In Numbers: How the populations of European countries have changed
The year 2024 was the fourth consecutive year of population growth in the EU, after a drop recorded during the pandemic.
The increase is largely due to net migration (the difference between the number of people arriving and those leaving) rather than natural change (the difference between births and deaths).
Only six EU countries – France and Sweden, together with Ireland, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta – recorded more births than deaths, in addition to positive net migration.
Effects of migration
Historically, the difference between births and deaths in the EU was positive – yet slowing – until 2011. Since 2012, more deaths than births were recorded but the total EU population has kept increasing due to positive net migration. Only during the Covid-19 pandemic was the negative natural change not compensated by migration,
Eurostat
says.
In 2024, deaths (4.82 million) outnumbered births (3.56 million), resulting in a negative natural change of 1.3 million people. On the other hand, positive net migration was 2.3 million, lower than the almost 3 million of 2022. These factors together made up for a population increase of 1,070,702.
On a country level, 19 EU member states saw their population growing while eight saw a decline.
The highest growth rates compared to the total population were recorded in Malta (the smallest EU country by population, at 0.6 million), Portugal and Ireland.
Denmark was the only EU country with zero natural change and its population was stable at around 5.9 million.
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Except for Latvia, where people emigrating keep outnumbering those immigrating, all EU countries had positive net migration in 2024.
In 13 EU countries (Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Finland), this was the reason for population growth.
Largest countries
Germany, France and Italy are the largest EU countries by population (19 percent, 15 percent and 13 percent respectively, and comprise almost half of all EU residents.
In 2024, Germany had 83.5 million inhabitants compared to 83.4 in 2023, France 68.6 million compared to 68.4 the previous year, and Italy 59.7 million people, a slight decrease over 2023.
Spain follows with 49 million people, compared to 48.6 in 2023.
In Sweden, the total population reached 10.5 million, and Austria 9.1 million, both representing a slight increase compared to 2023.
Norway followed a similar trend, at 5.5 million, and Switzerland's population reached 9 million people, compared to 8.9 in 2023.
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Countries losing population
In 2024, the population declined in eight EU countries (Bulgaria, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia), as the negative natural change was not offset by immigration. The largest declines were recorded in Latvia, Hungary, Poland and Estonia.
Latvia was the only country with both negative natural change and negative net migration.
Future trend
The EU population grew by about 0.9 million each year between 2005 and 2024, compared to 3 million per year during the 1960s.
In 1960, the population of the current EU countries was 354.5 million.
In the future, due to the ageing population, the number of deaths is expected to further increase, and if fertility rates remain at current levels, the negative natural change could
continue
.
This is in line with a global trend with a growing number of older adults and fewer under 25, according to an analysis by the
Pew Research Centre
. This also shows that Europe's median age is 43, making it the oldest region in the world.
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