MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

EU population reaches 500 million, with strong boost from net migration

In 2009, about 5.4 million babies were born in the EU

The population in the European Union (EU) rose to over 500 million this year, official figures released by the EU statistics office Eurostat on Tuesday showed.

On 1 January 2010, the total population of the 27 EU member states was estimated at 501.1 million, compared with 499.7 million a year ago. It grew by 1.4 million in 2009, an annual rate of 2.7 per 1,000 inhabitants, due to a natural increase of 0.5 million and net migration of 0.9 million.

Compared with 2008, the demographic situation in 2009 in the EU27 is characterized by a slight decrease in the crude birth rate and a constant crude death rate, while net migration fell more significantly.

The population of the 16-nation Euro zone was estimated at 329.5 million on Jan. 1, 2010, compared with 328.6 million a year ago. It grew by 0.9 million in 2009, due to a natural increase of 0.3 million and net migration of 0.6 million.

In 2009, about 5.4 million children were born in the EU. The crude birth rate was 10.7 per 1,000 inhabitants, slightly down compared with 10.9 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2008. Ireland recorded the highest birth rate of 16.8 per 1,000 inhabitants followed by UK, 12.8‰; France, 12.7‰;, Cyprus 12.2‰ and Sweden 12.0‰, and the lowest rates in Germany 7.9‰, Austria 9.1‰, Portugal 9.4‰, Italy 9.5‰, Latvia and Hungary both with 9.6‰.

There were 4.8 million deaths registered in the EU27 in 2009. The crude death rate was 9.7 per 1000 inhabitants, the same as in 2008. The highest death rates were observed in Bulgaria 14.2‰, Latvia 13.3‰, Hungary 13.0‰ and Lithuania 12.6‰, and the lowest rates in Ireland 6.6‰, Cyprus 6.7‰, Luxembourg 7.3‰ and Malta 7.8‰.

Consequently, the highest natural growth of population was registered in Ireland +10.2‰, ahead of Cyprus +5.5‰, France +4.3‰, Luxembourg +4.0‰ and the UK +3.7‰. Ten Member States had a negative natural growth, with the largest declines in Bulgaria and Latvia, both -3.6‰, Hungary -3.4‰ and Germany -2.3‰.

In 2009, just over 60% of the increase in the EU27 population came from migration. In relative terms, Luxembourg +13.2‰, Sweden +6.7‰, Slovenia +5.8‰, Italy +5.3‰ and Belgium +5.1‰ had the largest net inflows, while Ireland -9.0‰ and Lithuania -4.6‰ recorded the highest net outflows.

In conclusion, the population increased in nineteen Member States and decreased in eight, with considerable variations between Member States. The largest relative increases were observed in Luxembourg +17.2‰, Sweden +9.1‰, Slovenia +7.2‰, Belgium +7.1‰ and the United Kingdom +6.7‰, and the largest decreases in Lithuania -6.2‰, Latvia -5.7‰, Bulgaria -5.6‰ and Germany -2.5‰.