European Union members: the 27 EU countries

The members, entry years and euro status

The table uses the EU’s own convention for entry years. The six founding countries are dated 1958, when the European Economic Community began; that does not mean the organization used its present name from that year. The most recent country to join is Croatia, in 2013.

27 countries. Scroll the table for all entries.

EU membership and related statuses, reviewed 1 October 2026. Entry years follow the EU country profiles.

Country ↕	EU entry year ↕	Uses euro ↕	NATO member ↕	Capital ↕
Austria	1995	Yes	No	Vienna
Belgium	1958	Yes	Yes	Brussels
Bulgaria	2007	Yes	Yes	Sofia
Croatia	2013	Yes	Yes	Zagreb
Cyprus	2004	Yes	No	Nicosia
Czech Republic	2004	No	Yes	Prague
Denmark	1973	No	Yes	Copenhagen
Estonia	2004	Yes	Yes	Tallinn
Finland	1995	Yes	Yes	Helsinki
France	1958	Yes	Yes	Paris
Germany	1958	Yes	Yes	Berlin
Greece	1981	Yes	Yes	Athens
Hungary	2004	No	Yes	Budapest
Ireland	1973	Yes	No	Dublin
Italy	1958	Yes	Yes	Rome
Latvia	2004	Yes	Yes	Riga
Lithuania	2004	Yes	Yes	Vilnius
Luxembourg	1958	Yes	Yes	Luxembourg
Malta	2004	Yes	No	Valletta
Netherlands	1958	Yes	Yes	Amsterdam
Poland	2004	No	Yes	Warsaw
Portugal	1986	Yes	Yes	Lisbon
Romania	2007	No	Yes	Bucharest
Slovakia	2004	Yes	Yes	Bratislava
Slovenia	2004	Yes	Yes	Ljubljana
Spain	1986	Yes	Yes	Madrid
Sweden	1995	No	Yes	Stockholm

Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg form the original six. Subsequent enlargements extended membership across northern, southern, central and eastern Europe. Sorting the entry-year column groups those rounds without implying that older members have a different class of membership.

Why 27 EU countries does not mean 27 euro countries

Bulgaria became the 21st euro-area member on 1 January 2026. The six EU countries outside the euro area are Czechia, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden. A list that still counts 20 euro-area members is therefore describing an earlier situation.

Adopting the euro and entering the EU are separate events. Croatia, for example, joined the EU before adopting the euro. The entry-year and currency columns should not be read as one timeline. The ECB source below documents Bulgaria’s change, while the EU country profiles record membership in each grouping.

The euro is also used in places outside the EU through different arrangements. Currency use alone is consequently insufficient evidence of EU membership. For the same reason, seeing a national currency in an EU country does not mean the country is outside the union.

Schengen and NATO answer different questions

Schengen concerns a common travel area and border arrangements. It includes several non-EU countries, while Ireland and Cyprus are EU members outside the fully participating Schengen area at this review date. A map of the EU should therefore not be used as a map of where Schengen travel rules apply.

NATO is a defence alliance. Twenty-three EU members also belong to NATO; Austria, Cyprus, Ireland and Malta do not. The table includes NATO status to make the overlap visible without suggesting that one membership follows automatically from the other.

For a journey, check the destination’s actual entry requirements. This comparison explains institutional membership and is not a substitute for rules applying to a traveller’s nationality, document type or length of stay.

Former members, candidates and neighbouring countries

The United Kingdom left the EU on 31 January 2020 and is excluded from the current 27-country list. It remains geographically European and remains a NATO member. Geography and institutional membership should not be treated as interchangeable labels.

Candidate status and accession negotiations are also different from completed membership. A country can cooperate closely with EU institutions, participate in particular programmes or be economically integrated with the union without being an EU member. The count changes only when accession takes effect.

That is why this page gives a dated membership review and explicit columns rather than a broad list of “European countries.” For geographic browsing, use the Europe directory; for the institutional question, use the membership list above.