The 2008 CIA World Factbook. United States. Central Intelligence Agency

a few years the decision was made to integrate other parts of the countries' economies. In 1957, the Treaties of Rome created the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), and the six member states undertook to eliminate trade barriers among themselves by forming a common market. In 1967, the institutions of all three communities were formally merged into the European Community (EC), creating a single Commission, a single Council of Ministers, and the European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament were initially selected by national parliaments, but in 1979 the first direct elections were undertaken and they have been held every five years since. In 1973, the first enlargement of the EC took place with the addition of Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The 1980s saw further membership expansion with Greece joining in 1981 and Spain and Portugal in 1986. The 1992 Treaty of Maastricht laid the basis for further forms of cooperation in foreign and defense policy, in judicial and internal affairs, and in the creation of an economic and monetary union - including a common currency. This further integration created the European Union (EU). In 1995, Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU, raising the membership total to 15. A new currency, the euro, was launched in world money markets on 1 January 1999; it became the unit of exchange for all of the EU states except the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark. In 2002, citizens of the 12 euro-area countries began using the euro banknotes and coins. Ten new countries joined the EU in 2004 - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia - and in 2007 Bulgaria and Romania joined, bringing the current membership to 27. In order to ensure that the EU can continue to function efficiently with an expanded membership, the Treaty of Nice (in force as of 1 February 2003) set forth rules streamlining the size and procedures of EU institutions. An effort to establish an EU constitution, begun in October 2004, failed to attain unanimous ratification. A new effort, undertaken in June 2007, calls for the creation of an Intergovernmental Conference to form a political agreement, known as the Reform Treaty, which is to serve as a constitution. Unlike the constitution, however, the Reform Treaty would amend existing treaties rather than replace them.

      Geography

       European Union

      Location:

      Europe between the North Atlantic Ocean in the west and Russia,

       Belarus, and Ukraine to the east

      Map references:

      Europe

      Area:

      total: 4,324,782 sq km

      Area - comparative:

      less than one-half the size of the US

      Land boundaries:

      total: 12,440.8 km border countries: Albania 282 km, Andorra 120.3 km, Belarus 1,050 km, Croatia 999 km, Holy See 3.2 km, Liechtenstein 34.9 km, Macedonia 394 km, Moldova 450 km, Monaco 4.4 km, Norway 2,348 km, Russia 2,257 km, San Marino 39 km, Serbia 945 km, Switzerland 1,811 km, Turkey 446 km, Ukraine 1,257 km note: data for European Continent only

      Coastline:

      65,992.9 km

      Maritime claims:

      NA

      Climate:

      cold temperate; potentially subarctic in the north to temperate; mild wet winters; hot dry summers in the south

      Terrain:

      fairly flat along the Baltic and Atlantic coast; mountainous in the central and southern areas

      Elevation extremes:

      lowest point: Lammefjord, Denmark −7 m; Zuidplaspolder, Netherlands −7 m highest point: Mont Blanc 4,807 m; note - situated on the border between France and Italy

      Natural resources:

      iron ore, natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, lead, zinc, bauxite, uranium, potash, salt, hydropower, arable land, timber, fish

      Land use:

      arable land: NA permanent crops: NA other: NA

      Irrigated land:

      168,050 sq km (2003 est.)

      Natural hazards:

      flooding along coasts; avalanches in mountainous area; earthquakes in the south; volcanic eruptions in Italy; periodic droughts in Spain; ice floes in the Baltic

      Environment - current issues:

      NA

      Environment - international agreements:

      party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 82, Tropical Timber 94 signed but not ratified: Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds

      People

       European Union

      Population:

      491,018,683 (July 2008 est.)

      Age structure:

      0–14 years: 15.7% (male 37,208,905/female 35,254,445) 15–64 years: 67.2% (male 155,807,769/female 153,690,235) 65 years and over: 17.1% (male 32,592,595/female 46,273,197) (2008 est.)

      Median age:

      note - see individual country entries of member states

      Population growth rate:

      0.11% (2008 est.)

      Birth rate:

      10.25 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

      Death rate:

      10.39 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

      Net migration rate:

      1.23 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)

      Sex ratio:

      at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15–64 years: 1 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.68 male(s)/female total population: 0.92 male(s)/female (2008 est.)

      Infant mortality rate:

      total: 6.38 deaths/1,000 live births male: 7.23 deaths/1,000 live births female: 5.49 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)

      Life expectancy at birth:

      total population: 77.32 years male: 74 years female: 80.84 years (2008 est.)

      Total fertility rate:

      1.5 children born/woman (2008 est.)

      HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:

      note - see individual country entries of member states

      HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:

      note - see individual country entries of member states

      HIV/AIDS - deaths:

      note - see individual country entries of member states

      Religions:

      Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish

      Languages:

      Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish note: only official languages are listed; German, the major language of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, is the most widely spoken mother tongue - over 19% of the EU population; English is the most widely spoken language - about 49% of the EU population is conversant with it (2007)

      Government

       European Union

      Union name:

      conventional long