EU population

On January 1, 2002, the population of the European Union was 379.6 million and of the euro zone, 305.2 million, Eurostat reported yesterday.

On the other hand, all the candidate countries recorded a drop in population, apart from Turkey (+1.7%), Cyprus and Malta (both +0.8%) and Slovenia (+0.2%). The population was unchanged in Slovakia and declined most in Bulgaria (-2.7%) and Latvia (-0.6%).

The euro zone is made up of 12 EU member states, namely Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

The EU population increased by 1,560,000 in 2001, an annual rate of 0.4 per cent, exactly the same as the figure in 2000.

Net migration accounted for about three-quarters of the population increase in 2001, with natural growth accounting for the other quarter.

Natural growth has been below net migration since 1989. The rise in the EU population was two per cent of the total increase of the world's population in 2001.

Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union based in Luxembourg and the Council of Europe.