Brussels, 07/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - On 1 January 2009, 31.9 million foreign citizens lived in the EU27 member states, of which 11.9 million were citizens of another EU27 member state. The remaining were citizens of countries outside the EU27, in particular from other European countries (7.2 million), Africa (4.9 million), Asia (4.0 million) and the American continent (3.3 million). Foreign citizens accounted for 6.4% of the total EU27 population. These are the main figures given in a report on foreign nationals in EU member states and in EFTA and candidate countries, published on Tuesday 7 September by Eurostat.
The EU statistical office notes first of all that the proportion of foreign citizens varies considerably from one member state to the next. In 2009, in the EU member states, the largest percentage of foreign nationals within the population was in Luxembourg (44% of total population), followed by Latvia (18%), Cyprus and Estonia (both 16%), Spain (12%), Ireland (11%) and Austria (10%). The percentage of foreign citizens was 1% or less in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia. The largest number of foreign nationals was to be found in Germany (7.2 million), Spain (5.7 million), the United Kingdom (4.0 million in 2008), Italy (3.9 million) and France (3.7 million). Over 75% of foreign nationals in the EU lived in these countries.
Eurostat also notes that, in 2009, 37% of the foreign citizens living in the EU27 were citizens of another EU27 member state. The largest groups were from Romania (2.0 million or 6% of the total number of foreign citizens in the EU27), Poland (1.5 million or 5%), Italy (1.3 million or 4%) and Portugal (1.0 million or 3%). Among the citizens of countries outside the EU27, the largest groups were from Turkey (2.4 million or 8% of the total number of foreign citizens in the EU27), Morocco (1.8 million or 6%) and Albania (1.0 million or 3%).
Finally, the statistical office notes that, on average in 2009, foreign citizens living in the EU27 were significantly younger than the population of nationals (median age 34.3 years compared with 41.2 years). Amongst foreign citizens, those from countries outside the EU27 were younger than those from other EU27 member states (median age 33.0 years compared with 36.9 years). (O.L./transl.jl)