Originally posted at http://www.justinlong.org/2010/07/southern-europe/

The nations of Southern Europe were once great empires, but most have lost the glories of past positions and are struggling to advance into the modern global economy.The individual countries are fairly small, having few precious commodities but abundant natural resources like timber, water and metals. Many are landlocked, but sit on key trade routes between Europe and Asia. Most have suffered from air and water pollution. Nearly all have experienced severe earthquakes and continue to be at risk.

Although most of the governments are stable, many are barely so. Albania and the states of the former Yugoslavia have endured sharp wars but have labored hard to rebuild. Old tensions continue to bubble: Spain still deals with its Basque separatist movement, and the former Yugoslavian states with their wounds. Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain are trying to come to grips with new economic and political realities. Crime and corruption are ever present, and Albania struggles with the drug trade.

Economically, all of these nations have seen better days. Poverty and unemployment are widespread, with up to a quarter of some of the countries living below the poverty line. Most of the nations are, to some degree, dependent on tourism. Aid from the European Union forms a small but significant minority of national budgets. Sporadic violence still causes both investors and tourists to be skittish. Southern Europe’s total GNP is just slightly ahead of that of Northern Europe, even though it has half again as many people.

With the exception of Albania, the countries within the region are all majority-Christian, but this means very little considering the number of ethnic wars and genocides that have occurred here. Over the past century every state has experienced religious declines: the non-religious have grown in number (through defections from Christianity) as have Muslims, who have tripled in number. At the start of the 1900s most Muslims lived in Albania. Today while the majority are still there, immigrant Muslims can be found in every country in the region. Several of the former states of Yugoslavia are strongly Muslim.

Most who profess Christianity belong to the Roman Catholic church, but the fastest-growing churches are Independents and Marginals (particularly Charismatics and Jehovah’s Witnesses). The Catholic church is struggling with scandals, the aging of its existing priests and nuns, and the decline in the number of seminary students. Still, while the church is seeing growth, it is mainly demographic in nature: and in nearly every nation it is not keeping up with population growth. Thus, right now, the church’s share of Southern Europe is in a slow but steady decline.

NamePopGrowthChrGrowthIssues for the church Albania3.21.0 Widespread poverty, unemployment, crime, corruption, drugs, relations with IslamAndorra0.070.06 Small landlocked nation.Bosnia-Herz3.91.6 Reconciliation, reconstruction, poverty, unemployment, corruption.Croatia4.54.1 Reconciliation, reconstruction, poverty, unemployment, relations with Islam.Gibraltar0.020.02 Small country.Greece11.210.4 Tensions with Turkey, EU aid, immigrant workers, unemployment.Holy See-– Scandals, agingItaly59.047.5 Illegal immigration, crime, corruption, unemployment, rich/poor gap.Kosovo2.00.1  Macedonia2.01.3 Kosovo, economy, poverty, unemployment, grey market.Malta0.40.4  Montenegro0.60.5  Portugal10.79.6 Stable but poor, unemployment, competition with Asia.San Marino0.030.02  Serbia7.86.3 Politics, ethnic tensions, poverty, unemployment, sporadic violence.Slovenia2.01.8 Stable, moderately wealthy, few Protestants.Spain45.140.8 Growing economy, tensions over social changes, unemployment.

Populations in millions. Pop. Growth: Red=Decline, Green=Growth. Christian Growth. 1st Square: Red=Decline, Green=Growth. 2nd Square: Red=Declining share of population; Green=Growing share of population.