Demography of Europe – 2024 edition

🔹On 1 January 2023, there were 448.8 million people living in the European Union (EU). The most populous EU country was Germany (84.4 million, 19% of the EU total), followed by France (68.2 million, 15%), Italy (59.0 million, 13%), Spain (48.1 million, 11%) and Poland (36.8 million, 8%). In total, these five EU countries accounted for 66% of the EU population.

At the other end of the range, the least populous EU countries were Malta (542 000 people, corresponding to 0.1% of the EU total), Luxembourg (661 000, also 0.1%) and Cyprus (921 000, 0.2%).

During the 20-year period 1 January 2003 to 1 January 2023, the total population of the EU increased from 431.2 million to 448.8 million, a growth of 4%.

The largest relative increases were recorded in Luxembourg (47%), Malta (36%), Ireland (33%), and Cyprus (29%), while the largest relative decreases were observed in Latvia (−18%), Bulgaria and Lithuania (both −17%), and Romania (−12%).

The largest absolute increases were recorded in France and Spain (both 6.3 million), while the largest absolute decreases were observed in Romania (−2.6 million), Poland (−1.5 million), and Bulgaria (−1.4 million).

🔹The highest population density was observed in Malta (1 693 persons per km²), followed at a distance by the Netherlands (518) and Belgium (384). At the other end of the range were Finland (18 persons per km²) and Sweden (26) with the lowest population densities.

🔹On 1 January 2023, there were 229 million women and 219 million men in the EU. This corresponds to a ratio of 104.6 women per 100 men, which means that there were 4.6% more women than men. There were more women than men in all EU countries, except Malta, Sweden, Luxembourg, and Slovenia. The highest rates were found in Latvia (16% more women than men) and Lithuania (14% more).

🔹Over the period 1 January 2003 to 1 January 2023, the share of persons aged 80 and over grew in all EU countries, at EU level by 2.3 percentage points (pp), from 3.7% to 6.0%. The highest increase was in Greece (+3.3 pp, from 3.8% to 7.1%) and Latvia (also +3.3 pp, from 2.7% to 6.0%), and the lowest in Sweden (+0.2 pp, from 5.3% to 5.5%).

Over the same period, also the share of persons aged 65 and over increased in all EU countries. At EU level, the increase was 5.1 pp, from 16.2% to 21.3%.

Over the period 1 January 2003 to 1 January 2023, the share of children and young adolescents (those aged below 15) decreased at EU level 1.5 pp, from 16.4% to 14.9%. A decrease was observed in all EU countries, except Czechia (+0.6 pp), Estonia, and Slovenia (both +0.01 pp).

Over the same period, the share of young people (aged 0 to 19 years old) decreased in all EU countries. At EU level, the decrease was 2.5 pp, from 22.6% to 20.1%.

🔹The median age increased in the period 2003 to 2023: it was 39.0 years in 2003, 42.2 years in 2013 and 44.5 years in 2023 (on the 1 January). This means an increase of 5.5 years in the median age in the EU during this 20-year period.

Among the EU countries, the highest median age on 1 January 2023 was observed in Italy (48.4 years), followed by Portugal (47.0), Bulgaria (46.8), and Greece (46.5), while the lowest were recorded in Cyprus (38.4 years), Ireland (39.1), Luxembourg (39.7) and Malta (40.1).

🔹In the EU, the crude birth rate, showing the number of live births per 1 000 persons, was 10.1 in 2002, went up to 10.6 in 2008 and has decreased since then to 8.7 in 2022.

In 2022, the highest crude birth rates were found in Cyprus (11.2 live births per 1 000 persons), France (10.7), Ireland (10.5) and Sweden (10.0) and the lowest in Italy (6.7), Spain (6.9) and Greece (7.3).

🔹The crude death rate (number of deaths per 1 000 persons) was 10.0 in 2002 in the EU, fluctuated between 9.7 and 10.1 until 2014, and then increased somewhat, varying between 10.2 and 10.5 during 2015-2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it increased to 11.6 in 2020 and 11.9 in 2021, before decreasing somewhat to 11.5 in 2022.

In 2022, the highest crude death rates were observed in Bulgaria (17.9 deaths per 1 000 persons), Latvia (16.4), Lithuania (15.1) and Croatia (14.8), and the lowest in Ireland and Luxembourg (both 6.8) and Cyprus and Malta (both 8.0).

🔹The highest negative crude rates of natural population change in 2022 were observed in Bulgaria (−9.4), Latvia (−7.9), and Lithuania (−7.4), and the highest positive ones were found in Ireland (+3.8), Cyprus (+3.2), and Luxembourg (+3.1).

🔹During the period 2002-2022 in the EU, the lowest value of total fertility rate (number of live births per woman) was 1.43 in 2002 and the highest 1.57 in 2008, 2010 and 2016. In 2022, the total fertility rate was 1.46.

Among the EU countries, France (1.79 live births per woman) had the highest total fertility rate, followed by Romania (1.71) and Bulgaria (1.65). The lowest rates were found in Malta (1.08), Spain (1.16) and Italy (1.24).

Over the period 2002-2022, the largest decreases in the total fertility rate were observed in Ireland (from 1.97 live births per woman in 2002 to 1.54 in 2022), Finland (from 1.72 to 1.32), and Malta (from 1.45 to 1.08), while the highest increases were found in Czechia (from 1.17 in 2002 to 1.64 in 2022), Romania (from 1.27 to 1.71), and Bulgaria (from 1.23 to 1.65).

🔹The number of marriages varied in the period 2002 to 2022 in the EU. The crude marriage rate, meaning the number of marriages per 1 000 persons, peaked at 5.0 marriages per 1 000 persons in 2007. After that it stayed at 4.1 marriages per 1 000 persons or above until 2019, when it was 4.3.

In 2020 and 2021, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the crude marriage rate recorded its lowest values since 1964 (the first available year) at 3.2 and 3.9, respectively. In 2022, it rebounded to 4.2.

In 2022, the lowest marriage rates were observed in Italy and Slovenia (both 3.2 marriages per 1 000 persons), and the highest in Hungary (6.6) and Latvia (6.3).

🔹The mean age of first-time mothers in the EU has increased: in 2013 the mean age of women at birth of their first child was 28.8 years. This increased as an average every year by 0.1 years, to reach 29.7 in 2022. In 2022, the oldest first-time mothers were found in Italy (31.7 years) and Spain (31.6) and the youngest in Bulgaria (26.6) and Romania (27.0).

In 2022, the oldest mean age at first marriage for both women and men was observed in Spain (34.7 and 36.8, respectively) and the youngest for women in Romania (28.0) and for men in Poland (30.7).

🔹The proportion of live births outside marriage in the EU increased continuously between 2002 and 2019, from 27.8% to 42.7%, while in 2020 and 2021 it decreased to 41.9% and 41.8%, respectively. In 2022, it increased to 42.2%.

In 2022, the highest shares were observed in France (65.2%), Portugal (60.2%), and Bulgaria (59.9%), and the lowest in Greece (19.2%) and Croatia (24.8%).

🔹In 2022, the highest crude divorce rates were observed in Latvia (2.9 divorces per 1 000 persons) and Lithuania (2.6), and the lowest ones in Malta (0.9) and Slovenia (1.0).

🔹Another way of analysing fertility trends is to look at the share of live births to mothers aged 40 and over in total live births in a year. In the EU, this share in 2022 was 2.4-fold compared with the share in 2002, as it grew from 2.5% in to 6.0%. In 2022, the largest share was found in Ireland (11.2% of all live births), followed by Spain (11.0%) and Greece (10.0%), and the lowest in Romania and Slovakia (both 3.5%), and Lithuania (3.6%).

🔹The population in the EU is ageing and one reason is the increasing life expectancy – the population lives longer and longer.

In 2003, the life expectancy at birth in the EU was 77.7 years, a value which increased by 3.6 years to 81.3 in 2019. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic life expectancy fell to 80.4 years in 2020 and further to 80.1 years in 2021. It rebounded to 80.6 years in 2022 and to 81.5 years in 2023.

In 2023, the highest life expectancies at birth were recorded in Spain (84.0) and Italy (83.8), and the lowest in Bulgaria (75.8) and Latvia (75.9).

🔹Women live longer than men: data for 2023 show that in the EU life expectancy at birth for women was 84.2 years and 78.9 for men, a difference of 5.3 years. This was the case in all EU countries, with the largest differences in Latvia (10.0 years; women 80.8 and men 70.8) and Lithuania (9.2; 81.7 and 72.5), and the smallest in the Netherlands (2.9; 83.4 and 80.5) and Sweden (3.3; 85.0 and 81.7).

Compared with the situation 20 years earlier, the gender gap in life expectancy at birth was 6.4 years in the EU in 2003 (women 80.8 and men 74.4), 1.1. years more than in 2023.

In 2023, the highest life expectancies at birth for women were recorded in Spain (86.7) and France (85.9), and the lowest in Bulgaria (79.6) and Hungary (80.1). For men, the highest life expectancies at birth were estimated in Malta (81.8), Italy, Luxembourg, and Sweden (all 81.7), and the lowest in Latvia (70.8) and Bulgaria (72.0).

🔹In 2022, about 7.0 million people ​​​​​immigrated to the EU countries. Of those, 5.1 million people came from non-EU countries and 1.5 million people previously residing in one EU country migrated to another EU country. For 0.4 million immigrants the country of previous residence is unknown.

In 2022, the largest numbers of persons immigrating were recorded in Germany (2 072 000 persons, 30% of all immigrants into EU countries), Spain (1 259 000, 18%), France (431 000, 6%) and Italy (411 000, 6%). Immigrants into these four EU countries made up 60% of all immigrants entering an EU country in 2022.

Slovakia (5 500, 0.1% of all immigrants into EU countries), Cyprus (31 100, 0.4%), Luxembourg (31 400, 0.5%) and Malta (35 000, 0.5%) recorded the smallest numbers of immigrants.

In terms of original citizenships, the largest groups acquiring citizenship of an EU country in 2020, 2021, and 2022 were Moroccans and Syrians (11% and 9%, respectively, of all citizenships granted by an EU country in 2022) and Albanians (5%).

🔹Another way of looking at population diversity is through the share of children born to foreign-born mothers. In 2022 in the EU, 22% of children were born to mothers who were not born in their country of residence of 2022, an increase of 4 pp from 18% in 2013. In 2022, Luxembourg (66%), Cyprus (41%), as well as Austria, Belgium, and Malta (all 33%) recorded the highest shares, while the lowest were in Slovakia, Bulgaria (both 2%) and Lithuania (4%).

🔹The EU population has the freedom to move and reside in the different EU countries. The largest group of EU citizens residing in other EU countries as non-nationals on 1 January 2023 was Romanian citizens (3.2 million or 23% of the 13.9 million EU citizens living in another EU country as non-nationals), followed by Polish and Italian (both 1.5 million or 11%), and Portuguese citizens (1.0 million or 7%).

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/interactive-publications/demography-2024