The demographics of the European Union show a highly populated, culturally diverse union of 27 member states. As of 1 January 2026, the population of the EU is just under 452 million.
Population by country
The most populous member state is Germany, with an estimated 83.5 million people, and the least populous member state is Malta with 0.57 million. Birth rates in the EU are in the low range, with the average woman having 1.6 children. The highest birth rates are found in Ireland with 11.153 births per thousand people per year and in France with 10.862 births. Spain has the lowest birth rate in Europe with 7.816 births per thousand people per year.
The table below uses data from Eurostat. The following is the estimated population of the EU on 1 January 2026:
Member state Population Population (%) Area (km2) Area (%) Density (/km2) 9,215,956 2.04% 83,878 2.0% 109 11,955,308 2.65% 30,667 0.7% 383 6,423,207 1.43% 110,996 2.6% 58 3,876,002 0.86% 56,594 1.3% 68 996,571 0.22% 9,253 0.2% 100 10,915,839 2.42% 78,871 1.9% 137 6,025,603 1.33% 42,925 1.0% 138 1,360,745 0.30% 45,336 1.1% 30 5,652,881 1.25% 338,411 8.0% 16 69,112,309 15.29% 638,475 15.1% 107 83,467,117 18.47% 357,569 8.5% 236 10,366,586 2.29% 131,694 3.1% 79 9,488,428 2.10% 93,012 2.2% 103 5,510,565 1.22% 69,947 1.7% 74 58,942,828 13.04% 302,079 7.1% 195 1,845,096 0.41% 64,586 1.5% 29 2,887,592 0.64% 65,284 1.5% 44 690,959 0.15% 2,595 0.1% 255 588,254 0.13% 316 0.01% 1715 18,130,208 4.01% 37,378 0.9% 477 36,332,765 8.04% 311,928 7.4% 118 11,424,031 2.53% 92,227 2.2% 113 19,041,322 4.21% 238,398 5.6% 80 5,409,407 1.20% 49,035 1.2% 111 2,135,107 0.47% 20,273 0.5% 104 49,590,099 10.97% 505,983 12.0% 97 10,605,529 2.35% 447,424 10.6% 24 451,990,314 100% 4,225,134 100% 106
Demographic future
The EU faces challenges in its demographic future. Most concerns center around several related issues: an ageing population, growing life expectancy and immigrant flow.
After hitting a historical low of 1.47 children born per female, the total fertility rate of the EU started to increase again, to reach a level of 1.60 in 2008.Demography Report 2010. Latest figures on the demographic challenges in the EU Epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu The positive trend was observed in all member states with the exception of Luxembourg, Malta and Portugal. The largest increases over this period were observed in Bulgaria (from 1.23 children per woman in 2003 to 1.57 in 2009), Slovenia (from 1.20 to 1.53), the Czech Republic (from 1.18 to 1.49) and Lithuania (from 1.26 to 1.55). In 2009, the Member States with the highest fertility rates were Ireland (2.06), France (2.00), Sweden (1.94), and the United Kingdom (1.90), all approaching the replacement level of 2.1 children born per female. The lowest rates were observed in Latvia (1.31), Hungary and Portugal (both 1.32) and Germany (1.36). The increasing fertility rate has also been accompanied by an upward trend in the natural increase of the population which is due to the moderate increase of the crude birth rate that reached 10.9 births per 1000 inhabitants in 2008, an increase of 0.3 compared with 2007. The increase was observed in all member countries except Germany. The EU crude death rate remained stable at 9.7 per 1000 inhabitants. The relatively low fertility rate means retirement age workers are not entirely replaced by younger workers joining the workforce. The EU faces a potential future dominated by an ever-increasing population of retired citizens, without enough younger workers to fund (via taxes) retirement programs or other state welfare agendas.
A low fertility rate, without supplement from immigration, also suggests a declining overall EU population, which further suggests economic contraction or even a possible economic crisis. Some media have noted the 'baby crisis' in the EU, some governments have noted the problem, and the UN and other multinational authorities have warned of a possible crisis. At this point however such a decrease in the population of the EU is not observed as the overall natural growth remains positive and the EU continues to attract large numbers of immigrants. In 2010, a breakdown of the population by citizenship showed that there were 20.1 million foreign citizens living in the EU representing 4% of the population.
Over the last 50 years, life expectancy at birth in the EU27 has increased by around 10 years for both women and men, to reach 82.4 years for women and 76.4 years for men in 2008. The life expectancy at birth rose in all Member States, with the largest increases for both women and men recorded in Estonia and Slovenia.
Population projections
In 2017, Eurostat released yearly projections up to 2080.
The table figures below are in thousands. Country 2015 2040 %change 2080 %change EU-28 (including UK) 508,401 528,357 3.9% 518,798 -2.0% 8,576 10,087 17.6% 10,072 17.4% 11,208 12,844 14.6% 14,189 26.6% 7,202 5,933 -17.6% 4,593 -36.2% 847 954 12.6% 1,004 18.5% 10,538 10,552 0.1% 9,777 -7.2% 5,659 6,564 16.0% 6,858 21.2% 1,313 1,283 -2.3% 1,140 -13.2% 5,471 5,722 4.6% 5,577 1.9% 66,415 72,915 9.8% 78,688 18.5% 81,197 84,133 3.6% 77,793 -4.2% 10,858 9,419 -13.3% 7,264 -33.1% 9,855 9,471 -3.9% 8,691 -11.8% 4,628 5,396 16.6% 6,220 34.4% 60,795 59,982 -1.3% 53,784 -11.5% 1,986 1,598 -19.5% 1,284 -35.3% 2,921 2,128 -27.1% 1,658 -43.2% 562 860 53.0% 1,066 89.7% 429 505 17.7% 517 20.5% 16,900 19,035 12.6% 19,728 16.7% 38,005 35,840 -5.7% 29,044 -23.6% 10,374 9,553 -7.9% 7,579 -26.9% 19,870 17,069 -14.0% 14,530 -26.8% 5,421 5,373 -0.9% 4,714 -13.0% 2,062 2,066 0.2% 1,938 -6.0% 46,449 48,244 3.9% 50,988 9.8% 9,747 11,994 23.1% 14,388 47.6%
Population shifts
The rate of natural change (births as opposed to deaths) was negative for the European Union as a whole in 2022: the population declined by 0.1 per cent per year without net migration. Of the most populous countries, particularly Italy (over -0.5 per cent) and Germany (roughly -0.4 per cent) saw a large natural population decrease. Only Malta, France, Sweden, Ireland, Luxembourg and Cyprus had "natural" population growth in 2022. Actual population growth, including migration, was nearly 0.4 per cent for the EU, however.
The overall population of the European Union continued to grow until 2020, but since 2021 it has fluctuated between decrease and increase in accordance with migration flows. Country Population(2026) %growth(2024) ‰ Naturalchange(2024) ‰ Netmigration(2022) Fertilityrate(2024) 0.24 -2.8 2.6 1.34 0.14 -4.0 15.4 1.36 0.25 0.3 2.7 1.61 -0.06 -4.8 2.4 1.18 0.94 -2.4 14.8 1.10 -0.34 -4.3 0.1 1.14 -0.17 -5.3 4.8 1.39 0.56 -0.3 8.2 1.43 0.70 -0.2 10.1 1.44 0.80 -2.6 30.6 1.36 1.03 -3.2 8.3 1.41 0.34 0.7 2.3 1.43 0.08 -5.5 -1.5 1.24 -0.47 -5.1 -1.8 1.41 0.42 -1.2 7.3 1.31 -0.13 -7.3 -0.5 1.72 0.53 0.0 2.7 1.47 0.57 -2.6 10.4 1.25 -0.08 -1.4 0.2 1.46 1.63 3.5 14.7 1.47 0.32 -4.9 -0.1 1.46 0.17 -6.4 15.7 1.11 0.32 -2.2 8.2 1.52 -0.99 -7.4 11.7 1.24 -0.34 -4.4 16.7 1.18 1.39 3.3 7.0 1.38 1.47 2.9 12.1 1.25 1,90 0.3 5.5 1.01 Migration
The movement of people within the Union i.e. internal migration, remains limited; it has traditionally followed two patterns:
Younger workers from less economically developed regions and countries of the EU tend to move to more prosperous regions in their country or to other EU countries with good economic prospects (i.e. Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Poland) Retirees from wealthier places with colder weather (i.e. the Low Countries and Germany, among other places) tend to move to the sun belt in southern Europe – i.e. Spain, Portugal, Southern France, Italian peninsula, Croatia, and Greece.
Immigration and emigration
At present, more people immigrate into the European Union than emigrate from it. Immigration is a controversial issue in many member states, including Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Spain, and France. It was also a cited as a major factor in the Brexit referendum of 2016.
In 2022, 59.9 million people living in the EU, or 13.35% of the total population, had been born outside their resident country. As of 2019, the largest absolute numbers of people born outside the EU were in Germany (8.4 million), France (6.3 million), Spain (4.6 million), Italy (4.3 million), and the Netherlands (1.7 million).
In 2017, approximately 825,000 persons acquired citizenship of a member state of the European Union, down from 995,000 in 2016. The largest groups were nationals of Morocco, Albania, India, Turkey and Pakistan.
Spain and Italy in particular receives most of the immigrants coming illegally to Europe from Africa, probably due to their large coastal area and their proximity to the African continent. In particular, Spain has land borders with Morocco at Ceuta and Melilla and the Italian island of Lampedusa lies just 113 km from Tunisia.
African immigrants try to enter Spain by boat from Morocco or Senegal or by jumping the border fences. Dealing with Italy, immigrants mostly enter by boats from Tunisia and Libya.
Estimates are that between 50,000 and 70,000 people enter the European Union illegally through Spanish borders or beaches. Border fences have been built at both the Ceuta and Melilla borders in an attempt to stop illegal entrance to the country. Illegal immigration is an issue in Spanish politics, and also a big human rights problem, since many people die during the journey. Spain has been Europe's largest absorber of migrants for the past six years, with its immigrant population increasing fourfold as 2.8 million people have arrived, mostly from Latin America. Spectacular growth in Spain's immigrant population came as the country's economy created more than half of all the new jobs in the European Union between 2001 and 2006.Spain attracts record levels of immigrants seeking jobs and sun, The Guardian. Retrieved 26 July 2006.
The net migration rate for the EU in 2008 was 3.1 per 1,000 inhabitants; this figure is for migration into and out of the European Union, and therefore excludes any internal movements between member states. Annual net migration has varied from 1.5 to 2.0 million people since 2003. Country Population 2022(1000) Foreign-born 2022(1000) % EU-27 448,38859,90013.3566133350.4154215323.6092120922.685,2711,15121.839,1051,96321.5610,5212,54420.3784,35916,47619.5311,7432,24719.131,36623517.1848,0858,20417.06 10,4671,68416.0917,8112,77715.592,11730914.615,93380413.55 68,1738,94213.12 1,88324112.803,85149112.2310,4141,17311.27 58,9976,41710.88 5,5644618.302,8572328.11 10,8287647.06 9,6006446.71 5,4292133.93 6,4481693.23 19,0555312.7936,7549332.54
Most populous areas The European Union has a significant number of global cities. It contains 13 of the 60 cities that make up the 2008 Global Cities Index as well as 16 of the 41 "alpha" global cities classified by Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Research Network (including Paris, Milan, Amsterdam and Brussels among others). The following is a list of the ten most populous cities, urban areas, and urban zones in the European Union, together with their population: City proper(2023) mill. Urban area(2022) mill. LUZ(2016) mill. Berlin 3.8 ParisAire d'attraction des villes 2020 de Paris (001), INSEE 14.8 Paris 12.0 Madrid 3.3 Ruhr Area 6.2 Madrid 6.4 Rome 2.8 Madrid 6.2 Barcelona 5.4 Paris 2.1 Milan 5.5 Ruhr Area 5.0 Vienna 2.0 Barcelona 4.8 Berlin 5.0 Hamburg 1.9 Berlin 4.0 Milan 4.3 Warsaw 1.9 Naples 3.6 Naples 4.1 Bucharest 1.7 Athens 3.5 Athens 3.9 Budapest 1.7 Rome 3.2 Rome 3.7 Munich1.5 Lisbon3.0 Hamburg3.1
Vital statistics
Statistics for the EU of 27 countries Since 2020, EU data is aggregated for the 27 current member states. The UK is no longer a member due to leaving the EU. Population is reported on 1 January