Sub-region · UN WPP 2024

Northern Europe population

Northern Europe population now

110,073,487

A projection read at this second, not a count: the UN's totals for 1 January 2026 and 2027, joined by a straight line.

Mid-2023, UN estimate: 108,297,394

Year: 2026; projection · medium
Population, mid-2026: 109.964 million
Median age: 41.6
Aged 65+: 20.3%

Move through time, 1950–2100

2023 | 2024 peak 2054

male female projection · one cell = 20,000 people

How to read this: one row for each age, newborns at the bottom; men on the left, women on the right.

Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries

AGG · 1950–2100 · in brief

Northern Europe in numbers

The UN counts 108,297,394 people in Northern Europe in mid-2023, and 1.3% of the world's people. That is 1.4 times its 1950 population of 77.4 million. It covers 14 countries and areas; the largest are the United Kingdom (63.4%), Sweden (9.7%), Denmark (5.5%), Finland (5.2%) and Norway (5.1%).

The UN's medium projection has it peaking in 2054 at 116 million, then falling to 110 million by 2100.

The medium projection has deaths passing births in 2024 and staying above them from then on. The population still grows until 2054, because more people arrive than leave.

The median age was 33.6 in 1950 and 41.1 in 2023; the projection has 49.4 in 2100. 19.5% of people were 65 or older in 2023, against 31.9% projected for 2100. The working-age population (15–64) is projected to peak in 2034 at 70.7 million.

Population, mid-2023: 108,297,394
Share of the world, 2023: 1.3%
Change in a year, mid-2022 to mid-2023: +0.80% · +857,932 people
Births, 2023: 1,046,317
Deaths, 2023: 1,035,697
Net migration, 2023: +732,476
Children per woman, 2023: 1.51
Median age, 2023: 41.1 years
Life expectancy at birth, 2023: 81.4 years
Population, mid-1950: 77,377,472
Projected, mid-2050: 115,849,082
Projected, mid-2100: 110,432,485

AGG · 1950–2100 · total population

Population, 1950–2100

peak 2054estimates | projections020 m40 m60 m80 m100 m120 m1950197520002025205020752100

estimate projection (medium). Every column stands for a single year, counted on 1 January, and the paper rules slice it into cells of equal size.

Show the numbers: Northern Europe, 1950–2100

Northern Europe: population on 1 January, births, deaths, fertility and life expectancy, 1950–2100
Year	Kind	Population, 1 Jan	Births	Deaths	Children per woman	Life expectancy
1950	estimate	77,059,227	1,354,414	878,459	2.37	68.4
1951	estimate	77,695,718	1,321,315	918,054	2.32	68.3
1952	estimate	77,995,447	1,319,746	850,404	2.33	69.4
1953	estimate	78,441,211	1,317,445	853,773	2.35	69.7
1954	estimate	78,884,447	1,306,198	853,543	2.35	70.0
1955	estimate	79,320,665	1,309,363	871,948	2.38	70.1
1956	estimate	79,746,245	1,334,180	872,752	2.44	70.4
1957	estimate	80,188,184	1,357,006	872,134	2.50	70.4
1958	estimate	80,662,951	1,369,568	880,255	2.54	70.8
1959	estimate	81,150,958	1,385,997	881,613	2.58	70.9
1960	estimate	81,669,508	1,418,491	883,918	2.65	71.1
1961	estimate	82,192,502	1,449,615	914,736	2.70	71.0
1962	estimate	82,788,247	1,479,916	931,199	2.75	71.0
1963	estimate	83,427,794	1,509,658	947,435	2.78	71.0
1964	estimate	84,011,964	1,529,313	903,820	2.80	71.7
1965	estimate	84,627,640	1,515,272	930,462	2.74	71.7
1966	estimate	85,207,993	1,502,695	952,405	2.68	71.7
1967	estimate	85,761,511	1,472,451	924,126	2.58	72.2
1968	estimate	86,298,894	1,439,431	972,631	2.48	71.9
1969	estimate	86,737,893	1,406,950	983,937	2.40	71.8
1970	estimate	87,132,789	1,388,449	976,321	2.34	72.1
1971	estimate	87,577,082	1,379,291	967,984	2.29	72.4
1972	estimate	88,038,274	1,322,137	1,004,306	2.17	72.2
1973	estimate	88,406,416	1,259,984	1,001,892	2.05	72.4
1974	estimate	88,687,886	1,221,738	1,003,445	1.97	72.5
1975	estimate	88,903,993	1,175,158	1,002,228	1.88	72.7
1976	estimate	89,084,364	1,139,775	1,029,472	1.82	72.7
1977	estimate	89,230,878	1,115,799	997,619	1.77	73.2
1978	estimate	89,398,547	1,142,209	1,016,527	1.80	73.1
1979	estimate	89,580,192	1,190,179	1,030,924	1.86	73.2
1980	estimate	89,784,068	1,208,201	1,020,156	1.88	73.5
1981	estimate	89,972,412	1,179,171	1,017,506	1.82	73.8
1982	estimate	90,072,966	1,172,083	1,016,738	1.80	74.0
1983	estimate	90,191,766	1,175,471	1,020,460	1.79	74.2
1984	estimate	90,397,207	1,181,793	1,008,912	1.79	74.5
1985	estimate	90,670,365	1,203,067	1,047,047	1.80	74.3
1986	estimate	90,951,280	1,217,168	1,027,237	1.81	74.7
1987	estimate	91,228,948	1,239,350	1,013,352	1.82	75.0
1988	estimate	91,506,053	1,258,412	1,024,651	1.84	75.0
1989	estimate	91,816,280	1,258,508	1,036,658	1.83	75.2
1990	estimate	92,080,430	1,288,176	1,030,256	1.87	75.3
1991	estimate	92,418,106	1,278,823	1,033,289	1.85	75.5
1992	estimate	92,723,285	1,262,393	1,023,639	1.83	75.8
1993	estimate	92,916,353	1,218,335	1,066,408	1.78	75.5
1994	estimate	93,074,221	1,192,634	1,025,557	1.75	75.9
1995	estimate	93,291,894	1,162,284	1,046,480	1.71	75.9
1996	estimate	93,479,667	1,148,707	1,023,958	1.70	76.4
1997	estimate	93,659,009	1,134,784	1,013,295	1.69	76.7
1998	estimate	93,856,664	1,118,391	1,012,645	1.68	76.8
1999	estimate	94,116,492	1,103,598	1,017,701	1.66	77.0
2000	estimate	94,404,911	1,086,593	987,267	1.64	77.4
2001	estimate	94,705,435	1,072,382	981,574	1.63	77.6
2002	estimate	95,021,851	1,077,211	988,782	1.64	77.8
2003	estimate	95,388,547	1,110,587	986,951	1.70	78.0
2004	estimate	95,773,745	1,133,761	951,286	1.73	78.4
2005	estimate	96,284,044	1,142,917	953,219	1.75	78.6
2006	estimate	96,845,263	1,180,263	944,279	1.80	78.8
2007	estimate	97,529,109	1,213,615	948,293	1.84	79.0
2008	estimate	98,283,697	1,246,870	947,617	1.88	79.2
2009	estimate	98,968,630	1,247,440	923,204	1.88	79.7
2010	estimate	99,584,861	1,262,031	925,152	1.89	79.9
2011	estimate	100,175,118	1,250,810	909,105	1.87	80.3
2012	estimate	100,779,493	1,250,545	929,815	1.87	80.4
2013	estimate	101,348,628	1,211,255	935,573	1.81	80.6
2014	estimate	101,964,529	1,206,328	925,317	1.79	80.8
2015	estimate	102,691,176	1,205,318	962,869	1.78	80.7
2016	estimate	103,433,559	1,201,922	958,171	1.77	80.9
2017	estimate	104,180,560	1,171,802	967,575	1.72	81.0
2018	estimate	104,827,427	1,141,407	980,397	1.67	81.0
2019	estimate	105,425,417	1,115,792	960,017	1.63	81.4
2020	estimate	105,986,507	1,080,223	1,065,484	1.58	80.6
2021	estimate	106,262,747	1,096,473	1,050,738	1.60	80.8
2022	estimate	106,953,063	1,056,648	1,044,065	1.53	81.0
2023	estimate	107,925,860	1,046,317	1,035,697	1.51	81.4
2024	estimate	108,668,929	1,043,438	1,053,691	1.50	81.6
2025	projection	109,259,468	1,039,377	1,060,126	1.50	81.7
2026	projection	109,739,927	1,035,552	1,067,089	1.50	81.9
2027	projection	110,187,536	1,032,630	1,074,840	1.49	82.0
2028	projection	110,620,859	1,031,551	1,083,901	1.50	82.2
2029	projection	111,022,478	1,031,155	1,092,530	1.50	82.3
2030	projection	111,391,660	1,032,173	1,101,319	1.50	82.5
2031	projection	111,746,884	1,033,794	1,112,094	1.50	82.6
2032	projection	112,069,712	1,037,356	1,121,640	1.50	82.8
2033	projection	112,375,434	1,041,885	1,133,157	1.50	82.9
2034	projection	112,673,823	1,048,874	1,144,554	1.51	83.1
2035	projection	112,945,820	1,056,978	1,155,041	1.51	83.2
2036	projection	113,210,964	1,065,517	1,165,140	1.51	83.4
2037	projection	113,457,540	1,074,582	1,175,976	1.51	83.5
2038	projection	113,689,692	1,083,796	1,185,507	1.51	83.6
2039	projection	113,921,063	1,093,359	1,195,261	1.51	83.8
2040	projection	114,136,675	1,101,303	1,202,037	1.52	83.9
2041	projection	114,350,567	1,109,236	1,210,119	1.52	84.0
2042	projection	114,556,328	1,115,061	1,217,254	1.52	84.2
2043	projection	114,754,997	1,118,495	1,223,250	1.52	84.3
2044	projection	114,949,428	1,118,595	1,230,146	1.52	84.4
2045	projection	115,128,068	1,117,028	1,235,754	1.53	84.6
2046	projection	115,295,141	1,114,502	1,242,239	1.53	84.7
2047	projection	115,445,454	1,109,239	1,248,740	1.53	84.8
2048	projection	115,584,560	1,101,933	1,255,274	1.53	85.0
2049	projection	115,707,792	1,093,752	1,262,076	1.53	85.1
2050	projection	115,808,526	1,084,842	1,267,400	1.54	85.2
2051	projection	115,889,639	1,074,464	1,273,364	1.54	85.3
2052	projection	115,950,971	1,063,764	1,279,792	1.54	85.5
2053	projection	115,993,258	1,054,004	1,286,590	1.54	85.6
2054	projection	116,008,811	1,043,377	1,291,670	1.54	85.7
2055	projection	116,012,419	1,033,477	1,297,393	1.54	85.8
2056	projection	115,980,116	1,024,159	1,301,126	1.54	86.0
2057	projection	115,940,180	1,017,414	1,305,965	1.55	86.1
2058	projection	115,883,326	1,010,335	1,308,377	1.55	86.2
2059	projection	115,823,319	1,005,082	1,311,110	1.55	86.3
2060	projection	115,738,939	1,000,451	1,312,430	1.55	86.4
2061	projection	115,651,162	996,223	1,312,424	1.55	86.6
2062	projection	115,569,537	993,967	1,312,580	1.55	86.7
2063	projection	115,488,788	992,657	1,311,873	1.55	86.8
2064	projection	115,401,752	993,058	1,309,877	1.56	86.9
2065	projection	115,316,737	993,563	1,308,588	1.56	87.0
2066	projection	115,228,319	995,100	1,306,908	1.56	87.1
2067	projection	115,147,446	996,183	1,305,526	1.56	87.3
2068	projection	115,068,078	998,726	1,305,190	1.56	87.4
2069	projection	114,983,999	1,001,842	1,303,825	1.56	87.5
2070	projection	114,908,962	1,005,102	1,303,801	1.56	87.6
2071	projection	114,835,939	1,008,143	1,303,793	1.56	87.7
2072	projection	114,766,884	1,011,632	1,305,151	1.56	87.8
2073	projection	114,693,065	1,013,784	1,305,900	1.57	87.9
2074	projection	114,600,299	1,014,272	1,308,530	1.57	88.0
2075	projection	114,505,036	1,014,512	1,311,303	1.57	88.2
2076	projection	114,410,991	1,014,450	1,314,279	1.57	88.3
2077	projection	114,325,577	1,013,289	1,316,084	1.57	88.4
2078	projection	114,223,894	1,011,403	1,318,046	1.57	88.5
2079	projection	114,121,698	1,009,380	1,319,890	1.57	88.6
2080	projection	114,006,327	1,005,584	1,321,521	1.57	88.7
2081	projection	113,886,726	1,001,388	1,322,219	1.57	88.8
2082	projection	113,773,786	996,767	1,322,972	1.57	88.9
2083	projection	113,640,666	991,163	1,321,802	1.57	89.0
2084	projection	113,498,838	985,311	1,320,913	1.57	89.1
2085	projection	113,354,317	979,220	1,319,949	1.58	89.2
2086	projection	113,200,254	973,278	1,317,146	1.58	89.3
2087	projection	113,035,420	967,673	1,314,934	1.58	89.5
2088	projection	112,869,325	961,934	1,311,575	1.58	89.5
2089	projection	112,704,575	956,401	1,307,115	1.58	89.7
2090	projection	112,528,830	951,658	1,303,778	1.58	89.8
2091	projection	112,348,311	946,743	1,300,649	1.58	89.9
2092	projection	112,166,787	942,308	1,297,213	1.58	90.0
2093	projection	111,982,094	939,136	1,295,416	1.58	90.1
2094	projection	111,792,452	936,548	1,294,433	1.58	90.2
2095	projection	111,604,383	933,897	1,295,668	1.58	90.3
2096	projection	111,401,850	931,391	1,297,471	1.58	90.4
2097	projection	111,198,088	930,438	1,299,726	1.58	90.5
2098	projection	110,992,534	929,730	1,304,895	1.58	90.6
2099	projection	110,777,883	929,257	1,309,658	1.59	90.7
2100	projection	110,550,631	929,194	1,315,315	1.59	90.8

AGG · members

Countries and areas in Northern Europe

Northern Europe: member countries and areas, population mid-2023, share of the group and projected mid-2100
#	Country or area	Mid-2023	Share	Mid-2100, projected
1	United Kingdom	68,682,962	63.4%	74,305,411
2	Sweden	10,551,494	9.7%	11,366,895
3	Denmark	5,948,137	5.5%	5,863,216
4	Finland	5,601,186	5.2%	4,601,058
5	Norway	5,519,167	5.1%	5,413,618
6	Ireland	5,196,630	4.8%	5,286,120
7	Lithuania	2,854,099	2.6%	1,208,675
8	Latvia	1,882,396	1.7%	925,371
9	Estonia	1,367,196	1.3%	825,503
10	Iceland	387,558	0.36%	362,582
11	Jersey	103,674	0.10%	99,810
12	Isle of Man	84,166	0.08%	58,064
13	Guernsey	64,017	0.06%	52,910
14	Faroe Islands	54,713	0.05%	63,251

Show the numbers: Northern Europe, mid-2026, by single year of age

Northern Europe: population by single year of age, mid-2026
Age	Male	Female
0	537,358	509,502
1	545,356	517,272
2	551,658	523,338
3	558,452	529,730
4	575,388	546,470
5	587,860	558,596
6	598,196	567,460
7	617,695	585,878
8	635,251	603,131
9	653,392	619,761
10	663,022	627,924
11	664,460	630,208
12	670,426	637,417
13	682,804	649,748
14	688,623	655,276
15	686,744	653,692
16	685,828	652,845
17	689,605	655,761
18	690,979	656,904
19	686,398	653,987
20	680,163	649,596
21	674,562	643,530
22	669,712	638,099
23	660,606	629,054
24	661,437	629,783
25	676,574	640,326
26	694,940	650,835
27	703,711	658,842
28	710,214	670,270
29	718,880	680,840
30	723,085	685,682
31	732,860	698,178
32	742,676	711,279
33	757,320	731,022
34	774,686	748,588
35	773,830	746,356
36	760,112	739,183
37	725,366	717,632
38	709,104	710,087
39	728,789	726,115
40	742,736	737,756
41	730,100	730,128
42	715,350	714,916
43	717,629	717,442
44	713,336	718,918
45	713,268	720,120
46	705,721	709,746
47	678,310	678,705
48	660,752	661,793
49	660,071	662,964
50	669,496	672,260
51	681,098	683,866
52	693,959	688,712
53	715,374	706,599
54	713,837	738,322
55	689,015	735,581
56	694,984	726,617
57	697,969	738,275
58	692,783	738,324
59	689,957	731,872
60	682,772	727,193
61	675,779	718,630
62	654,377	704,385
63	638,360	690,508
64	629,115	675,974
65	612,972	657,890
66	592,262	640,320
67	581,719	632,772
68	565,869	620,392
69	542,938	601,313
70	523,712	583,642
71	505,466	571,195
72	490,222	561,068
73	472,138	545,807
74	453,576	528,797
75	446,643	517,615
76	445,470	516,178
77	446,032	518,065
78	454,124	529,596
79	419,599	496,681
80	356,524	437,652
81	320,549	409,085
82	289,173	377,332
83	250,706	336,750
84	214,496	298,028
85	188,974	266,849
86	172,888	247,822
87	154,596	227,743
88	130,875	201,747
89	108,111	175,352
90	87,886	148,902
91	69,512	124,276
92	53,692	101,720
93	41,078	82,785
94	30,984	66,864
95	22,664	52,842
96	15,742	39,878
97	10,454	28,718
98	6,742	19,994
99	4,195	13,552
100+	5,575	22,282

AGG · 1950–2100 · every age, every year

Northern Europe, every age in every year

Each column is a year and each row an age; the denser the ink in a cell, the more people. Everyone born in the same year climbs one 45° diagonal, so famines, baby booms and migration show up as streaks. Select a cell to follow its generation.

AGG · ages 15–64

Who does the work in Northern Europe

On the UN's projection, Northern Europe will have the most working-age people it ever has in 2034: 70,729,000 people aged 15–64. In 2023 it had 68,652,400.

100 aged 15–64

27 children

31 aged 65+

aged 15–64 children under 15 aged 65 and over

How to read this: take 100 people of working age — the orange row — and the two rows under it are the children (teal) and the people of 65 and over (violet) who lived alongside them in 2023.

At no point between 1950 and 2100 do fewer than 50 dependants live alongside every 100 people aged 15–64 here.

fewer than 50 dependants per 100 the same, projected 50 or more

How to read this: 1950 on the left, 2100 on the right; coloured in the years with fewer than 50 dependants per 100 working-age people, grey in the rest, hatched where that is a projection.

How every country compares

AGG · arrivals minus departures

Who arrives in Northern Europe, and who leaves

In 2020–2025 Northern Europe gains 663,878 people a year: everyone who arrives, minus everyone who leaves. The age at which that happens most is 20–24, at 111,367 a year more arriving than leaving.

one square = 20,000 people a year

020406080+

more arrive than leave more leave than arrive

How to read this: age runs left to right, babies to 100. A blue square above the line means arrivals outnumber departures at that age, an orange square below it means the opposite. The figures are the UN's projection for 2020–2025; nobody recorded migration by age before 2020.

In the years that were counted, 1950–2023, the most it gained in one year was 960,181 (2022) and the most it lost was 103,537 (1951).

This is a group of countries, so its figure counts only moves across its own outer edge: someone moving from one country inside it to another does not appear.

How migration works everywhere

AGG · births by the mother's age · 1950–2100

Who has the babies in Northern Europe

Of every 100 babies born in Northern Europe in 2023, 2 had a mother under 20, 73 a mother aged 20 to 34 and 25 a mother aged 35 or older. In 1950 it was 5 under 20 and 17 aged 35 or older.

1950
5 · 78 · 17

2023
2 · 73 · 25

2050 · projected
1 · 67 · 32

The mother's age: under 20 20 to 34 35 or older projected

How to read this: one block a year, 100 squares in each, a square for every hundredth baby. The colour is the mother's age group, and the three numbers underneath are those groups in order, youngest first.

Babies born, 2023: 1,046,317
Average age when women have a baby: 31.1 years; 28.7 in 1950
Babies a year per 1,000 girls aged 15–19: 6; 24 in 1950

Babies by the mother's age, 1950–2100

Babies born in Northern Europe by the mother's age
Mother's age	1950	1975	2000	2023	2050 projected	2100 projected
10–14	114	459	468	70	19	13
15–19	62,483	106,549	68,051	19,336	6,889	5,671
20–24	354,490	377,915	193,497	111,160	75,352	68,888
25–29	424,157	422,976	325,823	275,147	253,419	233,282
30–34	276,815	185,071	324,074	373,140	400,883	340,201
35–39	175,442	64,737	147,480	212,952	265,760	212,012
40–44	57,269	15,746	25,997	50,455	73,391	60,145
45–49	3,541	1,524	1,193	4,018	8,982	8,837
50–54	103	181	10	39	147	145
All babies	1,354,414	1,175,158	1,086,593	1,046,317	1,084,842	929,194

The UN's births for each year, split by the mother's age in the UN's own proportions.

Apparatus

Sources and method

Every figure on this page comes from the UN's World Population Prospects 2024: the annual tables for regions and groups (estimates to 2023, then the medium projection), and the population by single year of age and sex for the pyramid.

Sources: UN WPP 2024 · World Bank · UN WUP 2025 · Maddison Project 2020 · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →

Checked before it was drawn

Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries The 14 countries listed were summed and checked against the UN's total for every year. The pyramid for every year was checked against the published total. What that stamp counts, and what every page here has to pass before it can be built: how this site checks its figures.