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Ethnic groups in Europe

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A European is primarily a person who was born into one of the countries within the continent of Europe. Additionally, a person can also become a naturalized European by taking citizenship within a European country. A number of people, who were not born in Europe or hold citizenship there, identify themselves as European due to a strong sense of identification with their European ancestry, language and/or culture.

Identity and Culture

A number of nations outside of Europe were originally established as colonies of European countries. Many of those nations retain a dominant "European culture" - that is a population whose ancestry, language and culture is largely derived from their European predecessors.

European is particularly common as an ethnic descriptor for those populations. A good example of this is the European American, to identify a person from the United States with European ancestry. While generally established by particular European countries, the immigration policy of these colonies has often been very open and inclusive towards other European nations, and thus a "European" identity has been preferred by government and social institutions over narrower categories such as English, British or German.

The European Union

With the European Union, a great deal of importance has been put on promoting a "Single European Identity" throughout member states. It is unclear whether this ideal has or can be achieved, due to the many different languages and cultures throughout the EU's member states. The United Kingdom has been particularly resistant in this area. Many British people do not identify themselves as European and thus a strong identification with their neighbours on the continent has been difficult to foster.

Distribution

For a list of European nations, see Europe.

Nations with significant populations with European ancestry:

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