(10 July 2014) – On 1 January 2014, the population of the EU28 was estimated at 507.4 million, compared with 505.7 million on 1 January 2013. As a long-term trend, the population of the countries making up the EU28 has increased by around 100 million since 1960.
The highest positive natural change of the population (the difference between live births and deaths expressed per 1 000 inhabitants) was registered in Ireland (+8.5‰), well ahead of Cyprus (+4.7‰), Luxembourg (+4.2‰), France (+3.6‰) and the United Kingdom (+3.2‰). Thirteen Member States had negative natural change, with the largest in Bulgaria (-5.2‰), Latvia (-4.0‰), Lithuania (-3.9‰), Hungary (-3.6‰), Romania (-3.5‰) and Germany (-2.6‰).
In 2013, Luxembourg (+19.0‰), Malta (+7.6‰), Sweden (+6.8‰) and Austria (+6.5‰) recorded the highest positive net migration in relative terms, while Cyprus (-13.9‰), Latvia (-7.1‰), Lithuania (-5.7‰), Ireland (-5.6‰), Spain (-5.5‰) and Greece (-4.7‰) recorded the highest negative net migration.
To conclude, in 2013, the population increased in fifteen Member States and decreased in thirteen. The largest increases due to natural change and net migration were observed in Luxembourg (natural change +4.2‰ and net migration +19.0‰), Malta (+1.9‰ and +7.6‰), Sweden (+2.4‰ and +6.8‰), Austria (0.0‰ and +6.5‰), the United Kingdom (+3.2‰ and +3.3‰) and Denmark (+0.6‰ and +5.3‰), and the largest decreases in Latvia (-4.0‰ and -7.1‰), Lithuania (-3.9‰ and -5.7‰), Cyprus (+4.7 and -13.9‰), Greece (-1.6‰ and -4.7‰), Portugal (-2.3‰ and -3.5‰), Bulgaria (-5.2‰ and -0.2‰) and Spain (+0.8‰ and -5.5‰).