An IMGW News Report:
It’s Luxembourg & Malta: Leaders in EU Immigration per Capita According to Latest Data by Eurostat
“In a year filled with elections, including the EU parliament one in June, with growing negative sentiment against migration – and also ongoing debates on investment migration programs – these figures are of interest for grasping the entire picture and developing the right foresight for business planning projections.”
Malta and Luxembourg emerged as the EU countries with the highest immigration rate per capita in 2022, welcoming 66 and 48 immigrants per 1,000 residents respectively, according to Eurostat data. This figure surpasses all other EU member states, placing the tiny island of Malta at the forefront of immigration influx on a per capita basis. In total, over 5 million people immigrated to the EU in 2022, more than doubling from the 2.4 million immigrants in the previous year.
“The EU Member States with the highest share of non-nationals on 1 January 2023 were Luxembourg (47.4% of the resident population), followed closely by Malta (25.3%)”
Data: Eurostat, 2024
In contrast, Italy, which received 7 immigrants per 1,000 inhabitants, remained below the EU average of 11 immigrants per 1,000 residents. Specifically, 411,000 people immigrated to Italy, of whom 74,500 already held Italian citizenship and 49,400 moved from another EU member state, with 287,000 arriving from non-EU countries.
The balance between those arriving and leaving the EU remains positive. While 5.1 million people entered the EU, about 1 million residents left for other continents, a figure consistent with the previous year. Notably, 5.1 million immigrants entered the EU from non-EU countries in 2022, marking an increase of around 117% (2.7 million) compared to 2021.
Highest share of foreign-born population in Luxembourg, lowest in Poland
Estonia followed Luxembourg and Malta with a high immigration rate of 37 immigrants per 1,000 residents. On the other end, Slovakia reported the lowest rate, with only 1 immigrant per 1,000 residents, followed by Bulgaria and France, each with six immigrants per 1,000 residents.
Germany stood out in absolute numbers, with 2.1 million people immigrating in 2022. Spain followed with 1.3 million immigrants, and France and Italy each welcomed just over 400,000 immigrants. Despite the high immigration numbers, Germany also recorded the highest number of departures, with 533,500 residents leaving the country, followed closely by Spain, France, Poland, and Romania.
On 1 January 2023, 27.3 million citizens of non-member countries were residing in an EU Member State, representing 6.1% of the EU population. This marks an increase of 3.5 million compared to the previous year. Additionally, 13.9 million people living in one of the EU Member States were citizens of another EU Member State.
In absolute terms, the largest numbers of non-nationals living in the EU Member States on 1 January 2023 were found in Germany (12.3 million), Spain (6.1 million), France (5.6 million), and Italy (5.1 million). Non-nationals in these four Member States collectively represented 70.6% of the total number of non-nationals living in the EU, while the same four Member States had a 57.9% share of the EU’s population.
In relative terms, the EU Member State with the highest share of non-nationals on 1 January 2023 was Luxembourg, where non-nationals accounted for 47.4% of the total population. High proportions of foreign citizens (more than 10% of the resident population) were also observed in Malta (25.3%), Cyprus (19.9%), Austria (18.8%), Estonia (17.3%), Germany (14.6%), Ireland (14.4%), Latvia (13.9%), Belgium (13.5%), Spain (12.7%), and Denmark (10.5%). In contrast, non-nationals represented less than 3% of the population in Romania (1.1%), Slovakia (1.1%), Poland (1.2%), Bulgaria (1.3%), Croatia (1.8%), and Hungary (2.4%).
In a year filled with elections, including the EU parliament one in June, with growing negative sentiment against migration – and also ongoing debates on investment migration programs – these figures are of interest for grasping the entire picture and developing the right foresight for business planning projections.
Overall, all 27 EU member states reported more immigration than emigration in 2022, highlighting a continued trend of positive migration balance across the EU.
The relative share of foreign-born within the total population was highest in Luxembourg (50.4% of the resident population), followed by Malta (28.3%), Cyprus (22.7%), Ireland (21.8%), and Austria (21.6%). In contrast, Poland reported a low share of foreign-born (2.5% of its total population on 1 January 2022), followed by Bulgaria (2.6%), Romania (2.8%), and Slovakia (3.9%).
In relative terms, Luxembourg also had by far the largest share of the population born in other EU countries, at 33.2%, followed by Cyprus with 10.6%, Austria with 9.5%, and Belgium with 8.0%. Germany and Malta also registered high shares of citizens born in other EU countries, with 7.4% each. Poland (0.6% of the resident population) and Lithuania (0.7% of the resident population), on the other hand, had the smallest shares of the population born in other EU countries.
In summary, the foreign population within the EU is younger than the national population, with the median age of the national population in the EU at 45.7 years, while the median age of non-nationals living in the EU was 36.5 years.
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