Archive:EU and EFTA born population living in another EU or EFTA country - statistical overview
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This article looks at the size, composition and labour market situation of the foreign-born population of working age (from 20 to 64) residing within the EU-28 and EFTA, by their country of birth. The analysis addresses separately foreign-born people with origins in an EU-28/EFTA country (‘intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population’) and those from other countries. It then compares these two broad categories with each other and with the EU-28/EFTA native-born population (i.e. people born in an EU-28/EFTA country who reside in their country of birth).
While intra-EU-28/EFTA mobility (i.e. the movement within the EU-28 and EFTA territories of people born in an EU-28/EFTA country) is analysed by country of birth, extra-EU28/EFTA foreign-born population (i.e. those residing in an EU-28/EFTA country but born outside them) is analysed solely as a single group without any breakdown by country of birth. This is because of quality constraints, for example because the small sample sizes make it difficult to obtain reliable estimates. The analysis is based on European Union — Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) data and covers the period between 2007 and 2017.
Source: Eurostat (lfst_lmbpcoba)
Source: Eurostat (lfst_lmbpcoba)
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_pgacws)
Source: Eurostat (lfst_lmbpcoba)
Source: Eurostat (lfst_lmbpcobed)
Source: Eurostat (lfst_lmbpcobed)
Source: Eurostat (lfst_lmbercoba) and (lfsa_ergacob)
Source: Eurostat (lfst_lmbercobg)
Source: Eurostat (lfst_lmbercobg)
Main statistical findings
In 2017, at least 5 out of every 100 people of working age (20-64) born in an EU-28/EFTA country resided in an EU-28/EFTA country other than their country of birth (5.5 %). That means 2 more people for every 100 people than in 2007 (3.5 %).
On average, over the whole decade, about 35 % of the total EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population were born in an EU-28/EFTA country, while the remaining 65 % were born elsewhere in the world.
Over the decade, Romanian-born and Polish-born were the two most numerous intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born groups. In 2017, they accounted for 18.4 % and 17.2 % respectively of the total intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population.
In 2017, 34.4 % (about 5.2 million) of the 15.3 million intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population of working age were tertiary graduates, compared to 28.8 % of the third-country foreign-born population and 30.4 % of the native-born population residing within the EU-28 and EFTA countries.
The overall employment rate of the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population is significantly higher than among the third-country foreign-born population. This also holds true when comparing with employment rates of EU-28 and EFTA citizens that reside in their country of birth (with the exception of Cyprus and Luxembourg).
The difference in the employment rate between Greek-born people residing in an EU-28/EFTA country other than Greece and the Greek-resident population stood at +19 percentage points (pp), the biggest difference recorded among intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born groups.
Foreign-born people originating in third countries were much less likely to be in employment than those originating in the EU-28/EFTA, chiefly because the average 54.1 % employment rate among foreign-born (outside of the EU/EFTA) women was 15.1 pp lower than that of women originating in an EU-28/EFTA country.
Between 2007 and 2017, there was a general narrowing of the gender gap in the employment rate for all three broad groups by origin.
Figure 1
In 2017, the foreign-born population of working age (20-64) residing in an EU-28/EFTA country accounted for 14 % of the total population of these countries, which was 4.4 pp more than a decade ago. In absolute terms, it increased 1.5 times from almost 30 million people in 2007 to 43.5 million in 2017. Looking at their origin, over the decade, the movement of people born in an EU-28/EFTA country within the EEA was less intense than the movement within the EU-28 and EFTA of people born outside. As a result, in 2017 just over 15 million people born in an EU-28/EFTA country were residing in an EU-28/EFTA country other than their country of birth, which means 1.5 times more than in 2007. They represented almost 5 % of the total EU-28 and EFTA resident population in 2017 compared with 3.3 % in 2007. In 2017, 9.1 % of the EU-28/EFTA resident population, or 28 million people, had been born outside the EU-28 or EFTA, up from almost 20 million in 2007. On average, in 2017 about 35 % of the EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population was born in an EU-28/EFTA country, while the remaining 65 % were born elsewhere.
Figure 2
The figure 2 shows the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population as a share of the total EU-28 and EFTA resident population born in an EU-28/EFTA country. In 2017, at least 5 out of every 100 people aged 20-64 born within the EU-28/EFTA resided in an EU-28/EFTA country other than their country of birth (5.5 %). That means 2 more people for every 100 people than in 2007 when it was 3.5 %.
Which countries does most of the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population come from?
Figure 3
Breaking down the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population shows that in 2017, Romanian-born and Polish-born accounted for 18.4 % and 17.2 % respectively of the total intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population. This makes them by far the two largest foreign-born groups originating in an EU-28/EFTA country, with both groups together accounting for more than a third of the total intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population. German-born came third with 8.8 %, but while they accounted for 3.3 % of the German native-born population residing in an EU-28/EFTA country (including Germany), their Romanian-born peers accounted for about a fifth (19.0 %) of the Romanian native-born population residing in an EU-28/EFTA country (Romania included). Portuguese-born and Italian-born were the next two foreign-born groups, with 6.5 % and 6.4% respectively. Together, these five groups represented over half the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population in 2017 (57.3 %).
Figure 4
In 2017, at least 1 in 5 Luxembourg-born people residing in an EU-28/EFTA country did not reside in Luxembourg. The same was true for the Romanian-born group (i.e. about 1 in 5 Romanian-born people residing in an EU-28/EFTA country did not reside in Romania). In comparison, in 2007 about 1 in 13 Romanian-born residing within the EU-28/EFTA resided in an EU-28/EFTA country other than Romania: this group recording the biggest increase in share of natives residing within the EU-28/EFTA but outside their country of birth (+11.3 pp). This share can be seen as a good measurement of emigration, except for Luxembourg which is a special case in this context. Only 48.2 % of Luxembourg’s residents are native-born, while in all other EU-28/EFTA countries at least 80 % of the resident population is native-born (see ‘First and second-generation immigrants — statistics on main characteristics’, Table 1). This indicates that a large proportion of people born in Luxembourg actually do not move to another country but possibly return back to their parents’ country of birth or move to other countries as this category tends to be more mobile. It cannot be estimated how large this phenomenon is, but it is clearly significant as such and in comparison with other EU-28/EFTA countries. The top five biggest foreign-born groups by share of natives residing within the EU-28/EFTA but outside their country of birth is completed by the Portuguese-born (15.4 %), Lithuanian-born (15.2 %) and Latvian-born (14.3 %).
The second-largest foreign-born group by increase in the share of natives residing within the EU-28/EFTA but outside their country of birth was Latvian-born people, which increased from 1 in every 22 people in 2007 to 1 in every 7 in 2017 (+10.3 pp). By contrast, the biggest decrease was recorded among Cypriot-born people (from at least 1 in every 7 people in 2007 to 1 in every 8 in 2017, i.e. -2.5 pp).
How do today’s top origin countries compare to those a decade ago?
Figure 5
Between 2007 and 2017, Romanian-born and Polish-born were the two largest native groups in terms of absolute growth of those residing within the EU-28 and EFTA but outside of their country of birth. The Romanian-born increased by 1.7 million people, from about 1.1 million in 2007 to 2.8 million in 2017. The absolute increase over this period for the Polish-born was 1.6 million people, from 1 million to 2.6 million.
The foreign-born population originating in the other 10 countries increased by at least 100 000 people in 2017 compared with 2007: Bulgarian-born (342 000 people), Hungarian-born (223 700 people), French-born (179 000 people), Lithuanian-born (167 800 people), German-born (145 000 people), Portuguese-born (132 700 people), Latvian-born (123 900 people), Italian-born (110 300 people), Spanish-born (108 100 people) and Slovak-born (101 800 people).
By contrast, the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population originating from 6 out of the 31 EU-28/EFTA countries decreased over the decade in absolute terms: Finland (-50 600 people), Ireland (-44 300 people), Croatia (-43 400 people), Denmark (-16 300 people), Cyprus (-12 500 people) and Austria (-11 300 people).
Figure 6
In 2017, 34.4 % (about 6.6 million) of the 15.3 million intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population of working age were tertiary graduates, compared with 28.8 % of third-country foreign-born and 30.4 % of the EU-28/EFTA native-born population. The trend over time indicates an increase in the level of educational attainment level among the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population: it gradually increased from 26.0 % in 2007 to 34.4 % in 2017, while the corresponding share of people with a primary education level declined from 30.4 % in 2007 to 22.4 % in 2017. Secondary education is still the most common level of educational attainment among the intra-EU28/EFTA foreign-born population, with a share remaining approximately stable over the decade, dipping to 41.5 % in 2016 and peaking at 44.9 % in 2008.
Figure 7
Comparing the share of people with tertiary education among the three broad population categories analysed in this paper shows that the highest proportion is observed among the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population. Throughout the decade, the proportion of highly educated people was very similar among the third-country foreign-born and the EU-28/EFTA native-born populations (this means between 4 pp and 5.5 pp less than among the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population). All three broad categories followed the same trend, ascending with approximately the same coefficient.
What is the employment rate of the intra-EU28/EFTA foreign-born population and how does it differ from the other groups?
Figure 8
Figure 8 shows that in 2007-2017 the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population had better labour market outcomes than the extra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population, as 75.9 % of them were in some form of employment as compared with only 63.0 % for the latter group. The overall employment rate of the third-country foreign-born population was lower than that of any other foreign-born group originating in an EU-28/EFTA country, except those originating in Cyprus (60.6 %) and Luxembourg (59.7 %), which recorded the lowest employment rates. For 19 out of the 31 EU-28/EFTA countries, the employment rates in 2017 of their native-born populations residing in an EU-28/EFTA country other than their country of birth exceeded that of the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population as a whole. At least four fifths of Polish-born, Lithuanian-born, Austrian-born, Danish-born, Hungarian-born and Slovak-born groups residing in an EU-28/EFTA country other than their country of birth was in some form of employment in 2016.
The biggest improvement in employment rate among intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born groups was recorded for Slovenian-born people, increasing from 60.9 % in 2007 to 77.3 % in 2017 (+16.4 pp). This was followed by the rate among Croatian-born, which increased from 65 % to 76.5 % (+11.5 pp) and Hungarian-born which increased from 68.9 % to 79.7 % (+10.8 pp). By contrast, the largest decline in employment rate was recorded among the Luxembourg-born population residing in an EU-28/EFTA country other than Luxembourg; this rate fell from 76.7 % in 2007 to 59.7 % in 2017. A decline in employment rate was also registered in another eight EU-28/EFTA countries: Bulgarian-born (-3.4 pp), Maltese-born (-3.1 pp), Romanian-born (-2.9 pp), Swiss-born (-2.0 pp), Swedish-born (-1.3 pp) and Norwegian-born (-0.8 pp).
Figure 9
The Figure 9 compares, by country of birth, the employment rate of intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born groups to the employment rate of the resident population of their country of birth. In 18 of the 31 EU-28 and EFTA countries, the employment rates of people residing outside their country of birth was higher than of those residing in their own country of birth. The differences were significant among the Greek-born (+19.2 pp), Croatian-born (+12.9 pp), Italian-born (+12.2 pp), Spanish-born (+11.7 pp) and Polish-born (+10.1 pp) populations living abroad but in an EU-28/EFTA country. By contrast, the employment rate of the foreign-born population is at least 10 pp less than that of the population residing in their country of birth among the Cypriot-born (-10.2 pp), Icelandic-born (-10.4 pp), Swiss-born (-11.4 pp) and Luxembourg-born (-11.3 pp).
Figure 10
Over the decade, the employment intensity of the EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population varied. As illustrated in the above figure, the third-country foreign-born population systematically recorded lower employment rates than the foreign-born population originating in an EU-28/EFTA country. The trend was also different: the employment rate among the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population increased slightly over time (except for a short period of 2 years between 2009 and 2010). By contrast, the employment rate among the third-country foreign-born population decreased between 2007 and 2013. However, the employment rate among the third-country foreign-born population picked up in 2014-2017, but did not reach the initial 2007 level (63.0 % in 2017 compared with 63.6 % in 2007).
Changes in the employment rate of the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population and of their peers residing in their country of birth were similar. Both rates increased (except for a short period of 2 years between 2009 and 2010), although slightly more among the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population. Thus, the gap between the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born and the corresponding intra-EU-28/EFTA native-population gradually increased from 1 pp in 2007 to 2.6 pp in 2017 (in favour of the intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born).
What is the gender employment gap of the EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population’?
Figure 11
Despite policy initiatives of national governments and the European Commission promoting women’s participation on the labour market, gender inequalities persist. Looking at the gender breakdown of EU-28/EFTA-level employment rates by origin in 2017, the highest employment rate (83.1 %) was recorded among the male foreign-born population originating in an EU-28/EFTA country, which was +13.9 pp more than the corresponding rate of their female peers. By contrast, the foreign-born male population originating in a third country recorded the lowest employment rate (72.6 %), with the largest gender gap (+18.5 pp). Thus, foreign-born people originating in third countries were much less likely to be in employment than those originating in an EU-28/EFTA country. This is chiefly because the average employment rate of 54.1 % among women was 15.1 pp lower than that of their female peers from an EU-28/EFTA country. The male employment rate of the EU-28/EFTA resident population was in between (78.4 %), with the smallest gender gap (+10.5 pp). Overall, the employment rates for women were significantly lower than those of men, irrespective of their origin.
Figure 12
Between 2007 and 2017 there was a general narrowing of the gender gap within the employment rate for all broad groups by origin. The highest relative reduction in the gender gap was registered among foreign-born people originating in third-countries (-4.4 pp) followed by those originating in an EU-28/EFTA country (-4.3 pp) and EU-28/EFTA residents (-3.8 pp).
Data sources and availability
The section Labour mobility provides demographical and labour statistics on people of working age (25-64) either born in the European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) area or having the citizenship of an EU/EFTA country and residing elsewhere on the EU and EFTA territories except their country of birth/citizenship. This implies a new “emigration” (country of origin) perspective, as the estimates coming from the Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) of all EU/EFTA countries, except that of origin or nationality, are aggregated in order to find all the persons of a certain nationality or country of origin that reside elsewhere where the EU rules regarding the free movement of people apply. On the other hand, they can be effectively identified only if a change of residence implying crossing a border has taken place, meaning they reside (or intend to do so) in another country for at least 12 months. Short term movements are therefore not taken into account.
The reference population is the European Union and EFTA countries except Lichtenstein which does not participate in the EU LFS data collection. The analysis is restricted to the working age population 20-64, in order to limit as much as possible the impact of those who are not (yet/ any longer) active on the labour market and are more likely to be abroad for studying (or retirement) rather than employment reasons.
Concepts (some created/adapted for the purpose of this article):
- ‘foreign-born’ refers to any person born in a country other than their country of residence and whose residence period in the host country is, or is expected to be, at least 12 months
- ‘intra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population’ is the total number of foreign-born people who both reside and were born within the EU-28 and EFTA territories
- ‘third-country foreign-born population’ or ‘extra-EU-28/EFTA foreign-born population’ refers to the total number of foreign-born people residing within the EU-28 and EFTA but born outside them.
- ‘native-born’ refers to any person born in their country of residence
- ‘EU-28/EFTA native-born population’ refers to the total number of people born in an EU-28/EFTA country and residing in their country of birth
- ‘working age’ is defined as between 20 and 64 years
Acronyms:
- EU-28 is the European Union of the 28 Member States for the 2017 reference year
- EFTA is the European Free Trade Association, an intergovernmental organisation including Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
Context
The free movement of workers is a fundamental principle of the Treaty enshrined in Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and developed by EU secondary legislation and the Case law of the Court of Justice. EU citizens are entitled to: look for a job in another EU country; work there without needing a work permit; reside there for that purpose; stay there even after employment has finished and enjoy equal treatment with nationals in access to employment, working conditions and all other social and tax advantages. EU nationals may also have certain types of health and social security coverage transferred to the country in which they go to seek work (see coordination of social security systems).
Free movement of workers also applies, in general terms, to Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, which are part of the European Economic Area. People working in some occupations may also be able to have their professional qualifications recognised abroad (see mutual recognition of professional qualifications).
EU social security coordination provides rules to protect the rights of people moving within the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
The EU is working to increase fair labour mobility in Europe by removing barriers that hinder it.
The EU supports mobility by helping job-seekers and employers in Europe find each other, wherever they are. It also seeks to make sure that the EU's mobile workers are not abused (for example through the Posting of workers directive, May 2014 (Official Journal of the EU) and to help coordinate the fight against undeclared work (Decision on establishing a European Platform to enhance cooperation in tackling undeclared work (Official Journal of the EU).
See also
- EU citizens living in another Member State - statistical_overview
- First and second-generation immigrants - a statistical overview
- Migrant integration statistics (online publication)
- Migration and migrant population statistics
- Population and population change statistics
- Statistics for European policies and high-priority initiatives
Further Eurostat information
Data visualisation
- Regional Statistics Illustrated - select statistical domain 'xxx' (= Agriculture, Economy, Education, Health, Information society, Labour market, Population, Science and technology, Tourism or Transport) (top right)
Publications
- 2017 annual report on intra-EU labour mobility
- 2016 annual report on intra-EU labour mobility
- All publications on migration
Publications in Statistics Explained (either online publications or Statistics in focus) should be in 'See also' above
Main tables
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Database
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- Title(s) of third level folder (if any)
- Labour mobility (lfst_lmb)
- EU/EFTA born population of working age who usually resides in another EU/EFTA country by country of birth and age (lfst_lmbpcoba)
- EU/EFTA born population of working age who usually resides in another EU/EFTA country by country of birth, age and sex (lfst_lmbpcobg)
- EU/EFTA born population of working age who usually resides in another EU/EFTA country by country of birth, age and educational attainment level (lfst_lmbpcobed)
- Employment rate of EU/EFTA born population who usually resides in another EU/EFTA country by country of birth and age (lfst_lmbercoba)
- Employment rate of EU/EFTA born population who usually resides in another EU/EFTA country by country of birth, age and sex (lfst_lmbercobg)
- Employment rate of EU/EFTA born population who usually resides in another EU/EFTA country by country of birth, age and educational attainment level (lfst_lmbercobed)
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Legislation
- The Treaty on European Union
- The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
- Directive 2004/38/EC
- Regulation (EU) No 492/2011
- Regulation (EC) No 883/2004
- Regulation (EC) No 987/2009
Several Communications from the Commission:
- COM (2002) 694 final Free movement of workers – achieving the full benefits and potential
- COM (2010) 373 final Reaffirming the free movement of workers: rights and major developments
- COM (2013) 837 final Free movement of EU citizens and their families: Five actions to make a difference
External links
Notes
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