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EU, EEA, EFTA and Schengen countries

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What are the 27 EU countries? What are the EEA and the EFTA? And which countries are members of the Schengen area? See the lists of countries below.

The 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

EU candidate countries

There are 8 EU candidate countries. These are countries that are already in the process of incorporating EU legislation into national law.

  • Albania
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Moldova
  • Montenegro
  • North Macedonia
  • Serbia
  • Türkiye
  • Ukraine

Georgia and Kosovo are potential candidates. These are countries that do not yet meet the conditions for EU membership.

The 30 EEA countries

EEA stands for European Economic Area. There are 30 EEA countries:

  • The 27 EU member states
  • Iceland
  • Liechtenstein
  • Norway

The 4 EFTA countries

EFTA stands for European Free Trade Association. It has 4 member states:

  • Iceland
  • Liechtenstein
  • Norway
  • Switzerland

The Schengen countries

The Schengen area consists of the following countries:

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Czech Republic
  • Croatia (as of 1 January 2023)
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Liechtenstein
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Malta
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland

The EU member states Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania are not Schengen countries.