EU’s population climbs to 505.7 million in 2013

On 1 January 2013, the population of the EU28 was estimated at 505.7 million, compared with 504.6 million on
1 January 2012. This means that the population of the EU28 grew by 1.1 million in 2012, an annual rate of +2.2 per 1 000 inhabitants, due to a natural increase of 0.2 million (+0.4%) and net migration of 0.9 million (+1.7%).

In 2012, 5.2 million babies were born in the EU28. The crude birth rate was 10.4 per 1000 inhabitants, stable compared with 2011. The highest birth rates were recorded in Ireland (15.7%), the United Kingdom (12.8%), France (12.6%), Sweden (11.9%) and Cyprus (11.8%), and the lowest in Germany (8.4%), Portugal (8.5%), Greece and Italy (both 9.0%) and Hungary (9.1%).

There were 5.0 million deaths registered in the EU28 in 2012. The crude death rate was 9.9 per 1 000 inhabitants, compared with 9.6% in 2011. The highest death rates were observed in Bulgaria (15.0%), Latvia (14.3%), Lithuania (13.7%), Hungary (13.0%), Romania (12.7%) and Croatia (12.1%), and the lowest in Ireland (6.3%), Cyprus (6.6%), Luxembourg (7.3%), Malta (8.1%) and the Netherlands (8.4%).

Consequently, the highest natural growth of the population (the difference between live births and deaths per 1 000 inhabitants) was registered in Ireland (+9.5%), well ahead of Cyprus (+5.2%), Luxembourg (+4.0%), France and the United Kingdom (both +3.8%). Twelve Member States had negative natural growth, with the largest falls in Bulgaria (-5.5%), Latvia (-4.5%), Hungary (-3.9%), Lithuania (-3.5%), Romania (-2.7%) and Germany (-2.4%).

In 2012, around 80% of the increase in the EU28 population came from migration. In relative terms, Luxembourg (+18.9%), Malta (+7.4%), Italy (+6.2%), Sweden (+5.4%) and Austria (+5.2%) had the largest net inflows, while Ireland (-7.6%), Lithuania (-7.1%), Latvia (-5.8%), Estonia (-5.7%), Greece (-4.0%), Portugal (-3.6%) and Spain (-3.5%) recorded the highest net outflows.

In conclusion, the population increased in seventeen Member States and decreased in eleven. The largest relative increases were observed in Luxembourg (+23.0%), Malta (+9.1%), Sweden (+7.7%), the United Kingdom (+6.2%), Belgium (+6.0%) and Austria (+5.2%), and the largest decreases in Lithuania (-10.6%), Latvia (-10.3%), Estonia (-6.8%), Bulgaria (-5.8%), Greece (-5.5%) and Portugal (-5.2%).