Born abroad, living in the EU: How migration shapes the EU’s population

Around 44.7 million persons born outside the EU were living in a member state at the beginning of 2024. 

This number represents 9.9% of the EU’s population.  

That’s an increase of 2.3 million compared to the previous year, according to the latest Eurostat figures.

The largest number of foreign-born individuals living in EU countries were found in Germany (16.9 million people), France (9.3 million), Spain (8.8 million), and Italy (6.7 million). 

However, the highest share of immigrants within the total population was in Luxembourg at 51% of the resident population.

This is followed by Malta at 30.8%, Cyprus at 26.9%, and Ireland at 22.6%.

On the other hand, foreign-born individuals represented less than 5% of the population in Poland, at 2.6% of its resident population. 

Romania followed at 3.1%, Bulgaria at 3.3%, and Slovakia at 3.9%. 

Between 2014 and 2024, the proportion of foreign-born persons increased in most EU countries. 

Latvia and Greece were the only two member states observing a decrease in the proportion of foreign-born persons. 

Ukrainian, Turkish, and Moroccan citizens were the three largest groups of non-EU citizens living in EU member countries in 2024. 

Migration is influenced by a combination of economic, environmental, political, and social factors.

In most EU countries, the foreign-born population was younger than the native-born population.

The median age of EU-born individuals was 45.1 years, while for immigrants living in the EU was 43.1 years. 

Only in Estonia, France, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia was the proportion of individuals over 65 higher in the foreign-born population than in the native-born population.