In 2000, the total population of Europe, from Iceland to Russia, was 728 million. At present birthrates, however, without new immigration, her population will crash to 600 million by 2050. That is the projection of World Population Prospects: The 2000 Revision Highlights released by the authoritative UN Population Division on February 28, 2001. Another study has Europe’s population plummeting to 556 million by midcentury.3 The last time Europe’s population showed a drop of this magnitude was during the Black Plague of 1347-52.
