% of its land area.

Physiographically, it is the northwestern peninsula of the larger landmass known as Eurasia (or Afro-Eurasia): Asia occupies the eastern bulk of this continuous landmass (save the Suez Canal separating Asia and Africa) and all share a common continental shelf.

Europe's eastern frontier is delineated by the Ural Mountains in Russia. The boundary continues to the Caspian Sea, the crest of the Caucasus Mountains or, alternatively, the Kura River in the Caucasus, and on to the Black Sea; the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles conclude the Asian boundary. The Mediterranean Sea to the south separates Europe from Africa. The western boundary is the Atlantic Ocean; Iceland, though on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and nearer to Greenland.

Europe is the continent of 49 states; Russia is the largest by both area and population, while the Vatican City is the smallest. Europe is the third most populous continent after Asia and Africa, with a population of 830 million (in 2009) or about 12% of the world's population, according to the United Nations’ estimations. Russia and Turkey are the two transcontinental countries, split between Europe and Asia. The European states are the following by alphabetical order:

Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, F.Y.R.O.M. (Formal Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia),
Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Iceland, Ireland, Italy,
Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg,
Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia,
San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vatican City.