Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea, and - according to the traditional geographic definition - to the south-east by the waterways adjoining the Mediterranean to and including the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains (in Caucasia). Europe's eastern frontier is vague, but has traditionally been given as the divide of the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea to the south-east. The Urals are considered by most to be a geographical and tectonic landmark separating Asia from Europe.

Europe is the world's second-smallest of the seven traditional continents in terms of area, covering about 10 390 000 square kilometres (4,010,000 sq mi) or 2.0% of the Earth's surface. The only continent smaller than Europe is Australia. In terms of population, it is the third-largest continent (Asia and Africa are larger) with a population of some 710,000,000, or about 11% of the world's population.