Key facts and figures about Europe and the Europeans

Abstract

The European Union needs no introduction. Over half a century, it has brought political stability and economic prosperity to its citizens. It has created a frontier-free single market and a single currency, the euro. It has reunited a fractured continent. The European Union is a major economic and commercial power and the world’s biggest donor of development aid to poorer countries. Its member-ship has grown from six to 27 nations, bringing the EU’s population to nearly half a billion.