EU’s population projected to exceed 450M in 2025

EU’s population projected to exceed 450M in 2025
—————————–
As of January 1, 2025, the total population of the 27 EU member states reached 450.4 million, Anadolu Agency reported citing official data released by Eurostat on Friday. This marks an increase of 1.07 million from the previous year and continues a four-year growth trend following a decline in 2021 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the start of 2024, the EU population stood at 449.3 million.

Preliminary estimates indicate that Germany remains the most populous EU country in 2025 with 83.6 million residents, followed by France (68.6 million), Italy (58.9 million), Spain (49.1 million), Poland (36.5 million), Romania (19 million), the Netherlands (18 million), and Belgium (11.9 million). The smallest populations are found in Malta (574,000) and Luxembourg (681,000).

Eurostat attributed the population growth mainly to increased migration after COVID-19. Since 2012, positive net migration has consistently outweighed the natural population decline (more deaths than births) within the EU.