Brussels, 17/08/2000 (Agence Europe) - On 1 January 2000, the total population of the European Union stood at 375.967 million, up 2.6% on the previous year, whereas the population had fallen in half the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, had risen by 9.4% in the United States, by 9.1% in China and 16.2% in India, and had practically remained stable in Japan, notes a report published jointly last week by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, and by the Council of Europe (Statistics in Focus, Population and social conditions, 10/2000: "First results of the demographic data collection for 1999 in Europe). According to the report, in 1999 the EU only accounted for 1.3% of world demographic growth, whereas China and India accounted for 14.6% and 20.8% respectively.
The report indicates in particular that, in the European Union, over 70% of the demographic growth in 1999, or 711,400 people, was due to migratory flows, whereas natural growth (births minus deaths) accounted for only 277,700 persons. Natural growth was the main factor for growth in the populations only in France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Finland, whereas natural levels were negative in Germany, Italy, Sweden and, to a lesser extent, Greece and Austria: in these countries without a contribution of net migratory flows, the population would have fallen in 1999. Last year, all Member States registered a slight rise in the rhythm of growth of their population, including Germany, and the highest rhythm was that of Luxembourg (+15%), followed by Ireland (10.7%). In Central and Eastern Europe, the population fell especially because negative natural growth: this drop was greatest in Ukraine (-7.9%), Latvia (-6.3% and Russia (-5.3%), followed by Bulgaria, Hungary and Estonia.
As for fertility rate, it was up slightly in the EU: it stood at 1.45 children per woman, which is below the natural replacement threshold, estimated at 2.1 children per woman. Ireland was in the lead with 1.89 children per woman, whereas the countries with the lowest rates were Austria and Portugal (1.48 in both cases), Germany (1.37), Greece (1.30), Italy (1.21) and Spain (1.19).
In addition, whereas in the EU there was a slight increase in marriages (Denmark, Germany, Greece, spain, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden), births outside wedlock increased (one birth in two in Sweden, one in four on average in the Union).
Regarding the mortality rate, it stood at 9.9 deaths per 1000 inhabitants in the EU, the same level as in 1998: it was higher in Denmark (1.1), Portugal (10.8), Sweden (10.7) and the United Kingdom (10.6), and lower in the Netherlands (8.9), Luxembourg (8.8) and Ireland (8.4). Infant mortality continued to fall almost everywhere, and was on average 5 deaths to every 1000 live births (5.2 in 1998 and 12.4 in 1980). This rate even fell to 2.9 in Sweden and 3.6 in Finland, whereas it was higher in Greece (5.9) and the United Kingdom (5.8). The same year, the infant mortality rate was 4 in Japan, 6.9 in the United States, 30.2 in China and 66.8 in India.
Life expectancy also continues to grow: according to estimates, babies born in the EU have a life expectancy of 74.6 years for boys and 80.9 for girls, compared to 74.1 and 79.7, in the United States; 77.4 and 83.9 in Japan; 61.5 and 62.7 in India; 69.3 and 73 in China; 59.8 and 72 in Russia, which is a fall in life expectancy. In the EU, little Spanish girls (82.5) and French (82.3) have the longest life expectancy, whereas among the boys it is the Swedes (77.1), Greeks and Italians (75.5) Spanish (75.3) and the Netherlands (75.2).