Demography of Europe
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Demography of Europe STATISTICS VISUALISED 2021 edition 1 Demographic statistics are among the most popular data Eurostat produces, and they are important for almost every area of policy. This new interactive publication Demography of Europe produced by Eurostat aims to bring these statistics to a new audience, providing clear visualisations and interactive features to help non-specialist users see what official European statistics can tell us about how the population is developing, ageing, and much more. As Vice-president of the European Commission, Dubravka Šuica, says: “The data presented in this publication will help us analyse the reasons behind the multi-facetted demographic trends across the European Union, because not every Member State is affected in the same way. This publication is another key building block for our demography portfolio, it confirms demography as a catalyst for the development and the success of our policies.” As Commissioner for Economy of the European Commission, Paolo Gentiloni, says: “Demographic change in the European Union is a key policy topic for this Commission. The pandemic has reiterated how important it is that our policies resonate with people and protect them. What distinguishes this new Eurostat publication is its simple and interactive way of bringing information about European demography to our citizens.” Data in this edition of the publication show yearly figures up until 2019 or 2020 and in some cases 1 January 2021. Where applicable, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis is commented on. The publication is divided into four parts: Population structure presents the trend of the total population since the start of the millennium. After that comes a section on the number of women and men, followed by a part on the population by age group, showing the evolution of both younger and older age groups. Population change contains data on births, deaths and the natural population change. This section also presents the number of children per woman, the mean age of women at birth of their first child as well as the share of live births to women over 40. In the end, there is a part on life expectancy and the weekly deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Population diversity includes data on immigration and emigration, the mobility of EU citizens, which Member States are granting the most citizenships and to which groups of citizens a citizenship is granted. The last part concentrates on the differences in rural and urban areas for different age groups as well as for the fertility rate. Marital status presents data on the number of marriages as well as the mean age at first marriage. It also contains statistics on the number of divorces. Before entering the publication, why don’t you start with a quiz estimating the population of your country until 2080? 2 Contents 1. POPULATION STRUCTURE 4 1.1 A growing population except for 2020 4 1.2 More women than men 6 1.3 An ageing population 7 2. POPULATION CHANGE 9 2.1 Fewer births 9 2.2 Older mothers 11 2.3 Women live longer 12 3. POPULATION DIVERSITY 16 3.1 Immigration growing 16 3.2 EU citizens mobility increasing 18 3.3 New EU citizens 19 3.4 Rural and urban regions: differences 20 4. MARITAL STATUS 22 4.1 Fewer marriages 22 4.2 More divorces 24 FURTHER INFORMATION 25 3 Contents 1. POPULATION STRUCTURE 1.1 A growing population except for 2020 An interruption of the EU population growth in 2020 On 1 January 2021, there were 447.0 million people living in the European Union (EU). The most populous Member State in the EU was Germany (83.2 million, 19 % of the EU total), followed by France (67.4 million, 15 %), Italy (59.3 million, 13 %), Spain (47.4 million, 11 %) and Poland (37.8 million, 9 %). In total, these five Member States accounted for two-thirds of the EU population. At the other end of the range, the least populous Member States in the EU were Malta (500 thousand people, corresponding to 0.1 % of the EU total), Luxembourg (600 thousand, 0.1 %) and Cyprus (900 thousand, 0.2 %). During the period 2001 to 2020, the EU (EU27) population increased from 429 million to 447 million, a growth of 4 %. Seventeen Member States showed increases in their population during this period, while the remaining ten had decreases. The largest increases were recorded in Luxembourg, Malta, Ireland and Cyprus, all over 20 %, while the largest decreases were observed in Lithuania and Latvia, both with falls of around 20 %. 4 1.1 A growing population except for 2020 Between 1 January 2020 and 1 January 2021, however, the population of the EU decreased by 312 thousand people: in absolute terms, the highest decrease could be observed in Italy (-384 thousand, corresponding to -0.6 % of its population) followed by Romania (-143 thousand, -0.7 %) and Poland (-118 thousand, -0.3 %). Overall, nine countries showed decreases in their population during the last year, while the remaining eighteen had increases. France recorded the highest increase (+119 thousand, +0.2 %). Population density in the EU ranges from 18 to 1 595 people per km² The population density, meaning the number of people per square kilometre (km²), was on average 109 persons per km² in the EU in 2019, a value which varied significantly between Member States. The highest population density was observed in Malta (1 595 people per km²), followed at a distance by the Netherlands (507) and Belgium (377). At the other end of the range were Finland (18 people per km²) and Sweden (25) with the lowest population densities. Comparing 2019 with 2001, there was an increase of the population density in around two thirds of the Member States, with the largest growths in Malta (from 1 245 in 2001 to 1 595 in 2019), Luxembourg (from 171 to 240) and Belgium (339 to 377). Romania (96 to 83) and Lithuania (55 to 45) had the largest decreases. On average in the EU, the population density increased from 104 persons per km² to 109 during this period. 5 1.1 A growing population except for 2020 1.2 More women than men Almost 5 % more women than men in the EU On 1 January 2020, there were 219 million men and 229 million women in the EU. This corresponds to a ratio of 104.7 women per 100 men, which means that there were 4.7 % more women than men. There were more women than men in all Member States, except Malta, Luxembourg, Sweden and Slovenia. The highest rates were found in Latvia (17 % more women than men) and Lithuania (14 % more). For comparison, on 1 January 2001 there were 5.5 % more women than men in the EU, with a minimum ratio of 101.1 women per 100 men in Ireland and a maximum of 117.3 in Latvia. During the period 2001-2020 the highest increase in the rate was recorded in Portugal (from 107.2 to 111.9 women per 100 men), while the highest decrease was in Malta (from 102.1 to 93.6 women per 100 men). 6 1.2 More women than men 1.3 An ageing population Share of those aged 80+ almost doubled between 2001 and 2020 The population in the EU is ageing and this can be seen through a number of different statistical indicators: the evolution of the share of the elderly population, the old age dependency ratio and the median age to give some examples. Looking first at the development of the share of the elderly in the population: in 2020, 21 % of the population was aged 65 and over, compared with 16 % in 2001, an increase of 5 percentage points (p.p.). Looking more specifically at the group aged 80 and over, their share was almost 6 % in 2020, while it was 3.4 % in 2001, meaning their share almost doubled during this period. On the other hand, the share of young people (aged 0 to 19 years old) in the EU was 20 % in 2020, a decrease of 3 p.p. compared with 23 % in 2001. Looking at the share of persons aged 65 and over in the total population, Italy (23 %), Greece, Finland Portugal, Germany and Bulgaria (all 22 %) had the highest shares, while Ireland (14 %) and Luxembourg (15 %) had the lowest. Over the period 2001-2020 an increase in the share of persons aged 65 and over could be observed in all Member States, from the highest increase in Finland (+7 p.p.) to the lowest observed in Luxembourg (+1 p.p.). The share of persons aged 80 and over increased in all Member States between 2001 and 2020, except Sweden where it remained constant (5 %). In some of the Member States, this share more than doubled: in Lithuania and Croatia from 2 % in 2001 to 6% in 2020, in Romania, Bulgaria and Slovenia from 2 % to 5 %. Turning to young people, the highest shares of those below 20 years old in the total population were observed in Ireland (27 %), France (24 %) and Sweden (23 %), while the lowest shares were recorded in Malta, Italy and Germany (all 18 %). Over the period 2001-2020 a decrease in the share of young people could be observed in all Member States, from the highest decrease in Malta and Cyprus (-9 p.p.) to the lowest observed in Sweden (almost -1 p.p.) and Belgium (-1 p.p.). 7 1.3 An ageing population A decrease of young people below 20 Turning to children and adolescents, their share of the EU population has decreased in the last two decades.