EU population increases by 1.5 million inhabitants due to net migration increase

The population in the EU zone increased by 1.5 million inhabitants in a 12-month period, reaching 511.8 million residents by January 1st, 2017. There were as many births as deaths during 2016, occasioning a natural zero-population variation. The demographic divide is therefore due to the contribution of the continental migration balance. This was indicated by Eurostat in a communiqué on Monday.

With 82.8 million residents (16.2%), Germany is the most populous member state in the EU, ahead of France (67 million, 13.1%), the United Kingdom (65.8 million, 12.9%), Italy (60.6 million, 11.8%), Spain (46.5 million, 9.1%) and Poland (38 million, 7.4%).

The European Union Office for Statistics states that the population has increased in eighteen member states and reduced in ten others. Although the European population grew by an average of 0.3% in 2016, Belgium recorded an increase of 0.48% in its inhabitants up to 11.36 million on January 1st, 2017, or 2.2% of the total number in the Union.

During the past year, 5.1 million births (121,900 in Belgium) and 5.1 million deaths (108,100 in Belgium) were recorded overall in the EU, or respectively 11,000 more and 91,000 less than in 2015. Within the EU, crude birth and death rates were ten births and ten deaths per 1,000 residents.


The Brussels Times


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