The population of the European Union rose by 706,000 in 2025 to reach 452 million people on 1 January 2026, marking a fifth consecutive year of growth, according to Eurostat.
The increase follows a decline in 2021 linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Compared with a decade earlier, the EU had 8 million more residents at the start of 2026. Since 2006, its population has grown by 16 million.
Eurostat said the bloc’s natural population decline, with deaths outnumbering births, has been offset by immigration since 2012.
Germany remained the EU’s most populous country, with 83.5 million inhabitants. It was followed by France with 69.1 million, Italy with 58.9 million, Spain with 49.6 million and Poland with 36.3 million.
Together, those five countries account for about two-thirds of the EU’s population. Belgium ranked eighth, with nearly 11.96 million inhabitants.
Sixteen EU countries recorded population growth in 2025. The highest growth rates were in Malta, with an increase of 24.1 people per 1,000 inhabitants, followed by Cyprus on 13.7 and Luxembourg on 13.1.
By contrast, the sharpest declines were recorded in Latvia, down 8.3 people per 1,000 inhabitants, Estonia on 6.8 and Hungary on 5.4.
