Country Profiles

Western Europe

Andorra

The Principality of Andorra (Catalan: Principat d'Andorra) is a small landlocked country that is also a principality in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by France and Spain.  read full article »

Austria

Austria is situated in southern Central Europe, covering a part of the eastern Alps and the Danube region and, although land-locked, it borders on the Mediterranean area. The country, situated at the heart of a continent, has historically been a junction for communication links between the trade and cultural centers of Europe.   read full article »

Belgium

The Kingdom of Belgium is a country in Western Europe, bordered by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, France, and the North Sea.  read full article »

Denmark

The Kingdom of Denmark is geographically the smallest Nordic country and is part of the European Union. It is located in Scandinavia, which is in northern Europe. Denmark borders the Baltic Sea and the North Sea and is north of Germany and Poland, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway. Additionally, the territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands are under the Danish crown, while enjoying political home rule.  read full article »

Finland

The Republic of Finland is a Nordic country in northeastern Europe, bordered by the Baltic Sea to the southwest, the Gulf of Finland to the southeast and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west. Finland has land frontiers with Sweden, Norway and Russia and a maritime border with Estonia.   read full article »

France

The French Republic is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents.  read full article »

Germany

The Federal Republic of Germany is one of the world's leading industrialized countries, located in central Europe. Germany is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, to the east by Poland, and the Czech Republic, to the south by Austria and Switzerland, and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Transversed by the Rhine, Danube, and Elbe rivers, Germany has sat at the crossroads of European trade and cultural routes.  read full article »

Greece

Greece, formally called the Hellenic Republic, is a country in the southeast of Europe on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula. It has land boundaries with Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania to the north; and with Turkey to the east. The waters of the Aegean Sea border on Greece to the east, and those of the Ionian and Mediterranean Seas to the west and south.   read full article »

Iceland

The Republic of Iceland is a borderless country in the northern Atlantic Ocean, located between Greenland, Scotland and Norway.  read full article »

Ireland

Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe. It lies on the west side of the Irish Sea, close to the island of Great Britain. It is composed of the Republic of Ireland which covers five sixths of the island and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the northeastern sixth of the island. The population of the island is approximately 5.7 million people, most of whom live on the east coast.  read full article »

Italy

The Italian Republic or Italy is a southern European country, comprising a boot-shaped peninsula and two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea: Sicily and Sardinia. It shares its nothern alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia.   read full article »

Liechtenstein

The Principality of Liechtenstein is a small landlocked country in Central Europe bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east.  read full article »

Luxembourg

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a small landlocked state in the north-west of the continental European Union, bordered by France, Germany and Belgium.  read full article »

Netherlands

The Netherlands is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands is a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarch, located in northwestern Europe. It borders the North Sea to the northeast, the English Channel to the northwest, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east.  read full article »

Norway

The Kingdom of Norway is a Nordic country on the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, bordering Sweden, Finland and Russia, with territorial waters bordering Danish and British waters.  read full article »

Portugal

The Republic of Portugal is a democratic republic located on the west and southwest parts of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe; it is the westernmost country in continental Europe. Portugal is bordered by Spain to the north and east and by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south.  read full article »

Spain

The Kingdom of Spain or Spain is a country located in the southwest of Europe. It shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. To the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it borders France and the tiny principality of Andorra.  read full article »

Sweden

The Kingdom of Sweden is a Nordic country in Scandinavia, in Northern Europe. It is bordered by Norway on the west, Finland on the northeast, the Skagerrak Strait and the Kattegat Strait on the southwest, and the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia on the east.  read full article »

Switzerland

he Swiss Confederation or Switzerland is a landlocked federal state in Europe, with neighbours Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. The country has a strong tradition of political and military neutrality, but also of international co-operation, and is home to many international organisations.  read full article »

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and a member of the European Union. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, UK or, inaccurately, as Great Britain or Britain.  read full article »