Eurostat: Close to one in 10 living in EU born outside it
On January 1 2024, 44.7 million people born outside the European Union were residing in an EU country, representing 9.9 per cent of the EU population, the bloc’s statistics agency said on February 14.
This is an increase of 2.3 million compared with the previous year.
In addition, 17.9 million people living in one of the EU countries on January 1 2024 were born in another EU country, representing an increase of 0.2 million compared with the previous year.
In absolute terms, the largest numbers of foreign-born individuals living in EU countries on January 1 2024 were found in Germany (16.9 million), France (9.3 million), Spain (8.8 million) and Italy (6.7 million).
Foreign-born individuals in these four EU countries collectively represented 66.6 per cent of the total number of foreign-born individuals living in the EU, while the same four EU countries had a 57.8 per cent share of the EU’s population.
The highest relative share of foreign-born individuals within the total population was in Luxembourg (51 per cent of the resident population), followed by Malta (30.8 per cent), Cyprus (26.9 per cent), Ireland (22.6 per cent), Austria (22.1 per cent), Sweden (20.6 per cent) and Germany (20.2 per cent).
By contrast, foreign-born individuals represented less than five per cent of the population in Poland (2.6 per cent of its resident population on January 1 2024), Romania (3.1 per cent), Bulgaria (3.3 per cent) and Slovakia (3.9 per cent).
On January 1 2024, in most EU countries, the majority of foreign-born individuals were born outside the EU. Only in Luxembourg, Hungary and Slovakia was the number of people born in another EU country higher than the number of people born outside the EU.
Over the past 10 years, between January 1 2014 and January 1 2024, the proportion of foreign-born people increased in most EU countries . The proportion of foreign-born people decreased only in Latvia and Greece during that time.
On January 1 2024, 29 million citizens of non-member countries were resident in an EU country, representing 6.4 per cent of the EU population. This is an increase of 2.2 million compared with the previous year.
In addition, 14 million people living in one of the EU countries on January 1 2024 were citizens of another EU country, an increase of 0.3 million compared with the previous year.
In absolute terms, the largest numbers of non-nationals living in EU countries on January 1 2024 were found in Germany (12.1 million), Spain (6.5 million), France (six million) and Italy (5.3 million). Non-nationals in these four EU countries collectively represented 69.5 per cent of the total number of non-nationals living in the EU, while the same four EU countries had a 57.8 per cent share of the EU’s population.
In relative terms, the EU country with the highest share of non-nationals on January 1 2024 was Luxembourg, where non-nationals accounted for 47.2 per cent of the total population.
High proportions of foreign citizens were also observed in Malta (28.1 per cent) and Cyprus (24 per cent).
By contrast, non-nationals represented less than three per cent of the population in Slovakia (1.2 per cent), Poland (1.2 per cent), Romania (1.2 per cent), Bulgaria (1.8 per cent) and Hungary (2.6 per cent).
In relative terms, Luxembourg also had the largest share by far of citizens of other EU countries, 36.5 per cent, followed by Cyprus with 10.2 per cent and Austria with 9.8 per cent.
Conversely, Lithuania and Poland (0.1 per cent of the resident population), Romania (0.3 per cent), Bulgaria and Latvia (0.4 per cent), Croatia (0.5 per cent), Slovakia (0.7 per cent) and Hungary (0.9 per cent) had the smallest shares of citizens of other EU countries in the population.
In the cases of Estonia and Latvia, the proportion of citizens from non-member countries is particularly large due to the high number of recognised non-citizens (mainly former Soviet Union citizens, who are permanently resident in these countries but have not acquired any other citizenship).
Romanian, Polish and Italian citizens were the three largest groups of citizens from an EU country living in other EU countries on January 1 2024, for which data are available.
Ukrainian, Turkish and Moroccan citizens were the three largest groups of non-EU citizens living in EU countries on January 1 2024, for which data are available.
An analysis of the age structure of the population shows that, for the EU as a whole, the foreign-born population was younger than the native-born population.
The distribution by age of the foreign-born population shows, compared with the native-born population, a greater proportion of relatively young working age adults, and a lower proportion of children, adolescents and older adults aged 60 and above.
On January 1 2024, the median age of native-born individuals in the EU was 45.1 years, while the median age of foreign-born individuals living in the EU was 43.1 years.
In most EU countries, the foreign-born population was younger than the native-born population.
Only in Estonia, France, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia was the proportion of individuals over 65 years of age higher in the foreign-born population than in the native-born population.
In addition, the proportion of individuals aged 15 to 64 years was higher in the foreign-born population than in the native-born population in all EU countries except for Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
In Denmark, Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Finland and Sweden, the proportion of individuals aged 15 to 64 years was at least 20 percentage points higher in the foreign-born population than in the native-born population.
(Main photo: Abdulhamid AlFadhly/ freeimages.com)
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