Malta registers largest increase in population in EU; population in EU reaches nearly 513m

Tuesday, 10 July 2018, 12:34 Last update: about 7 years ago

Malta has recorded the largest relative increase in population within in the EU according to Eurostat, growing by further 32,900 inhabitants to record a population of 475,700 by 1 January 2018.

The population of the European Union (EU) was estimated at 512.6 million as of 1 January 2018, up from the 511.5 million recorded in 2017.

The population change of 1.1 million inhabitants was due to net migration, given that during the year 2017 more deaths than births were recorded in the EU.

With 82.9 million residents (or 16.2% of the total EU population on 1 January 2018), Germany is the most populated EU Member State, ahead of France (67.2 million, or 13.1%), the United Kingdom (66.2 million, or 12.9%), Italy (60.5 million, or 11.8%), Spain (46.7 million, or 9.1%) and Poland (38.0 million, or 7.4%).

With regards to the remaining Member States, nine have a share of between 1.5% and 4% of the EU population and thirteen a share below 1.5%. Malta’s current estimated population makes up 0.1% of the total EU population.

For 2017, the population increased in nineteen EU Member States and decreased in nine. Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland, and Cyprus recorded the largest relative increases behind Malta; whole the largest decrease was recorded by Lithuania, followed by Croatia, Latvia, Bulgaria, and Romania.

90,000 fewer births and 134,200 less deaths in 2017;

During the year, 5.1 million babies were born in the EU, almost 90 000 less than the previous year.

Across Member States, the highest crude birth rates in 2017 were recorded in Ireland (12.9 per 1,000 residents), Sweden (11.5 per 1,000), the United Kingdom and France (both 11.4 per 1,000), while the lowest were registered in the Southern Member States: Italy (7.6 per 1,000), Greece (8.2 per 1,000), Portugal and Spain (both 8.4 per 1,000).

At EU level, the crude birth rate was 9.9 per 1,000 residents.

In Malta, 4,300 births and 7,600 deaths were recorded. With regards to the former, Malta recorded one of the lowest crude death rates in the EU falling behind Ireland (6.3 per 1000), Cyprus and Luxembourg. At the opposite end of the scale, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania and Croatia recorded the highest.

The crude death rate was 10.3 per 1,000 residents in the EU.