On 1 January 2020, the population of the European Union (EU) with 27 Member States was estimated at 447.7 million, down by 12.8% compared with 513.5 million in 28 Member States on 1 January 2019.

The report notes that this decrease is mainly due to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (on 1 February 2020), which led the population of the EU to decrease by 13%. The total EU27 population change was positive with 0.9 million more inhabitants during 2019, due to net migration.

The natural change of the EU population has been negative since 2012, with more deaths than births recorded in the EU (4.7 million deaths and 4.2 million births in 2019).

The population increased in eighteen EU Member States and decreased in nine. Malta recorded by far the highest population increase (+41.7‰), followed by Luxembourg (+19.7‰), Cyprus (+13.7‰), Ireland (+12.1‰), and Sweden (+9.5‰).

The largest population decreases were recorded in Bulgaria (-7.0‰), Latvia (-6.4‰), Romania (-5.0‰), Croatia (-4.4‰), and Italy (-1.9‰).

Births and Deaths

Cyprus recorded the fourth highest birth rate in the EU in 2019 and the second lowest death rate, according to the same report.

4.2 million babies were born in the EU in 2019, 2.2% fewer than in the previous year. The highest crude birth rates in 2019 were recorded in Ireland (12.1 per 1 000 residents), France (11.2‰), Sweden (11.1‰), Cyprus (10.9‰) and Greece (10.6‰). At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest birth rates were registered in Italy (7.0‰), Spain (7.6‰), Greece (7.8‰), Finland (8.3‰) and Portugal (8.4‰).

4.7 million deaths were registered in the EU in 2019, 0.9% fewer than the previous year. The lowest crude death rate was recorded in Ireland (6.3 per 1 000 residents). Low rates were also recorded in Cyprus (6.8‰), Luxembourg (6.9‰), Malta (7.3‰), and Sweden (8.6‰). In contrast, the highest death rate was recorded in Bulgaria (15.5‰), followed by Latvia (14.5‰), Lithuania (13.7‰), Romania (13.4‰) and Hungary (13.3‰).

Source: In-Cyprus