The chart above shows the regional populations of the European Union. As the EU is a democracy, this shows where electoral power resides in the Union.
Findings
- Western Europe makes up practically half (49.65%) of the population of the EU.
- It takes all three other regions to come up with enough people to rival Western Europe.
Caveats
- The data is from 2010.
- This data does not represent voting age population, however, the age cohorts are pretty similar throughout the EU.
- Western Europe consists of Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
- Southern Europe consists of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.
- Eastern Europe consists of Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
- Northern Europe consists of Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
Details
Assuming that age is distributed equally throughout the four regions of the EU, Western Europe has so much power in shaping the political landscape of the EU.
When this is coupled with Western Europe's economic dominance, it is clear that EU policy will most likely reflect the interests of Western Europe than any other region of the bloc.
Sources
Eurostat. 2017. "Data Explorer." Accessed December 11, 2017. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=urb_lpop1&lang=en.