Population grows as migration outstrips local birth rate

Malta's population last year grew by 3,200 people, or 7.8 persons per every 1000 – registering the second largest increase out of the 27 EU member states.

According to new population statistics issued in Brussels this morning, the biggest contributor to Malta's population growth in 2010 was by far immigration, with the number of migrants, outnumbering the natural growth of the population.

While the Maltese population registered natural growth of 1000, (4000 newborns against 3000 deaths), 2200 migrants arrived, pushing up the total change in the Maltese population to 3,200 in just a year.

At the same time, the statistics also show that in 2010, Malta had one of the lowest birth rates in the EU among the 27 member states. It was 9.6 newborns per 1000 population. The EU's average in 2010 was 10.7.

Eurostat said that the population of the EU27 was estimated at 502.5 million, compared with 501.1 million on 1 January 2010. The population grew by 1.4 million in 2010, an annual rate of +2.7 per 1000 inhabitants, due to a natural increase of 0.5 million (+1.0‰) and net migration of 0.9 million (+1.7‰).

In 2010, 5.4 million children were born in the EU27. The crude birth rate was 10.7 per 1000 inhabitants, the same as in 2009. The highest birth rates were recorded in Ireland (16.5‰), the United Kingdom (13.0‰), France (12.8‰), Cyprus (12.4‰) and Sweden (12.3‰), and the lowest rates in Germany (8.3‰), Latvia (8.6‰), Hungary (9.0‰), Italy (9.3‰), Austria (9.4‰), Portugal (9.5‰) and Malta (9.6‰).

There were 4.8 million deaths registered in the EU27 in 2010. The crude death rate was 9.7 per 1000 inhabitants, unchanged compared with 2009.

The highest death rates were observed in Bulgaria (14.6‰), Latvia (13.4‰), Hungary (13.0‰), Lithuania (12.8‰) and Romania (12.1‰), and the lowest rates in Ireland (6.2‰), Cyprus (6.7‰), Malta (7.2‰) and Luxembourg (7.4‰).

Consequently, the highest natural growth of the population (the difference between live births and deaths per 1000 inhabitants) was registered in Ireland (+10.3‰), well ahead of Cyprus (+5.7‰), France (+4.4‰), Luxembourg (+4.2‰) and the United Kingdom (+3.9‰).

Eight Member States had a negative natural growth, with the largest declines in Latvia (-4.8‰), Bulgaria (-4.6‰), Hungary (-4.0‰), Germany and Romania (both -2.2‰).

The highest population growth in 2010 in Luxembourg, Sweden, Malta, Belgium and the United Kingdom

In 2010, over 60% of the increase in the EU27 population came from migration. In relative terms, Luxembourg (+15.1‰), Malta (+5.4‰), Sweden (+5.3‰), Italy (+5.2‰) and Belgium (+5.1‰) had the largest net inflows, while Lithuania (-23.7‰) and Ireland (-7.5‰) recorded the highest net outflows.

The population increased in 20 Member States and decreased in seven, with considerable variations between Member States. The largest relative increases were observed in Luxembourg (+19.3‰), Sweden (+8.0‰), Malta (+7.8‰), Belgium (+7.2‰) and the United Kingdom (+6.6‰), and the largest decreases in Lithuania (-25.7‰), Latvia (-8.4‰) and Bulgaria (-7.8‰).