Population of Foreign citizens in the EU27 in 2008

 Source: Eurostat

 Population of foreign citizens in the EU27 in 2008

Foreign citizens made up 6% of the EU27 population

On 1 January 2008, 30.8 million foreign citizens1 lived in the EU27 Member States, of which 11.3 million were citizens of another EU27 Member state. The remaining 19.5 million were citizens of countries outside the EU27, of which 6.0 million were citizens of other European countries, 4.7 million of Africa, 3.7 million of Asia and 3.2 million of the American continent. Foreign citizens accounted for 6.2% of the total EU27 population.

This news release, issued on the occasion of the International Migrants Day2 on 18 December 2009, is based on a report3 by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, on foreign citizens in the EU27 Member States, Norway and Switzerland. This report presents data either supplied by National Statistical Institutes, or approved by them if estimated by Eurostat.

The proportion of foreign citizens varied between 0.1% in Romania and 43% in Luxembourg

In 2008, the largest numbers of foreign citizens were recorded in Germany (7.3 million persons), Spain (5.3 million), the United Kingdom (4.0 million), France (3.7 million) and Italy (3.4 million). More than 75% of the foreign citizens in the EU27 lived in these Member States.

Among the EU27 Member States, the highest percentage of foreign citizens in the population was found in Luxembourg (43% of the total population), followed by Latvia (18%), Estonia (17%), Cyprus (16%), Ireland (13%), Spain (12%) and Austria (10%). The percentage of foreign citizens was less than 1% in Romania, Poland, Bulgaria and Slovakia.

More than a third of foreign citizens in the EU27 came from another Member State

In 2008, 37% of the foreign citizens living in the EU27 were citizens of another EU27 Member state. The largest groups were from Romania (1.7 million or 15% of the total number of foreign citizens from another EU Member State), Italy (1.3 million or 11%) and Poland (1.2 million or 11%). Among the citizens of countries outside the EU27, the largest groups were from Turkey (2.4 million or 12% of the total number of foreign citizens from countries outside the EU27), Morocco (1.7 million or 9%) and Albania (1.0 million or 5%).

The origin of the population of foreign citizens varied greatly between Member States. In six Member States, the largest single group of foreign citizens accounted for more than 30% of the total foreign population. The Member States with the highest percentage of foreign citizens from one single country were Greece (64% of foreign citizens were from Albania), Slovenia (47% from Bosnia and Herzegovina), Hungary (37% from Romania) and Luxembourg (37% from Portugal). In Latvia, 90% of the population of foreign citizens were recognised non-citizens4.

Population of foreign citizens in the EU27 Member States, 2008 Total foreign citizens

Citizens of another EU27 Member State

Citizens of countries outside the EU27

000s

% of total population

000s

% of total population

000s

% of total population

EU27

30 779

6.2

11 302

2.3

19 476

3.9

Belgium

971

9.1

659

6.2

312

2.9

Bulgaria

24

0.3

4

0.0

21

0.3

Czech Republic

348

3.3

132

1.3

216

2.1

Denmark

298

5.5

93

1.7

205

3.7

Germany

7 255

8.8

2 516

3.1

4 740

5.8

Estonia*

229

17.1

8

0.6

221

16.5

Ireland

554

12.6

392

8.9

162

3.7

Greece*

906

8.1

158

1.4

748

6.7

Spain

5 262

11.6

2 113

4.7

3 149

7.0

France*

3 674

5.8

1 283

2.0

2 391

3.8

Italy

3 433

5.8

934

1.6

2 498

4.2

Cyprus

125

15.9

81

10.3

44

5.6

Latvia

415

18.3

8

0.3

408

17.9

Lithuania

43

1.3

3

0.1

40

1.2

Luxembourg

206

42.6

177

36.6

29

6.0

Hungary

177

1.8

101

1.0

76

0.8

Malta

15

3.8

8

2.0

7

1.8

Netherlands

688

4.2

263

1.6

425

2.6

Austria

835

10.0

290

3.5

545

6.6

Poland

58

0.2

25

0.1

33

0.1

Portugal

446

4.2

116

1.1

331

3.1

Romania

26

0.1

6

0.0

20

0.1

Slovenia

69

3.4

4

0.2

65

3.2

Slovakia

41

0.8

26

0.5

15

0.3

Finland

133

2.5

47

0.9

86

1.6

Sweden

524

5.7

241

2.6

284

3.1

United Kingdom*

4 021

6.6

1 615

2.6

2 406

3.9

Norway

266

5.6

138

2.9

128

2.7

Switzerland

1 602

21.1

968

12.7

634

8.3

                           


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