On 1 January 2021, there were 23.7 million citizens of non-member countries living in one of the EU Member States, representing 5.3% of the EU population. In addition, there were 13.7 million people living in one of the EU Member States with the citizenship of another EU Member State.
In absolute terms, the largest numbers of non-nationals living in the EU Member States were found in Germany (10.6 million people), Spain (5.4 million), France and Italy (both 5.2 million). Non-nationals in these four Member States collectively represented 70.3% of the total number of non-nationals living in all EU Member States.
This information comes from data on migration published by Eurostat today. The article presents a selection of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.
Highest shares of non-nationals in Luxembourg, lowest in Romania
In relative terms, the EU Member State with the highest share of non-national citizens was Luxembourg (47% of its total population).
A high proportion of non-nationals (10% or more of the resident population) was also observed in Malta, Cyprus, Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Ireland, Germany, Belgium and Spain.
In contrast, non-nationals represented less than 1% of the population in Romania.
Source dataset: migr_pop1ctz
In most EU Member States, the majority of non-nationals were citizens of non-EU countries. Only in Luxembourg, Cyprus, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovakia were non-nationals mainly citizens of another EU Member State.
Romanian, Polish, Italian and Portuguese citizens were the four main groups of EU citizens living in other EU Member States on 1 January 2021.
For more information:
- Eurostat Statistics Explained article on migration and migrant population
- Eurostat dedicated section on migration & asylum
- Eurostat database on international migration and citizenship
- Eurostat database on population
Methodological notes:
- According to the demography domain glossary, the difference between foreigners and non-nationals is stateless data.
- Foreigner: recipient of a citizenship different to the citizenship of the country that person is living in. A foreigner is either a citizen of another Member State or a citizen of a non-EU country.
- Non-national: recipient of citizenship of the country that person is living in, or a stateless person. A non-national is either a citizen of another Member State or a citizen of a non-EU country, or a stateless.
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