Retour 276 200 under 15s got a first residence permit for family reasons in 2019

4 August 2021

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Logo Statistics Explained In 2019, 276 200 children (non-EU citizens) aged under 15 years were issued with a first residence permit for family reasons in the EU. This is a ratio of 504 per 100 000 of the EU child population aged less than 15. Among those children, 60% were aged less than five.

The Member States issuing the highest numbers of these permits were Germany (61 500, or 22% of the total number of first residence permits issued in the EU for family reasons to children aged less than 15), followed by Spain (55 300, or 20%), Italy (41 300, or 15%) and Sweden (24 400, or 9%).

In relative terms, the ratio per 100 000 children aged less than 15 years was more than twice the EU average in Sweden (1 339), Luxembourg (1 322) and Slovenia (1 257), while it was 50% higher in three other Member States: Belgium (897), Portugal (863) and Spain (798).

Map of Europe showing first residence permits issued for family reasons to children aged less than 15, number of permits per EU and EFTA country, 2019 data

Data source: migr_resfas and demo_pjan

As regards the country of citizenship of children aged less than 15 years granted a first residence permit for family reasons in the EU, 35% of children had citizenship of an Asian country, 25% African, 23% European (non-EU), 9% South and Central American and 3% North American.

Morocco (12% of the total number of first residence permit issued in the EU for family reasons to children under 15 years) was the main country of citizenship in 2019, followed by Syria (7%) and India (6%).

When looking at the bilateral flows between Member States and third countries in 2019, the top 3 flows of children aged less than 15 years coming for family reasons was observed between Morocco and Spain (24 800 children), then Syria and Germany (12 700) and finally Brazil and Portugal (6 900).

Map of the world showing the number of first residence permits issued to children under the age of 15 for family reunification reasons, 2019 data for the EU as a whole, top 5 citizenships per world region (Asia, Africa, Europe, Central and South America)

Data source: migr_resfas

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