There are many historical regions of Central Europe. For the purpose of this list, Central Europe is defined as the area contained roughly within the south coast of the Baltic Sea, the Elbe River, the Alps, the Danube River, the Black Sea and the Dnieper River.

These historical regions were current in different time periods – from medieval to modern era – and may often overlap. National borders have been redrawn across those regions many times over the centuries, so usually a historical region cannot be assigned to any specific nation. The list below indicates which present-day states control the whole or a part of each of the listed regions.