Disney films such as “The Lion King” and “Brother Bear” have also been identified with Earth Religion themes due to their exploration of the “interconnectedness” and “Circle of Life” between animals, plants, and life in general. The divisions of Christianity are the result of historic schisms that followed its period of unity as the adopted state religion in the late stages of the Roman Empire. Most Europeans adhere to one of three broad divisions of Christianity: Roman Catholicism in the west and southwest, Protestantism in the north, and Eastern Orthodoxy in the east and southeast. Like its languages, Europe’s religious divisions fall into three broad variants of a common ancestor, plus distinctive faiths adhered to by smaller groups. Despite large-scale emigration, this proportion increased to one-fourth by 1900, when Europe’s total population just exceeded 400 million. Despite high population densities, many European countries still attract immigrants from other continents, especially those in search of economic opportunities. Today some European towns are quite old, containing architectural survivals from their historic past; others are creations of the Industrial Revolution or the suburbanization trend that began in the late 20th century. Birth rates and death rates, as they vary in time and place, necessarily affect the proportion of the population available to the different European countries for the economy and the armed forces.

Such high numbers, achieved by high birth rates and falling death rates, were sustained by expanding economies. Although infant mortality rates have remained somewhat higher in the countries of eastern Europe, where death rates also increased after the collapse of communism, low mortality rates have been achieved virtually everywhere else on the continent. Western and northern Europe took the lead in the medical and social “death controls” that since the mid-19th century have sharply reduced infant mortality and lengthened life expectancy. Despite heavy mortality resulting from continual wars, Europe has been a source of emigrants throughout modern times. Ireland, for instance, lost much of its population following the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s. Emigrants from central, eastern, and southern Europe moved later, many in the early decades of the 20th century. Some cultures view umbrellas differently; for instance, in Chinese culture, gifting an umbrella is considered bad luck as it symbolizes separation.

Some Dayak settlements in Kalimantan, for instance, have maintained traditional multiunit longhouses, often alongside the newer single-family homes-the construction of which has been strongly encouraged by the government. In the early 21st century the government approved a number of measures that reflected both France’s dedication to being a secular state, a principle known as laïcité, as well as the ambivalence and, in some cases, hostility felt by some French toward the country’s large Muslim population. In 2004 the government banned Muslim head scarves and other religious symbols in state schools. Large numbers, however, especially among the working classes and young population, profess no religious belief. All of Europe shared in this huge transfer of population, which affected the settlement and economic development of the Americas, Australia, southern Africa, and New Zealand. As elsewhere in the world, these giant agglomerations pose difficult social and aesthetic problems, but, by concentrating population, they help to prevent some areas of the countryside from becoming too built-up. Other populous areas are sustained by mining, manufacturing, commerce, and productive agriculture.

The majority of primary culture groups in Europe have a single dominant religion, although the English, German, Swiss, Hungarian, and Netherlandic groups are noteworthy for the coexistence of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Although rebellion took place in many parts of western Europe against the central church authority vested in Rome, the Reformation was successful mainly in the Germanic-speaking areas of Britain, northern Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and the adjacent regions of Finland, Estonia, and Latvia. In Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden over 80 percent of the population is urban, and in the Czech Republic, France, Norway, and Spain the figure is greater than 70 percent. Germany, too, has drawn large numbers of immigrants, particularly from Turkey. Labour force totals have remained high on the continent because of the increasing proportion of employed women as well as the influx of large numbers of workers from outside Europe. Islam also has a long history in Europe.