European Countries by Region: North, South, East and West

the short answer

The UN puts 44 countries in Europe and splits them into four regions: Eastern Europe (10), Northern Europe (10), Southern Europe (15) and Western Europe (9). It has no Central Europe, and it counts Turkey, Cyprus, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in Asia.

10Eastern10Northern15Southern9Western

I group the countries the way the UN Statistics Division does in its M49 standard, the list the UN uses in its own statistics. The UN says the groups are for statistical convenience and imply nothing about politics. That is why a few of them surprise people: the UK is in Northern Europe, Czechia in Eastern Europe and Slovenia in Southern Europe. For a single A to Z list, see all European countries and capitals.

What countries are in Eastern Europe?

The UN lists 10 countries in Eastern Europe: Belarus, Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine. All of Russia counts here, including the part east of the Urals that lies in Asia.

Six of the ten are in the European Union: Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine are not. Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia also call themselves Central European (see Central Europe below).

The 10 countries of Eastern Europe (UN)
Country	Capital
Belarus	Minsk
Bulgaria	Sofia
Czechia	Prague
Hungary	Budapest
Moldova	Chisinau
Poland	Warsaw
Romania	Bucharest
Russia	Moscow
Slovakia	Bratislava
Ukraine	Kyiv

What countries are in Western Europe?

The UN's Western Europe has 9 countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The UK and Ireland are not on it. The UN puts both in Northern Europe, although people often call them Western Europe.

Austria, Germany, Switzerland and sometimes Liechtenstein are also called Central European.

The 9 countries of Western Europe (UN)
Country	Capital
Austria	Vienna
Belgium	Brussels
France	Paris
Germany	Berlin
Liechtenstein	Vaduz
Luxembourg	Luxembourg
Monaco	Monaco
Netherlands	Amsterdam
Switzerland	Bern

What countries are in Northern Europe?

Northern Europe also has 10 countries: the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), and the UK and Ireland.

Scandinavia in the narrow sense is only Denmark, Norway and Sweden; add Finland and Iceland and you have the Nordic countries. The UN also lists several territories in this region, such as the Faroe Islands, Svalbard, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey. None of them is an independent country, so they are not in the count.

The 10 countries of Northern Europe (UN)
Country	Capital
Denmark	Copenhagen
Estonia	Tallinn
Finland	Helsinki
Iceland	Reykjavik
Ireland	Dublin
Latvia	Riga
Lithuania	Vilnius
Norway	Oslo
Sweden	Stockholm
United Kingdom	London

What countries are in Southern Europe?

Southern Europe is the largest group, with 15 countries: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and Vatican City (the UN lists it as the Holy See).

It includes Spain, Portugal and Andorra, Italy and the two small states inside it, Malta, Greece, Albania and the countries of the former Yugoslavia. Britannica, by contrast, calls Slovenia a country of central Europe. Kosovo is not on the UN list at all.

The 15 countries of Southern Europe (UN)
Country	Capital
Albania	Tirana
Andorra	Andorra la Vella
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Sarajevo
Croatia	Zagreb
Greece	Athens
Italy	Rome
Malta	Valletta
Montenegro	Podgorica
North Macedonia	Skopje
Portugal	Lisbon
San Marino	San Marino
Serbia	Belgrade
Slovenia	Ljubljana
Spain	Madrid
Vatican City	Vatican City

Which countries are in Central Europe?

Central Europe is not one of the UN regions, so there is no official list. The narrow version is the Visegrád Group, four countries that describe themselves as Central European: Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The UN puts all four in Eastern Europe.

Wider lists add Austria, Germany, Slovenia and Switzerland. Britannica describes all eight as central European, Germany as "north-central" and Austria as "south-central". The table shows where the UN puts each of them.

Countries often called Central European, and their UN region
Country	UN region
Austria	Western Europe
Czechia	Eastern Europe
Germany	Western Europe
Hungary	Eastern Europe
Poland	Eastern Europe
Slovakia	Eastern Europe
Slovenia	Southern Europe
Switzerland	Western Europe

Where do Turkey, Cyprus, the Caucasus and Kosovo go?

Seven countries that often appear on lists of Europe sit outside the UN's four European regions. Add them to the 44 and you get 51, the number our Europe Countries Game asks you to name.

Turkey
UN region:

Western Asia
Why Europe lists include it:

Turkish Thrace, its northwest corner, is in Europe
Cyprus
UN region:

Western Asia
Why Europe lists include it:

EU member since 2004
Georgia
UN region:

Western Asia
Why Europe lists include it:

Council of Europe member
Armenia
UN region:

Western Asia
Why Europe lists include it:

Council of Europe member
Azerbaijan
UN region:

Western Asia
Why Europe lists include it:

Council of Europe member
Kazakhstan
UN region:

Central Asia
Why Europe lists include it:

A small part of the west is in Europe
Kosovo
UN region:

Not listed
Why Europe lists include it:

Balkan state that declared independence from Serbia in 2008

Countries on many Europe lists that the UN places elsewhere
Country	UN region	Why Europe lists include it
Turkey	Western Asia	Turkish Thrace, its northwest corner, is in Europe
Cyprus	Western Asia	EU member since 2004
Georgia	Western Asia	Council of Europe member
Armenia	Western Asia	Council of Europe member
Azerbaijan	Western Asia	Council of Europe member
Kazakhstan	Central Asia	A small part of the west is in Europe
Kosovo	Not listed	Balkan state that declared independence from Serbia in 2008

Britannica's line between Europe and Asia runs along the Ural Mountains, the Emba River in western Kazakhstan and the north shore of the Caspian Sea, which leaves the whole Caucasus in Asia. It also describes other schemes that put Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan partly or fully in Europe. The countries that this kind of line cuts in two have their own page: countries on two continents.

Why lists of European regions disagree

The UN regions are built for counting, so they often clash with how countries see themselves or how they were grouped in the past. These are the usual swaps:

The UK and Ireland are Northern Europe for the UN and often Western Europe in everyday speech.
Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia are Eastern Europe for the UN and Central Europe for themselves.
Austria, Germany and Switzerland are Western Europe for the UN and often Central Europe in other lists.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are Northern Europe for the UN. They were Soviet republics until 1991 and are still sometimes listed as Eastern Europe.
Turkey, Cyprus and the three Caucasus countries are Asia for the UN and Europe on many political lists.

The Cold War split still shows in the UN's Eastern Europe. Britannica defines the Eastern bloc as the countries aligned with the Soviet Union from about 1945 to 1990, among them Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Those five, with Czechoslovakia now split into Czechia and Slovakia, make six of the UN's ten. The other four, Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine, were part of the Soviet Union itself.

All 51 countries with capital and UN region · CSV

Can you name all 51?

Type every European country from memory and watch the map fill in. Use the regions above as a memory aid.

Play Europe Countries Game

Questions people ask

What are the four regions of Europe?

In the UN scheme they are Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western Europe, with 10, 10, 15 and 9 countries. Central Europe is a common fifth label, but the UN does not use it.

Is Russia in Eastern Europe?

Yes. The UN puts all of Russia in Eastern Europe, even though the land east of the Ural Mountains is in Asia. Moscow is on the European side.

Is Poland in Central or Eastern Europe?

Both labels are used. The UN puts Poland in Eastern Europe, while Britannica and the Visegrád Group, which Poland belongs to, call it Central European.

Is the UK in Western or Northern Europe?

The UN puts the UK and Ireland in Northern Europe. In everyday speech both are often called Western Europe.

European Countries by Region