A lot of confusion exists in property understanding EU and Schengen countries.
Remember European Union (EU) is not the same as Europe. Here is some basic difference.
Europe is first of all is a continent. The European Union is a unique economic and political union between 27 EU countries that together cover much of the continent. A total of 44 nations are part of Europe, there are only 27 EU member states.
We have compiled full list of EU/EEA and Schengen countries.
27 EU countries
The European Union (EU) has 27 member states:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
Non EU countries
These are non EU countries. Because of this nationals of these countries are not EU citizens. You wont get EU citizenship in these countries.
- United Kingdom
- Iceland
- Norway
- Liechtenstein
- Switzerland
- Andorra
- San Marino
- Greenland
Full list available here
30 EEA countries
EEA stands for European Economic Area. There are 30 EEA countries:
- The 27 EU member states plus
- Liechtenstein
- Iceland
- Norway
4 EFTA countries
EFTA stands for European Free Trade Association. It has 4 member states:
- Iceland
- Liechtenstein
- Norway
- Switzerland
27 Schengen countries
The Schengen area consists of 22 of the 27 EU member states plus the 4 EFTA countries:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Croatia (Joined Jan 1, 2023)
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
5 EU candidate countries
There are five EU candidate countries for acquis. These are countries that are already in the process of incorporating EU legislation into national law.
- Turkey
- Montenegro (likely in 2025)
- North Macedonia
- Serbia
- Albania
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are potential candidates. These are countries that do not yet meet the conditions for EU membership.
Non Schengen countries
There are five EU countries not part of schengen area (de facto). They are are strong candidates to join the expansion of Schengen area
- Bulgaria
- Croatia (likely in 2024)
- Cyprus
- Romania
- Ireland
Note: Ireland has opted out of schengen area.