The economy of Europe comprises about million people in 50 countries. Throughout this article "Europe" and derivatives of the word are taken to include selected states whose territory is only partly in Europe, such as Turkey , Azerbaijan and Georgia , and states that are geographically in Asia, bordering Europe and culturally adherent to the continent, such as Armenia and Cyprus. There are differences in wealth across Europe which can be seen roughly along the former Cold War divide, with some countries breaching the divide Greece , Portugal , Slovenia , the Czech Republic , Lithuania , Latvia and Estonia.
The formation of the European Union EU and in the introduction of a unified currency, the Euro , brought participating European countries closer through the convenience of a shared currency.
The EU is a sui generis political entity, combining the characteristics of both a federation and a confederation. As one entity, the union is one of the largest economies in the world, having influence on regulations in the global economy due to the size of its single market with Iceland , Liechtenstein , Norway , and Switzerland.
Of the top largest corporations measured by revenue Fortune Global in , have their headquarters in Europe. As noted in by the Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells , the average standard of living in Western Europe is very high: "The bulk of the population in Western Europe still enjoys the highest living standards in the world, and in the world's history. The Industrial Revolution , which began in Britain, spread rapidly across Europe, and before long the entire continent was at a high level of industry.
However, World War II caused the destruction of most of Europe's industrial centres and much of the continent's infrastructure was laid to waste. Many non-Socialist European governments moved to integrate their economies, laying the foundation for what would become the European Union. Whilst these European states rapidly improved their economies, by the s, the state-run economies of the COMECON group were struggling, mainly due to the massive cost of the Cold War.
