5.1 Million People Immigrated to the EU in 2024

A total of 5.1 million third-country nationals moved to the EU countries in 2024, showing that immigration rates more than doubled compared to the previous year.

According to Eurostat, the EU Office for Statistics, there were approximately 11 immigrants per 1,000 residents in the EU in 2024, with smaller countries like Malta having the highest immigration rates

On the contrary, emigration rates, indicating the number of EU nationals moving abroad, remained stable, with 1 million people leaving the zone, the same as in 2021.

Malta Had the Highest Immigration Rates, Slovakia the Lowest

Countries with smaller populations have higher immigration rates since even the smallest influx of immigrants can impact their population numbers. Thus, Malta, which has a population of half a million (535,064), has higher immigration rates than other countries despite receiving fewer immigrants.

Nonetheless, there were 66 immigrants in Malta per 1,000 residents. Luxembourg followed next with 48 immigrants and Estonia with 37.

Slovakia stands at the other end of the scale with one immigrant per 1,000 residents, while Bulgaria and France follow next, with six immigrants each.

Luxembourg Has the Highest Foreign-Born Population for 2023

More than half of the population (50.4 per cent) in Luxembourg were foreign-born in 2023, followed by Malta (28.3 per cent) and Cyprus (22.7 per cent).

On the other hand, Poland had the lowest rates of foreign-born shares in the EU – with only 2.5 per cent of the population being born outside the EU. The foreign-born population in Bulgaria and Romania also stands at 2.6 and 2.8 per cent, respectively.

In relative terms, Luxembourg had by far the biggest share of residents born in another EU country, 33.2 per cent, followed by Cyprus with 10.6 and Austria with 9.5. The lowest shares of residents born in other EU countries, below one per cent, were recorded in Poland (0.6), Lithuania (0.7) and Bulgaria (0.9).

Eurostat

As per the largest numbers of residents born in another country, Germany has the highest rates; 16.5 million people completed to 8.9 million in France and 8.2 million in Spain.

With a share of 0.6 percentage points, Poland recorded the lowest share of residents born outside the EU countries, followed by Lithuania (0.7) and Bulgaria (0.9).

For residents born in non-EU countries, Malta was the dominant country, with 20.9 per cent of the population belonging to this category, followed by Luxembourg (17.2 per cent).