Malta had the second biggest population increase among EU countries in percentage terms last year, with a natural change of 1.9 per cent and an increase of 7.6 per cent caused by migration, an EU report issued today shows.
The biggest increase was registered by Luxembourg,
The report also shows that Malta had one of the lowest death rates at birth.
Eurostat said the EU28 population stood at 507.4 million at the end of 2013, compared with 505.7 million on January 1, 2013. The population increase was due to a natural increase of 80 000 and a net migration of 700 000.
As a long-term trend, the population of the countries making up the EU28 has increased by around 100 million since 1960 (from 407 million to 507 million).
The highest birth rates were in Ireland, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Luxembourg
In 2013, 5.1 million babies were born in the EU28. The crude birth rate was 10.0 per 1 000 inhabitants, down from 10.4‰ in 2012. The highest birth rates were recorded in Ireland (15.0‰), France (12.3‰), the United Kingdom (12.2‰), Sweden (11.8‰) and Luxembourg (11.3‰), and the lowest in Portugal (7.9‰), Germany, Greece and Italy (all 8.5‰) and Romania (8.8%).
There were 5.0 million deaths registered in the EU28 in 2013. The crude death rate was 9.9 per 1 000 inhabitants, stable compared with 2012. The highest death rates were observed in Bulgaria (14.4‰), Latvia (14.3‰), Lithuania (14.0‰), Hungary (12.8‰) and Romania (12.4‰), and the lowest in Cyprus (6.0‰), Ireland (6.5‰), Luxembourg (7.0‰), Malta (7.6‰) and Spain (8.3‰).
Consequently, the highest positive natural change of the population (the difference between live births and deaths expressed per 1 000 inhabitants) was registered in Ireland (+8.5‰), well ahead of Cyprus (+4.7‰), Luxembourg (+4.2‰), France (+3.6‰) and the United Kingdom (+3.2‰). Thirteen Member States had negative natural change, with the largest in Bulgaria (-5.2‰), Latvia (-4.0‰), Lithuania (-3.9‰), Hungary (-3.6‰), Romania
(-3.5‰) and Germany (-2.6‰).
Population increase in fifteen Member States
In 2013, Luxembourg (+19.0‰), Malta (+7.6‰), Sweden (+6.8‰) and Austria (+6.5‰) recorded the highest positive net migration in relative terms, while Cyprus (-13.9‰), Latvia (-7.1‰), Lithuania (-5.7‰), Ireland
(-5.6‰), Spain (-5.5‰) and Greece (-4.7‰) recorded the highest negative net migration.
The population increased in fifteen Member States and decreased in 13. The largest increases due to natural change and net migration were observed in Luxembourg (natural change +4.2‰ and net migration +19.0‰), Malta (+1.9‰ and +7.6‰), Sweden (+2.4‰ and +6.8‰), Austria (0.0‰ and +6.5‰), the United Kingdom (+3.2‰ and +3.3‰) and Denmark (+0.6‰ and +5.3‰), and the largest decreases in Latvia
(-4.0‰ and -7.1‰), Lithuania (-3.9‰ and -5.7‰), Cyprus (+4.7 and -13.9‰), Greece (-1.6‰ and -4.7‰), Portugal (-2.3‰ and -3.5‰), Bulgaria (-5.2‰ and -0.2‰) and Spain (+0.8‰ and -5.5‰).