Which countries contribute most to the global population of European descent?
Executive summary
Most people of European descent live in Europe itself—Europe’s population is roughly 718–744 million in 2025 depending on the source, with major population centers in Russia, the EU and other large European countries [1] [2]. Outside Europe, countries with large populations of predominantly European descent include the United States and the settler societies of Australia and New Zealand — a research paper estimates Oceania has about 22.5 million people of predominantly native European descent and that Australia and New Zealand together account for 69.4% of Oceania’s total [3]. Available sources do not give a single consolidated global ranking of “countries by population of European descent,” so synthesis below draws on continent totals, European country populations, and a specialist study of people of predominantly European descent [1] [2] [3].
1. Europe itself: the obvious majority base
Europe is home to the lion’s share of people of European ancestry simply because the continent’s population is measured in the hundreds of millions: sources place Europe’s total population between about 719 million and 744 million in 2025 [1] [4] [2]. That means, for the purpose of counting people of “European descent,” nearly all European countries collectively constitute the largest single bloc. Country-level lists and projections (for example Eurostat and other population compendia) show Russia as Europe’s largest country by population, followed by other high-population states in Europe and the EU [2] [5] [6].
2. Which individual European countries matter most by headcount
When the question narrows to single countries with the most people of European descent, the largest European countries — notably Russia (population cited around 143–144 million in some sources), Germany and other big EU members — dominate simply by having larger populations [2] [5] [6]. Eurostat’s country-by-country interactive and population tables are the authoritative source for EU country stocks and show the EU’s 2024/2025 population near 449 million, with the most populous EU states driving those totals [6].
3. Outside Europe: settler societies and historical migration
Significant concentrations of people of predominantly European descent exist outside Europe in settler-colonial states. A specialist paper quantifies Oceania’s European-descent population at about 22.5 million and notes Australia and New Zealand together make up 69.4% of Oceania’s population of predominantly native European descent [3]. Available sources do not list precise counts for North America in this dataset within the provided material, but standard demographic treatments and the research paper indicate that outside Europe, North America and Oceania contain the largest non-European concentrations of European-descended populations [3].
4. Data limits and definitional pitfalls
Sources differ on overall Europe totals (worldometer, Population Today, World Population Review give 718–744 million ranges) and none of the provided materials offer a single, global table ranking countries by population of European descent; that specific global ranking is not found in current reporting [1] [4] [2]. “European descent” is not a uniformly defined statistical category across censuses: some national counts use self-identified race/ethnicity, others use ancestry, and some countries do not collect ancestry at all—this makes direct comparisons across countries problematic. The specialist research paper provides estimates for predominantly European-descent populations but does not present a comprehensive, universally comparable country-by-country global list in the provided excerpts [3].
5. Competing perspectives and hidden agendas in sources
Official statistical agencies (Eurostat, UN-based compilations used by Worldometer/World Population Review) emphasize headcount and demographic trends and avoid ancestry labels; independent papers seek to estimate ancestry distributions and therefore make stronger claims about “people of predominantly European descent” [6] [4] [3]. Independent estimates can reflect methodological choices—definitions of “predominantly,” geographic inclusions (e.g., whether to include the Asian part of Russia or certain transcontinental states), and historical assumptions—so their tallies can exaggerate or understate counts relative to official population statistics [3] [2]. Users should treat these different approaches as serving different purposes: population totals vs. ancestry estimates.
6. Bottom line for readers wanting a ranked answer
If you mean “which countries contain the most people who are of European ancestry,” the safe, evidence-backed starting point is: European countries collectively are the largest source by far (Europe ~718–744 million in 2025) and within Europe the largest-population states (Russia, Germany, etc.) contribute most to that total [1] [2] [5]; outside Europe, major settler countries—especially the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand—are the largest non-European concentrations, with Oceania’s European-descent population estimated at ~22.5 million and Australia+New Zealand comprising a large share [3]. A precise, globally ranked country list by population of European descent is not provided in the available sources [3].
If you want, I can attempt to build a tentative ranked list from the available population totals and the research paper’s regional figures—but I will flag every methodological choice and assumption explicitly before producing numbers.