[[Image:Europe subregion map UN geoschme.svg|right|thumb|250px|Northern Europe as defined by the United Nations(marked blue):

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Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. The United Nations defines Northern Europe as including the following countries and dependent regions:

• Ireland
• • Svalbard and Jan Mayen
• • Channel Islands: and

Nordic countries or Nordic region include only a subset of the mentioned countries and territories.Before the 19th century, the term 'Nordic' or 'Northern' was commonly used to mean Northern Europe in a sense that included the Nordic countries, European Russia, the Baltic countries (at that time Estonia, Livonia and Courland). The United Kingdom and Ireland are sometimes included in Western Europe.

History

Historically, when Europe was dominated by the Mediterranean region (i.e. the Roman Empire), everything not near this sea was termed Northern Europe, including Germany, the Low Countries, and Austria. This meaning is still used today in some contexts, such as in discussions of the Northern Renaissance. In medieval times, the term (Ultima) Thule was used to mean a mythical place in the extreme northern reaches of the continent.

Northern Europe:
Country	Area (km²)	Population (2009 est.)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Åland (Finland)	1,552	26,008	16.7	Mariehamn
Belgium (Western Europe)	30,528	10,754,528	352.2	Brussels
Denmark	43,094	5,519,441	128.0	Copenhagen
Faroe Islands (Denmark)	1,399	49,006	35.0	Tórshavn
Greenland (Denmark)	2,166,086	57,000	0.026	Nuuk
Estonia	45,226	1,340,415	29.6	Tallinn
Finland	336,593	5,349,200	15.8	Helsinki
Guernsey	78	61,811	792.4	St Peter Port
Iceland	103,000	319,246	3.0	Reykjavík
Ireland	70,280	4,459,300	63.4	Dublin
Isle of Man	572	80,000	139.8	Douglas
Jersey	116	89,300	769.8	Saint Helier
Latvia	64,589	2,254,000	34.8	Riga
Lithuania	65,200	3,349,872	51.3	Vilnius
Luxembourg (Western Europe)	2,586	493,500	190.8	Luxembourg
Netherlands (Western Europe)	41,526	16,571,800	399.0	Amsterdam
Norway	324,220	4,843,800	14.9	Oslo
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (Norway)	62,049	2,140	0.034	Longyearbyen
Sweden	449,964	9,316,256	20.7	Stockholm
United Kingdom	244,820	61,634,599	251.7	London
Total	4,053,478	126,571,222	31.22

Geography

Northern Europe consists of the Scandinavian peninsula, the peninsula of Jutland, the Baltic plain that lies to the east and the many islands that lie offshore from mainland northern Europe, Greenland and the main European continent.The area is defined by the volcanic islands of the far northwest, notably Iceland and Jan Mayen, the mountainous western seaboard, extending from the mountainous sections of Great Britain & Ireland to the Scandinavian mountains, the central north mountains and hills of Sweden (which are the foothills of the Scandinavian mountains) and the large eastern plain, which contains, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland.The region has a south west extreme of just under 50 degrees north and a northern extreme of 81 degrees north.The entire region's climate is affected by the Gulf stream which has a mild influence on the climate.From the west climates vary from maritime and maritime subarctic climates. In the north and central climates are generally subarctic or Arctic and to the east climates are mostly subarctic and temperate/continental.As the climate and relief varies vegetation is also extremely variable, with sparse tundra in the north and high mountains, boreal forest on the north-eastern and central regions temperate coniferous forests (formerly of which a majority was in the Scottish highlands and south west Norway) and temperate broadleaf forests growing in the south, west and temperate east.

See also

• Baltic region
• Baltic States
• British Isles
• Central Europe
• Eastern Europe
• Germanic Europe
• Nordic Countries
• Scandinavia
• Southern Europe
• Western Europe

Notes

1. United Nations Statistics Division- Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications (M49)
2. World Population Prospects Population Database