By convention, Europe is one of the seven continents on earth. Europe comprises the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia and is generally separated from Asia by the watersheds of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting the Black and Aegean Seas.

Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Black Sea and associated waterways to the southeast. However, the borders of Europe - a concept dating back to ancient times - are somewhat arbitrary, as the primarily physiographic term continent can incorporate cultural and political elements.

Europe is the second smallest continent in the world by area, covering about 10,180,000 square kilometers (3,930,000 sq mi) or 2% of the Earth's surface and about 6.8% of its land area. Of the roughly 50 countries in Europe, Russia is by far the largest in both area and population, occupying 40% of the continent (although the country has territory in both Europe and Asia), while Vatican City is the smallest. Europe is the third most populous continent after Asia and Africa with a population of 733 million or about 11% of the world's population.

Europe has one of the best living standards in the world and therefore many people are looking for a way to live there legally.

Business
The economy of Europe comprises more than 731 million people in 48 different countries. As in other continents, the wealth of European states varies, although the poorest states far exceed the poorest states of other continents in terms of GDP and living standards. The wealth gap in Europe can be roughly seen in the Cold War gap, with some countries closing the gap (Portugal, Slovenia and the Czech Republic). While most European countries have a GDP per capita above the world average and are very highly developed (Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Andorra, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland), some European economies, despite their position, are above the World averages (except for Moldova and Turkey) in the Human Development Index (Armenia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kazakhstan) are still catching up with the top European countries.

The European countries with a long trading history, a free market system and a high level of development in the last century are generally located in the north and west of the continent. They tend to be more prosperous and more stable than countries in southern and eastern Europe, although the gap is narrowing, particularly in central and eastern Europe, partly due to higher growth rates, but also partly due to the balancing effect of the European Union.

Europe had a nominal GDP of US$19.920 trillion in 2010 (30.2% of world GDP). Europe's largest economy is Germany, which ranks fourth in the world in nominal GDP and fifth in GDP in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP); followed by France, which ranks fifth in the world in nominal GDP, followed by the United Kingdom, which ranks sixth in the world in nominal GDP, followed by Italy, which ranks seventh in the world in nominal GDP, and Russia, which ranks seventh in the world in nominal GDP ranked tenth worldwide.