At the beginning of our era, Europe was, by modern standards, a rather sparsely populated mainland. And this despite the fact that some of its countries, especially Greece and the Roman Empire, were the center of world civilization, culture and science.
The population of Europe grew very slowly for a long time due to endless wars, short life expectancy and high infant mortality. Of course, the level of medicine of those times was generally not very high, in addition, the services of qualified doctors, as a rule, were available primarily to we althy people, which contributed to the overall picture.
Scientists were able to calculate the demographic data of the European continent 2-3 thousand years ago. According to this information, about 19 million people lived on this mainland by 400 BC. After another 200 years, this figure increased by only 11 million. Thus, in those days, the increase was only 5-6 million people per century. By the time of the birth of Christ, the population of Europe had reached 42,000,000. During the heyday of the power of the Roman Empire, this growth slows down. And by the time of the collapse of this state, the continent is experiencing a demographic catastrophe associated with a decline in population, inin no small part due to brutal wars. The population of Europe in those days was gradually declining. The situation stabilized only two centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire. Since then, the demographics have been slowly but steadily growing.
In the nineteenth century, the population of European countries, despite all the socio-economic problems characteristic of that time, almost doubled, and amounted to 383 million by the end of the century (against 195 million at the beginning of the century). Its growth was slowed down by demographic losses in the terrible meat grinder of the First World War, after which the continent was struck by the Spanish flu, which claimed the lives of 50,000,000 to 90,000,000 people around the world.
Over the next 20 years, demographic growth continued on the continent, giving the mainland another 70 million people. It slowed down due to the huge human losses in World War II. But after a while, in the 60s, the so-called "baby boom" began. This coincided with the revision of traditional values. However, already in the seventies, the birth rate began to decline sharply. And in the 90s, in almost all European countries, the death rate began to exceed the birth rate. However, life expectancy continued to increase.
Now the population of foreign Europe is approximately 830 million people. And in almost all of its countries, the birth rate is well below the level of natural reproduction. The number of marriages is decreasing, while the number of divorces is steadily increasing. More and more childrenare born out of wedlock, and in some countries (Estonia, Scandinavian countries, eastern Germany) the number of "fatherless" is at least half of all newborns.
As far as fertility levels are concerned, only Albania, Ireland and Iceland are still at replacement level. In other countries, each woman, on average, gives birth to less than two children. The role here is played by the rejection of traditional values and the principle of "first career - then family." In general, the indigenous population of Europe is dying out, and this process, according to experts, cannot be stopped. Therefore, these demographic losses are offset by immigration from "non-white" countries. Most of the "new Europeans" are Muslims from the Maghreb, Africa, Arab states and Turkey. Many believe that due to such mass immigration, Europe will become an Islamic continent in the middle of this century. This opinion is justified by statistics, because in general, Muslim women give birth to much more children than German, English or French women. Therefore, in the next few decades, Europe will already be a completely different continent.
