This map shows the population density in the European continent and its surrounding territories in 2015. The shading represents the population in number of inhabitants per grid cell. Darker colours show high number of inhabitants per cell and lighter colours show low number of inhabitants per cell.
North-eastern Europe is sparsely populated with people concentrated to large cities such as Mos-cow, St Petersburg, the Baltic capitals and around the coastal areas of the Nordic Region. From Denmark, Poland and the Ukraine south¬wards, more populated areas can be found along with a dispersed settlement pattern. There is a major concentration of population in an urban network corridor running from Northern England across the Benelux-countries through Germany towards Northern Italy. Central Spain and Southern Portugal display a more sparsely populated set¬tlement structure similar to that of the Northern parts of Europe.
The Nordic population is to a large degree con¬centrated towards the coastal areas. There is a major settlement corridor from the area around the fjord of Oslo which contin¬ues into Sweden along the west coast towards the greater Copenhagen area. Another settlement corridor runs from the Greater Gothenburg region to the northeast, through Stockholm, to the Finnish triangle of Helsinki, Tampere and Turku. In Iceland, the population is to a large degree concentrated in the capital region of Reykjavík. There are also relatively significant settlements along Norway’s south-west coast and in urban settlements scattered around the Baltic and Bothnian Seas. Denmark is different, with a more distributed spatial settlement pattern, rather like that of Germany and other parts of continental Europe. The Faroe Islands have a rather evenly distributed spatial settlement pattern, while in Åland the population is more concentrated.
The map is based on data from the ESA, Joint Research Centre, European Commission. The data from census or administrative units was disaggregated to grid cells measuring 1000 x 1000 meters.
