Knowing and choosing

Within less than four months 375 million voters, representing over 500 million citizens, will be called to cast their votes to elect the new EU Parliament. In the days comprised between June 4-7 – according to electoral systems that will vary from one country to the next and on the basis on national registers -736 MEPs for the 2009-2014 legislature will be elected to vote EU regulations and voice the claims of Member States populations. But which is the Europe that these MEPs will bring in the Union’s seats? What is the demographic, social, economic, cultural profile of the Old Continent?China and India behind, the US ahead. The European Union, born as the European Economic Community in 1957 by will of six founding countries (Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg), today encompasses 27 States. It’s a large supranational multilingual community with a territory extending over 4 million square kilometers, that is, approximately a quarter of Russia, less than half of the United States and China and scarcely more than India. But in terms of inhabitants, the EU is surpassed only by China and India, with over one billion each; while Community Europe has more inhabitants than the United States (295 million), Russia (145) and Japan (128). From the “largest” to the “smallest”. As relates to territorial extension, France is the Union’s largest country with 550thousand square kilometers of national territory, followed by Spain (506thousand), Sweden (410), Germany (357), Finland (304), Italy (295), the United Kingdom (243) and Romania (230). A number of average-sized countries rank further down the list, the small ones being Slovenia (20 thousand square kilometers), Cyprus (9thousand), Luxembourg (slightly over 2 thousand) and Malta (300 square kilometers). In terms of demography, Germany ranks first with 82 million inhabitants (the figures are rounded off), followed by France (63), the United Kingdom (60), Italy (59), Spain (43), Poland (38). The situation in other Member States varies, considering 21 million live in Romania, 10 and a half in Portugal and 5 million in Slovakia, extending to smaller demographic realities that are below one million inhabitants like Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta. Community and national data banks. Various sources enable “snapshots” of Europe. Eurostat is the statistics office of the EU with a limitless data bank. This study institute periodically issues quality and quantity researches that enable to learn more about the situation in the Continent and its evolution under different aspects: from population mobility to employment, from economic performance to medical pathologies. Eurostat collaborates with national statistical institutes from which it draws most of the data developed in Community headquarters. However, information on the Union is supplied also by private research institutes, universities, Chambers of Commerce and local bodies, along with numerous opinion-poll centers, that include the Community’s, called Eurobarometer. Housing density. Returning to the EU: by comparing the single countries’ areas with their inhabitants, it’s possible to identify the most populated territories. Among the larger countries, the United Kingdom has some 247 inhabitants per square kilometer, followed by Germany (231), Italy (194), Poland (122), while France registers 110 and Spain 85. But Portugal counts 114 inhabitants per square kilometer (remarkable regional differences existing in each State should also be considered), Slovakia 109, Lithuania 53 and Cyprus 130. White-haired Europe. An element that is often considered in social and demographic analyses, is the life expectation calculated at the moment of birth. On this front it is to be noted that Europeans’ life expectancy is increasing. The male population born in the 1960s had a mean life expectancy of 67, while today it’s over 75. As relates to the female population, life expectancy used be 73 years, while today it’s higher than 80. Accordingly, the percentage of senior citizens in the EU is on the increase while over-80-year-old citizens represent 4% of the overall population. At the same time, a decrease in the youth’s presence was registered. Youth under 18 represent less than half of the overall figure. In a number of countries, thanks to a more vibrant birth-rate, teen-agers constitute a remarkable part of the population. It is the case of Cyprus, where they represent 28% of the overall population. While figures range from 17% in Italy, Spain and Bulgaria to 18% in Germany, reaching 21% in the case of France, Slovakia and Lithuania. (1 – to be continued)