Europium is a chemical element; it has symbol Eu and atomic number 63. It is a silvery-white metal of the lanthanide series that reacts readily with air to form a dark oxide coating. Europium is the most chemically reactive, least dense, and softest of the lanthanides. It is soft enough to be cut with a knife. Europium was discovered in 1896, provisionally designated as Σ; in 1901, it was named after the continent of Europe. Europium usually assumes the oxidation state +3, like other members of the lanthanide series, but compounds having oxidation state +2 are also common. All europium compounds with oxidation state +2 are slightly reducing. Europium has no significant biological role but is relatively non-toxic compared to other heavy metals. Most applications of europium exploit the phosphorescence of europium compounds. Europium is one of the rarest of the rare-earth elements on Earth.

Its discoverer, Eugène-Anatole Demarçay, named the element after the continent of Europe.

Europium is a ductile metal with a hardness similar to that of lead. It crystallizes in a body-centered cubic lattice. Among the lanthanoids Europium together with ytterbium have the largest volume per mole of metal. Magnetic measurements suggest this is a consequence of these metals being effectively divalent while other lanthanoids are trivalent metals.

The chemistry of europium is broadly lanthanoid chemistry, but Europium is the most reactive lanthanoid. It rapidly oxidizes in air, so that bulk oxidation of a centimeter-sized sample occurs within several days. Its reactivity with water is comparable to that of calcium, and the reaction is

Because of the high reactivity, samples of solid europium rarely have the shiny appearance of the fresh metal, even when coated with a protective layer of mineral oil. Europium ignites in air at 150 to 180 °C to form europium(III) oxide:

Europium dissolves readily in dilute sulfuric acid to form pale pink solutions of [Eu(H₂O)₉]³⁺:

Although usually trivalent, europium readily forms divalent compounds. This behavior is unusual for most lanthanides, which almost exclusively form compounds with an oxidation state of +3. The +2 state has an electron configuration 4f⁷ because the half-filled f-shell provides more stability. In terms of size and coordination number, europium(II) and barium(II) are similar. The sulfates of both barium and europium(II) are also highly insoluble in water. Divalent europium is a mild reducing agent, oxidizing in air to form Eu(III) compounds. In anaerobic, and particularly geothermal conditions, the divalent form is sufficiently stable that it tends to be incorporated into minerals of calcium and the other alkaline earths. This ion-exchange process is the basis of the "negative europium anomaly", the low europium content in many lanthanide minerals such as monazite, relative to the chondritic abundance. Bastnäsite tends to show less of a negative europium anomaly than does monazite, and hence is the major source of europium today. The development of easy methods to separate divalent europium from the other (trivalent) lanthanides made europium accessible even when present in low concentration, as it usually is.

Europium compounds tend to exist in a trivalent oxidation state under most conditions. Commonly these compounds feature Eu(III) bound by 6–9 oxygenic ligands. The Eu(III) sulfates, nitrates and chlorides are soluble in water or polar organic solvents. Lipophilic europium complexes often feature acetylacetonate-like ligands, such as EuFOD.