Important effects of the ageing of its population will influence the future of the European Union (EU). The population is dramatically ageing, driven both by significant increases in life expectancy and by lower fertility rates than in the past. Population growth is therefore slowing down, along with an increasing old-age dependency ratio. Free movement within the EU, in particular east-west movement of EU citizens, has increased, reducing the population of some Member States, while increasing that of others. These changes have serious implications across a range of areas, including the economy, labour market, healthcare and pensions. Hence, they deserve in-depth analysis.
EU population
(2018) RO PL LT BG HR SK HU PT FI CZ NL SI FR EL EU28 IT SE DK UK ES DE IE BE LV MT EE AT CY LU 19.5 38.0 2.8 7.0 4.1 5.4 9.8 10.3 5.5 10.6 17.1 2.1 66.9 10.7 512.2 60.5 10.1 5.8 66.3 46.7 82.8 4.8 11.4 1.9 0.5 1.3 8.8 0.9 0.6 EU na onal EU non-na onal Non-EUIn millions 99.4% 99.4% 99.1% 98.8% 98.8% 98.7% 98.3% 95.9% 95.5% 95.1% 94.3% 94.1% 93.0% 92.4% 92.2% 91.5% 91.5% 91.4% 90.5% 90.2% 88.3% 88.0% 88.0% 85.9% 85.9% 85.1% 84.3% 82.7% 52.2% 25% 50% 75% 0% 100% 3.4% 4.4%
EU population by age group
In millions 15.6% 40% 60% 80% 100% 10.8% 33.5% 20.4% 14.2% 5.6% 20% 0% IE FR UK SE BE DK EE CY FI NL LU LV CZ SK EU28 RO PL LT ES SI HR HU AT EL BG MT PT DE IT 0-14 15-24 25-49 50-64 65-79 >80 Age 4.8 66.9 66.3 10.1 11.4 5.8 1.3 0.9 5.5 17.1 0.6 1.9 10.6 5.4 512.2 19.5 38.0 2.8 46.7 2.1 4.1 9.8 8.8 10.7 7.0 0.5 10.3 82.8 60.5
Employment and unemployment in the EU
(% of population 15 - 64 years, 4th quarter 2018)% of total population 15 - 64 years
68.9% Employment Unemployment NL SE DE EE DK CZ UK AT LT MT FI LV SI PT HU CY IE EU28 SK LU BG PL FR BE RO ES HR IT EL 6.7% 80% 50% 60% 70% 20% 0% 16% 12% 8% 4%
% of active population 15 - 64 years
EU non-national population
(Top 3 EU foreign per Member State, 2018)
Top 1 Top 2 Top 3 Total
BE FR 18% IT 17% NL 17% 903 BG UK 30% EL 15% DE 10% 13 CZ SK 51% DE 10% PL 9% 219 DK PL 18% RO 13% DE 12% 213 DE PL 18% RO 14% IT 14% 4 205 EE FI 23% LV 20% LT 10% 19 IE PL 30% UK 25% LT 9% 435 EL BG 38% RO 23% UK 8% 211 ES RO 35% UK 15% IT 11% 1 931 FR PT 35% IT 14% ES 11% 1 543 HR SI 26% DE 21% IT 15% 17 IT RO 76% PL 6% BG 4% 1 562 LV LT 50% EE 11% DE 7% 6 LT PL 23% LV 17% DE 10% 6 LU PT 40% FR 19% IT 9% 244 HU RO 29% DE 23% SK 12% 78 NL PL 25% DE 14% UK 9% 526 AT DE 27% RO 15% HU 11% 694 PL DE 20% IT 11% UK 8% 30 PT RO 22% UK 16% FR 11% 137 RO IT 26% FR 12% DE 11% 57 SI HR 48% BG 16% IT 11% 20 SK CZ 24% HU 18% RO 12% 56 FI EE 52% SE 8% UK 5% 98 SE PL 17% FI 17% DK 11% 318 UK PL 26% IE 9% RO 9% 3 860 EU non-na tional (in 1 000 )
Note: percentage of total EU non-national population
Living in the EU: Demography
EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service EUI | European University Institute
Authors: Giulio Sabbati, Members’ Research Service, EPRSCaterina Francesca Guidi, GlobalStat, EUI PE 635.566 - May 2019
AT A GLANCE
Notes
GlobalStat is a project developed by the European University Institute’s Global Governance Programme (Italy) and the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation (Portugal).
Data sources for page 1: data for EU population and population by age group, EU non-national population and employment and unemployment are from Eurostat (migr_pop1ctz, demo_pjangroup, demo_frate,lfsq_urgan, lfsq_ergan). Data sources for page 2: population by age, fertility rate and life expectancy are from Eurostat (demo_pjanind, proj_15ndbims); data for population growth are from World Bank; data for old-age dependency ratio are from European Commission.
Extraction date: data were extracted in March 2019.
This ‘At a glance’ note is part of a series ‘Living in the EU’. The other issues in the series cover Climate Change and Energy, European Elections and Democracy, Asylum and Migration, Education and Health, and the Economy.
Old-age dependency ratio
LU IE SK CY PL RO HU AT UK CZ NL SI BE ES LT MT HR DK EE FR LV BG SE PT DE FI EL IT2016
2070
In the EU28, in 2016 there were three people of working age for each person 65 years or older. In 2070 there will be two.
Number of people of working age for each person 65 years or older
Population by age
5000000 10000000 15000000 20000000 2017_W 2017_M 2001_W 2001_M 2080_F 2080_M 2020_W 2020_M 5 10 15 20 Million persons 85+ 80-84 75-79 70-74 65-69 60-64 55-59 50-54 45-49 40-44 35-39 30-34 25-29 20-24 15-19 10-14 5-9 <5 5 10 15 20 85+ 80-84 75-79 70-74 65-69 60-64 55-59 50-54 45-49 40-44 35-39 30-34 25-29 20-24 15-19 10-14 5-9 <5Female Male Female Male
2080 2020 2018
2001
Population growth
Fertility rate and life expectancy
(2017)-1.5% -1.0% -0.5% 0.0% 0.5% 1.0% 1.5% 2.0% 2.5% 3.0% LU MT SE IE AT CY DK UK NL DE FR BE FI CZ ES SK SI PL EE IT EL PT HU RO BG LV HR LT 2017 1980 EU average 1.0 0.3 1960 2017
Note: The size of the circle represents the total population 20 million
EU28: 80.9 EU28: 1.59 AT BE BG CY CZ DE DK EE EL ES FI FR HR HU IE IT LT LU LV MT NL PL PT RO SE SI SK UK 1.30 1.40 1.50 1.60 1.70 1.80 1.90 75 77 79 81 83 Fe rt ilit y ra te
Life expectancy at birth
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