According to the EU's statistical office, this is the fourth consecutive increase, following a decline in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Eurostat attributes this largely to migration movements: since 2012, the negative natural change (more deaths than births) in the EU population has been outweighed by positive net migration.

The population of the 27 Member States as of January 1, 2025, ranged from 83.6 million in Germany to 0.6 million in Malta, with Portugal in 10th place with 10.749 million people.

Author: Eurostat;

Germany (19% of the EU population), France (15%), and Italy (13%) are the most populous EU countries, accounting for almost half (47%) of the total EU population as of January 1, 2025.

The rate of population growth has gradually slowed in recent decades, with the EU population increasing on average by about 0.9 million people per year during the period 2005–2024, compared with an average increase of about 3 million people per year during the 1960s.