EU population shrinks for the second year in a row in 2021

The EU’s inhabitants declined in 2021 for the second yr in a row, partially as a result of lingering results of the Covid-19 pandemic, in accordance with the most recent figures launched by Eurostat, the EU.

The full inhabitants of the 27 EU member states fell from 447 million on 1 January 2021 to 446.8 on 1 January 2022, the European statistics workplace stated in a notice, a web decline of about 172,000 individuals.

The one different time because the Nineteen Sixties that the EU registered a fall in inhabitants was in 2011, nevertheless it picked up the next yr resulting from web migration.

“The damaging pure variation (extra deaths than births) has not been offset in quantity by a optimistic web migration, for the second yr in a row, almost definitely as a result of impression of the pandemic,” the institute stated.

The EU has attracted extra residents coming from outdoors the bloc, with a web migration of round 1.06 million individuals, in contrast with 800,000 in 2020, it discovered. Even so, this enhance has been inadequate to offset the imbalance between the beginning and demise fee.

There have been 113,000 extra deaths in 2021, in comparison with 2020, whereas the beginning fee remained nearly the identical as within the earlier yr.

“Given the impression of the Covid-19 pandemic since 2020, the truth that the variety of deaths is anticipated to extend additional resulting from inhabitants ageing, and assuming that fertility charges stay at a comparatively low degree, this damaging pure variation may nicely proceed,” Eurostat consultants stated.

“If that is so, the EU’s future inhabitants decline or progress will most likely rely largely on the contribution made by immigration,” they stated.

There’s a sturdy disparity between international locations. Ten states within the EU noticed their populations lower in 2021, with Italy (-253,100) recording the best drop. On the opposite aspect, 17 international locations noticed a rise of their populations, led by France (+185,900).

The inhabitants of particular person EU member states on 1 January 2022 ranged from 500,000 in Malta to 83.2 million in Germany, with Germany, France and Italy comprising nearly half (47%) of the overall EU inhabitants as of 1 January 2022.

Over an extended interval the inhabitants of the EU has grown steadily, from 354.5 million in 1960 to 446.8 million on 1 January 2022, a rise of 92.3 million.

Nevertheless, the speed of inhabitants progress has slowed in current many years, with the inhabitants rising, on common, by about 0.7 million individuals per yr between 2005–2022, in contrast with a median of round 3 million individuals a yr in the course of the Nineteen Sixties.