Data extracted on 18 July 2024.
Planned article update: July 2025.
Highlights
In the EU in 2023, 22% of people aged 15-74 years were either foreign-born or a descendant of foreign-born persons.
In the EU in 2023, 86% of native-born people with two foreign-born parents were citizens of the country they lived in, while only 39% of foreign-born people had a citizenship of their country of residence.
In the EU in 2023, 18% of foreign-born persons were aged 15-29 years. This rate was higher among native-born persons with two native-born parents (20%) and for persons who were native-born with either one (32%) or two (42%) foreign-born parents.
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(%)
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_pganedm)
This article forms part of the online publication Foreign-born people and their descendants - facts and figures. It presents statistics on the migration status of persons aged 15-74 years usually residing in private households in the European Union (EU), in individual EU countries, as well as 3 EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland).
Overview by migration status
Persons living in private households can be categorised in terms of their migration status into 3 groups:
- native-born persons with two native-born parents,
- native-born persons with one or two foreign-born parents and
- foreign-born persons.
In 2023, the EU's population in private households aged 15-74 years was composed as follows:
- almost eight out of ten (78.2%) were native-born with two native-born parents;
- 21.8% were native-born persons with at least one foreign-born parent or were themselves foreign-born;
- 7.3% were native-born descendants of foreign-born parents of which;
- 4.2% had one foreign-born parent;
- 3.0% had two foreign-born parents;
- 14.5% were foreign-born.
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(%)
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_pganedm)
Among the EU countries, the share of foreign-born people within the total population aged 15-74 years was highest in Luxembourg (55.6%), followed by Malta (32.5%) and Cyprus (27.7%). In contrast, the share was lowest in Romania (0.2%) and Bulgaria (0.4%).
Luxembourg had also the largest share of native-born people with two foreign-born parents (10.7%). It was followed by Estonia with 9.0% and Latvia with 8.2%. Estonia and Latvia also recorded the highest shares of native-born people with one foreign-born parent, at 10.5% and 12.0%, respectively.
Figure 2 focuses on the foreign-born persons, distinguishing between those born in other EU countries and those born in non-EU countries.
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(%)
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_pgacws)
In 2023, over one quarter (27.4%) of foreign-born persons aged 15-74 years living in the EU had been born in another EU country compared with a much larger share of 72.6% who had been born in a non-EU country.
Among the EU countries for which complete data are available, there were 23 where most foreign-born persons aged 15-74 years had been born in a non-EU country. Luxembourg, Slovakia, and Hungary were the 3 exceptions, where most foreign-born persons had been born in another EU country. The 3 Baltic countries - Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia - along with Poland, had the highest shares of foreign-born persons from a non-EU country. The following paragraphs consider the main demographic characteristics of the native and foreign-born persons, such as citizenship, age, sex, and the type of location where they reside (cities, towns and suburbs, and rural areas).
Citizenship of the native and foreign-born
A new-born child's citizenship is often determined by their place of birth or the citizenship of one or both of their parents. Citizenship can also be acquired later in life, for example, after a number of years' residency in a country. Therefore, it is common to find higher rates of citizenship for a particular reporting country among native-born rather than foreign-born persons. This is also the case among persons with at least one native-born parent rather than with two foreign-born parents.
Among all native and foreign-born persons aged 15-74 years in the EU in 2023, 90.7% were citizens of the EU country where they lived, 3.2% had the citizenship of another EU country and 6.1% were citizens of a non-EU country (or were stateless).
Figure 3 provides the same analysis for the 4 categories of migration status of people in the EU in 2023.
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(%)
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_pganedm)
Among native-born persons with two native-born parents, practically all were citizens of the EU country where they lived. This share was only marginally lower (98.8%) among native-born persons with one foreign-born parent.
The share of people with the citizenship of the EU country where they lived in 2023 was notably lower among native-born persons with two foreign-born parents, at 85.5%. Among this category, 8.6% had the citizenship of a non-EU country (or were stateless) and a slightly lower proportion (5.8%) had the citizenship of another EU country.
For foreign-born persons living in the EU, the citizenship structure in 2023 was quite different. Only around two-fifths (39.1%) had the citizenship of the EU country where they lived, either by birth or through naturalisation. A slightly larger share (40.3%) had the citizenship of a non-EU country (or were stateless). Just over one-fifth (20.6%) were citizens of an EU country other than the one where they lived.
Figure 4 below focuses on the citizenship structure of foreign-born persons. The same analysis is not possible for native-born persons with two foreign-born parents due to limited data availability.
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(%)
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_pganedm)
In 2023, among the EU countries for which complete data are available, Croatia recorded the highest share (94.5%) of foreign-born persons with the citizenship of where they lived. This was notably higher than the next highest share of 72.0% in Hungary. In 17 EU countries, less than half of foreign-born persons had the citizenship of the EU country where they lived. This share was below one-quarter in five countries (Malta, Poland, Luxembourg, Cyprus and Austria), with Luxembourg having the highest proportion of foreign-born persons with the citizenship of another EU country (67.2%). The highest shares of foreign-born persons who had the citizenship of a non-EU country or who were stateless were in Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Malta, all exceeding 60%.
Age structure of the native and foreign-born
This section looks at the age structure of the population. The analyses are provided for 3 separate age groups:
- 15-29 years (referred to as youth);
- 30-54 years;
- 55-74 years.
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(%)
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_pganedm)
In 2023, the age structure of native-born persons with two native-born parents shows a majority in the 30-54 age group (44.0%), followed by the 55-74 age group (35.9%), and finally the youngest age group (20.1%). A similar pattern is observed for foreign-born people, though with a higher proportion in the 30-54 age group (56.1%), and lower proportions in the older (25.9%) and younger (18.0%) age groups.
The other 2 subpopulations had a younger age structure, with the oldest age group being the smallest. However, for native-born persons with one foreign-born parent, the largest share is observed for those aged 30-54 (36.8%), while for native-born persons with two foreign-born parents, the youngest age group is the most numerous (42.3%).
The same distribution by age group is shown in Table 2 at the national level.
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(%)
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_pganedm)
For a majority of EU countries, the share of young people in the total population in 2023 was lowest among foreign-born persons. Equally, the largest share of people aged 30-54 years in 2023 was observed for foreign-born persons in most EU countries.
Looking at each migration status, the age structure for native-born persons with two native-born parents was relatively similar across all EU countries. Among the 3 other categories (among the EU countries with reliable data), the structures were much more varied in 2023. For example, for native-born persons with two foreign-born parents the shares ranged from:
- 3.8% in Latvia to 90.7% in Cyprus for those aged 15-29 years;
- 7.0% in Italy to 64.1% in Slovenia for those aged 30-54 years;
- 1.7% in Spain to 88.3% in Poland for those aged 55-74 years.
Sex structure of the native and foreign-born
For the 3 native-born categories, there was a fairly even split in 2023 in the shares of males and females in the EU (Figure 6): the difference – with more females than males – was 0.2 percentage points (pp) among those with two foreign-born parents and 0.8 pp among those with two native-born parents. By contrast, there were more males than females among the subpopulation with one foreign-born parent, with a difference of 1.6 pp. Among foreign-born persons in the EU in 2023, the difference was notably greater: the share of females was 4.3 pp higher than the share of males.
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(%)
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_pganedm)
The same distribution by sex is shown in Table 3 at the national level.
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(%)
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_pganedm)
The analysis by sex highlights a few EU countries with significant differences between the shares of males and females in certain categories of migration status. The largest difference was observed for foreign-born persons in Romania, where the share of males in 2023 was 60.6% compared with 39.4% for females. The next largest difference was in Bulgaria, where there were more females (59.5%) than males (40.5%) among the foreign-born persons. In Poland, the share of females (56.3%) was notably greater than the share of males (43.7%) among native-born persons with two foreign-born parents.
Urban–rural structure of the native and foreign-born
An analysis by degree of urbanisation is based on the population density where people live (forming geographical clusters).
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(%)
Source: Eurostat (lfst_r_pgaum)
In 2023, cities were the primary area of residence, followed by towns and suburbs, and rural areas. The distribution varies across different categories of migration status. Native-born persons with two native-born parents had a relatively balanced distribution: 36.9% lived in cities, 34.6% in towns and suburbs, and 28.4% in rural areas. Native-born persons with one foreign-born parent showed a similar pattern but with a higher concentration in cities (45.4%). For the remaining 2 groups, the majority lived in cities (over 50%), about one-third in towns and suburbs, and approximately 12% in rural areas.
The same distribution by degree of urbanisation is shown in Table 4 at the national level.
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(%)
Source: Eurostat (lfst_r_pgaum)
For a large majority of EU countries, the share of people aged 15-74 years living in cities was lowest in 2023 among native-born persons with two native-born parents. The only exception, among the EU countries with complete and reliable data for cities, was Italy (Table 4). The lowest shares of people living in cities, among native-born persons with either two native-born parents or one foreign-born parent and foreign-born, were observed in Slovenia, while Czechia had the lowest share of native-born with two foreign-born parents. In contrast, Cyprus recorded the highest share of people living in cities among native-born persons with two native-born parents. Among native-born persons with one and those with two foreign-born parents, and foreign-born persons, the highest shares were observed in the Netherlands.
As was the case for the EU as a whole, most EU countries recorded quite similar proportions of people living in towns or suburbs, regardless of their migration status. There were some notable exceptions, for example in Belgium and the Netherlands, where the shares of native-born persons with two native-born parents living in towns and suburbs were notably higher than for the 3 other categories of migration status.
In most EU countries with complete and reliable data, the least share of people aged 15-74 years living in rural areas in 2023 was observed either for native-born persons with two foreign-born parents or for foreign-born persons. Equally, in all EU countries except for Italy, the share of people aged 15-74 years living in rural areas was largest in 2023 among native-born persons with two native-born parents. The lowest shares of people living in rural areas, among all 4 categories of migration status, were observed in the Netherlands. In contrast, Ireland recorded the highest share of people living in cities among native-born persons with two foreign-born parents. Among native-born persons with two native-born parents and those with one foreign-born parent, as well as foreign-born persons, the highest shares were observed in Luxembourg.
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
The data presented in this article are from the EU labour force survey (EU-LFS), the largest household sample survey in the EU. The survey covers the resident population, defined as all people usually residing in private households. As such, persons living in collective households are excluded from the target population. Usual residence means the place where a person normally spends the daily period of rest, regardless of temporary absences for purposes of recreation, holidays, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment or religious pilgrimage. The data for the EU are aggregated results for the 27 EU countries. For more information on the data sources used, please consult the online publication EU labour force survey.
Due to the sampling nature of the survey, some data have low reliability or are not published due to very low reliability or confidentiality. Data that are of low reliability are duly marked in the footnotes below the figures and tables.
Country notes
Definition differs for Spain and France. For more information please refer to metadata for LFS main indicators.
Calculation of shares in totals
Nearly all of the tables and figures in this article present shares of a total. For some of the analysed breakdowns, e.g. by migration status, country of birth or citizenship, there is a certain amount of non-response (also called 'not stated' or 'unknown'). Wherever possible, the calculation of shares in this article is based on a total excluding the number of people classified in the not stated or unknown categories. As such, all exhaustive breakdowns presented in tables should sum to 100.0% (allowing for rounding errors).
Context
The data in this article provide information not only on foreign-born persons living in the EU but also about native-born persons with at least one foreign-born parent.
Successful integration may lead to economic and social benefits for migrants and their children, and for the society where they live. More information on the policies and legislation in force in this area can be found in an introductory article: Migrant integration statistics introduced.
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Methodology
- LFS series – Detailed annual survey results (ESMS metadata file – lfsa_esms)
- EU labour force survey