Eurostat: EU’s population rose by a milllion between 2024 and 2025

On January 1 2025, there were 451 million people living in the European Union (EU) representing approximately a million more people than the previous year, the bloc’s statistics agency said on May 21.

The most populous EU countries were Germany (84 million, 19 per cent of the EU total), France (69 million, 15 per cent), Italy (59 million, 13 per cent), Spain (49 million, 11 per cent) and Poland (36 million, 8 per cent)

In total, these five countries accounted for 66 per cent of the EU population, Eurostat said.

At the other end of the range, the least populous EU countries were Malta (574 000 people, corresponding to 0.1 per cent of the EU total), Luxembourg (682 000, almost 0.2 per cent) and Cyprus (983 000, 0.2 per cent).

During the 20-year period, from January 1 2005 to January 1 2025, the total population of the EU increased from 435 million to 451 million, a growth of four per cent.

During this period, 19 EU countries showed increases in their population and eight recorded decreases.

The largest relative increases were recorded in Luxembourg (48 per cent) followed by Malta (43 per cent), Cyprus (34 per cent) and Ireland (32 per cent).

The largest relative decreases were observed in Latvia (−17 per cent), Bulgaria (−16 per cent), Lithuania (−14 per cent), Romania (−11 per cent) and Croatia (−10 per cent).

The largest absolute increases were recorded in France and Spain (both 6 million), while the largest absolute decreases were observed in Romania and Poland (both −2 million) and Bulgaria (−1 million).

On 1 January 2025, the EU had 65 million children and young adolescents (under the age of 15), representing 14 per cent of the total EU population. The share varied across EU countries: Ireland topped the list with nearly 19 per cent, while Italy had the lowest share with 12 per cent.

Over the two decades from 2005 to 2025 (January 1), most of the EU countries saw a decline in this age group except for Czechia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Slovenia which recorded increases of less than +1 percentage point (pp).

Meanwhile, young people (under the age of 19) accounted for 20 per cent of the EU population on January 1 2025. Among the EU countries, the highest share of young people was in Ireland (25 per cent), followed by France and Sweden (each 23 per cent). The lowest share was recorded in Malta (16 per cent).

On January 1 2025, the EU’s population aged 80 and over reached 6 per cent. Among EU countries, the highest shares were recorded in Italy (nearly 8 per cent), followed by Germany, Greece, and Portugal (all 7 per cent). 

Across the EU, the number of people aged 80 and over has increased in every country over the last 20 years. The biggest rises were in Greece, Portugal, Latvia, Germany, Slovenia, Italy, Estonia, Lithuania and Croatia, where this age group grew by 3 pp in each country.

On January 1 2025, there were 99 million people aged 65 years old or more, representing 22 per cent of the total EU population. Across the EU, the number of people aged 65 and over increased in all EU countries when comparing 2005 with 2025. The highest increase was in Poland (8 pp from 13 per cent in 2005 to 21 per cent in 2025). 

Another way of analysing the ageing of society in the EU is by looking at the median age of the population. The median age increased by 5.3 years from 39.6 years in 2005 to 44.9 years in 2025 (on 1 January). 

Among the EU countries, the highest median age in 2025 was observed in Italy (49.1 years), followed by Bulgaria and Portugal (each 47.3 years) and Greece (47.2 years), while the lowest were recorded in Ireland (39.6 years), Luxembourg (39.8 years) and Malta (40.0 years).

During the period 2005 to 2025, the median age increased the most in Romania (8.6 years) followed by Portugal (8.1 years) and Greece (8.0 years), the least in Sweden (1.1 years) and Luxembourg (1.7 years).

On January 1 2025 the median age was (43.3 years) for men and (46.5 years) for women.

In 2024, almost six million people immigrated to EU countries. Of those, 4.2 million people (74 per cent) were from non-EU countries and 1.5 million (26 per cent) people who had previously resided in one EU country migrated to another EU country.

In 2024, the largest numbers of persons immigrating were recorded in Spain (1 289 000 persons, 23 per cent of all immigrants into EU countries), Germany (1 079 000, 19 per cent), Italy (452 000, 8 per cent) and France (439 000, 8 per cent)

Immigrants entering these 4 countries made up 57 per cent of all immigrants entering the EU in 2024. Slovakia followed by Latvia, Estonia and Luxembourg recorded the smallest numbers of immigrants with less of than 0.5 per cent each.

n 2024, 3.1 million people emigrated from the EU countries. Of those, 1.5 million moved to another EU country and more than 1.5 million to outside EU. For 0.1 million emigrants the country of next residence is unknown.

In 2024, the largest numbers of persons emigrating were reported in Spain (662 000 persons, 21 per cent of all emigrants from EU countries), followed by Germany (584 000, 18 per cent), and France (263 000, 8 per cent), and the smallest in Slovakia (4 400, 0.1 per cent) and Bulgaria (13 000, 0.4 per cent).

On 1 January 2025, while most people in the EU lived in their country of citizenship, almost 10 per cent (45 million) of the EU population were citizens of another country other than their country of residence. Of these, 3 per cent (14 million) were citizens of another EU country and around 7 per cent (31 million) of a non-EU country. Additionally, less than 1 per cent of the EU population were stateless, i.e., people of unknown citizenship

Looking specifically at citizens from other EU countries, the largest share was recorded in Luxembourg (36 per cent), followed by Cyprus and Austria (both 10 per cent). The proportion of citizens from outside the EU was largest in Malta (21 per cent), Estonia (16 per cent) and Cyprus (15 per cent). 

In 2024, EU countries granted citizenship to almost 1.2 million people representing a 12 per cent increase compared with 2023 (1 054 000). Syrians (110 000 persons or 9 per cent of all acquisitions of citizenship), Moroccans (97 000 or 8 per cent) and Albanians (48 000 or 4 per cent) were the top 3 recipients of EU country citizenship.

Another way of looking at population diversity is through the share of children born to foreign-born mothers. In 2024 in the EU, 24 per cent of children were born to mothers who were not born in their country of residence, an increase of 6 pp from 18 per cent in 2014.

In 2024, the highest share was recorded in Luxembourg (68 per cent) followed by Cyprus (42 per cent) and Malta (38 per cent), while the lowest were in Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia (each 3 per cent).

Comparing 2024 with 2014, 24 EU countries showed an increase in the share of live births to foreign-born mothers. Malta recorded the highest increase (23 pp, from 15 per cent to 38 per cent) and Croatia the highest decrease (−4 pp, from 15 per cent to 11 per cent).

(Photo: Abdulhamid AlFadhly/ freeimages.com)