Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

F2: Population and migration

2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG

Migration statistics and demographic statistics in general are widely used to plan actions, evaluate programmes and monitor trends in a number of social and economic policy fields. They play an important role in areas such as:

• Evaluating the economic, social and environmental impacts of demographic change;
• Analysing population ageing and its effects on sustainability and welfare;
• Calculating per capita indicators;
• Studying population trends in Europe.

Migrant population indicators provide insights on the structure by age and sex of migrant population by citizenship and country of birth, median age of migrant population by citizenship and country of birth as well as on total net migration.

The following indicators are available:

a) Proportion of population by age group, sex and citizenship

This indicator shows the structure by age and sex on 1 January of the selected group of citizenship.

The expression for the proportion of the population for a given citizenship is:

with   being the number of residents with citizenship CTZ of sex “s” belonging to age group “a” on 1 January of year t and P_t^CTZ being the total resident population with citizenship CTZ on 1 January of year t.

• 6 groups of citizenships CTZ are available:
  • EU27 countries (from 2020) except reporting country [EU27_2020_FOR]
  • European Free Trade Association except reporting country [EFTA_FOR]
  • Non-EU27 countries (from 2020) nor EFTA countries (including stateless) [NEU27_2020_NEFTA]
  • Non-EU27 countries (from 2020) nor reporting country (including stateless) NEU27_2020_FOR]
  • Foreign country (including stateless) [FOR_STLS]
  • Reporting country [NAT]

• 27 age groups are available: Total, Less than 5 years, From 5 to 9 years, From 10 to 14 years, Less than 15 years, From 15 to 19 years, From 15 to 29 years, From 15 to 74 years, From 20 to 24 years, From 20 to 64 years, From 25 to 29 years, From 30 to 34 years, From 35 to 39 years, From 40 to 44 years, From 45 to 49 years, From 50 to 54 years, From 55 to 59 years, From 60 to 64 years, From 65 to 69 years, 65 years or over, From 70 to 74 years, From 75 to 79 years, From 80 to 84 years, From 85 to 89 years, From 90 to 94 years, From 95 to 99 years, 100 years or over.

• breakdown by sex: Total, Male, Female.

Note: the residents with unknown citizenship are proportionally redistributed among groups of (known) citizenship before computing this indicator.

b) Proportion of population by age group, sex and country of birth

This indicator shows the structure by age and sex on 1 January of the selected group of country of birth.

The expression for the proportion of the population for a given citizenship is:

with being the number of residents with country of birth COB of sex “s” belonging to age group “a” on 1 January of year t and P_t^COB being the total resident population with citizenship COB on 1 January of year t.

• 6 groups of country of birth COB are available:
  • EU27 countries (from 2020) except reporting country [EU27_2020_FOR]
  • European Free Trade Association except reporting country [EFTA_FOR]
  • Non-EU27 countries (from 2020) nor EFTA countries [NEU27_2020_NEFTA]
  • Non-EU27 countries (from 2020) nor reporting country [NEU27_2020_FOR]
  • Foreign country [FOR]
  • Reporting country [NAT]
• 27 age groups are available: Total, Less than 5 years, From 5 to 9 years, From 10 to 14 years, Less than 15 years, From 15 to 19 years, From 15 to 29 years, From 15 to 74 years, From 20 to 24 years, From 20 to 64 years, From 25 to 29 years, From 30 to 34 years, From 35 to 39 years, From 40 to 44 years, From 45 to 49 years, From 50 to 54 years, From 55 to 59 years, From 60 to 64 years, From 65 to 69 years, 65 years or over, From 70 to 74 years, From 75 to 79 years, From 80 to 84 years, From 85 to 89 years, From 90 to 94 years, From 95 to 99 years, 100 years or over.
• breakdown by sex: Total, Male, Female.

Note: the residents with unknown country of birth are proportionally redistributed among groups of (known) country of birth before computing this indicator.

c) Median age of residents by sex and citizenship

For each group of citizenship “CTZ”, calculation of the median age is based on the following method. Firstly, the age group [x_l, x_u] in which the half of the total population of a given group of citizenship (P^CTZ_t,half = P^CTZ_t/2) falls is identified.

The median age is then estimated by the following formula:

where is the population size of the age group where the is located, (x_u - x_l) is the width of this age group, and is the sum of the population for all ages x strictly lower than x_l.

• 6 groups of country of citizenship CTZ are available:
  • EU27 countries (from 2020) except reporting country [EU27_2020_FOR]
  • European Free Trade Association except reporting country [EFTA_FOR]
  • Non-EU27 countries (from 2020) nor EFTA countries (including stateless) [NEU27_2020_NEFTA]
  • Non-EU27 countries (from 2020) nor reporting country (including stateless) [NEU27_2020_FOR]
  • Foreign country (including stateless) [FOR_STLS]
  • Reporting country [NAT]
• breakdown by sex: Total, Male, Female.

Note: the residents with unknown country of birth are proportionally redistributed among groups of (known) country of birth before computing this indicator.

d) Median age of residents by sex and country of birth

For each group of country of birth “COB”, calculation of the median age is based on the following method. Firstly, the age group [x_l, x_u] in which the half of the total population of a given group of country of birth (P^COB_t,half = P^COB_t/2) falls is identified.

The median age is then estimated by the following formula:

where is the population size of the age group where the is located, (x_u - x_l) is the width of this age group, and is the sum of the population for all ages x strictly lower than x_l.

• 6 groups of country of birth COB are available:
  • EU27 countries (from 2020) except reporting country [EU27_2020_FOR]
  • European Free Trade Association except reporting country [EFTA_FOR]
  • Non-EU27 countries (from 2020) nor EFTA countries [NEU27_2020_NEFTA]
  • Non-EU27 countries (from 2020) nor reporting country [NEU27_2020_FOR]
  • Foreign country [FOR]
  • Reporting country [NAT]
• breakdown by sex: Total, Male, Female.

Note: the residents with unknown country of birth are proportionally redistributed among groups of (known) country of birth before computing this indicator.

e) Net migration by age and sex

          Net Migration _t,x,d = I_t,x,d - E_t,x,d

with I_t,x,d being the total number of immigrants aged x and age definition d (age in completed or age reached during the year) and E_t,x,d being the total number of emigrants aged x and age definition d during year t, for any age between 0 and 100_max. The total number of immigrants and emigrants include all the persons having migrated during the year whatever their citizenship or country of birth.

• breakdown by age: Total, 0, 1, 2, ...., 99, 100 years or over.
• breakdown by sex: Total, Male, Female.

Percentage, year or number

Calendar year

Accuracy of EU-27 aggregate depends on the accuracy of individual EU countries. For more details, please see national metadata linked inside the Eurostat metadata on population  and Eurostat metadata on International Migration statistics.

Indicators are calculated by Eurostat, based on data reported by the countries and available in the following dissemination tables:

Every year

Migrant population indicators are usually updated on a yearly basis in February/March with a new reference year. Reference year means calendar year. Ad-hoc revisions happen when significant revisions of source statistics are transmitted to Eurostat by the National Statistical Institutes.

T+2 years

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU and EFTA countries and for EU-27 aggregate.

Some data on net migration are also available for North Macedonia and Montenegro.

All EU MS

The recommended definition of the 'population' for the statistics on population reported by countries following EU legislation in the domain is the 'usually resident population' meaning all the persons having their usual residence in a Member State at the reference time. Where the circumstances described above cannot be established, 'usual residence' can be taken to mean the place of legal or registered residence.

< 5 years

Proportion by age and sex and median age indicators: from 2022 onwards.

Net migration indicator: from 2013 onwards.

> 4 data points

Comparability over time could be disturbed by breaks in data series. The breaks in population and migration series due to methodological, data processing changes or revisions in population counts reported by the countries are documented in Eurostat’s database with the flag b (break in series).

Articles on Eurostat's Statistics Explained website: Migration and migrant population statistics

Domain specific publications

Domain specific online database

Eurostat’s main Data Navigation Tree.

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