EU population up to 508.2 million on 1 January 2015; Malta with third largest growth

Friday, 10 July 2015, 11:12 Last update: about 12 years ago

On 1 January 2015, the population of the European Union was estimated at 508.2 million, compared with 506.9 million on 1 January 2014. During the year 2014, 5.1 million babies were born in the EU, while 4.9 million persons died, meaning that the EU recorded a positive natural change of its population of 0.2 million, double that of 2013. The remainder of the change is driven mainly by net migration.

Germany (81.2 million residents), France (66.4 million), the United Kingdom (64.8 million) and Italy (60.8 million) are the most populated EU Member States. Together, they are home to more than half of the EU population.

These figures come from an article published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Total population change in the EU Member States, 2014

Population increase in sixteen Member States

During 2014, the population increased in sixteen EU Member States and decreased in twelve. The largest increase was observed in Luxembourg (+23.9 per 1 000 residents), well ahead of Sweden (+10.6‰), Malta (+9.3‰), Austria (+9.1‰) and Denmark (+7.5‰). In contrast, the largest decreases were recorded in Cyprus (-12.9‰), Greece (-8.4‰), Latvia (-7.7‰) and Lithuania (-7.6‰). In total, the population of the EU increased by slightly more than 1 million people (+2.2‰) during the year 2014.

Share in the EU population up most for Spain, down most for Germany

Accounting for 16.0% of total EU population, Germany continues to be the most populated Member State, ahead of France (13.1%), the United Kingdom (12.9%), Italy (12.0%), Spain (9.1%) and Poland (7.5%).

Compared with 1995, Spain (from 8.2% of total EU population in 1995 to 9.1% in 2015, or +0.9 percentage points), France (+0.8 pp) and the United Kingdom (+0.7 pp) were the Member States having increased the most their weight in total EU population, while Germany (-0.9 pp), Romania (-0.8 pp) and Poland (-0.5 pp) registered the largest relative falls.

Share of the Member States in EU total population, 2015

* Less than 2% each: Hungary, Sweden, Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Slovakia, Ireland, Croatia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta.