Brussels, 08/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - In its demographic estimates for 2000 published on Monday 8 January, the EC Statistical Office in Luxembourg (Eurostat) notes that on 1 January 2001, the population of the EU stood at 377.6 million (as against 295 million in 1950). Natural population growth in the EU (live births minus deaths) was expected to be 343,000 in 2000 (compared to 277,000 in 1999). Net migration also rose, from +720,000 in 1999 to +816,000 in 2000. The overall increase in the population in 2000 was thus expected to be around 1,150,000 (compared with 1 million in 1999). Eurostat adds that:
1) the number of live births in the EU was expected to total 4.05 million in 2000 (+1.3% over 1999), with the highest rate in Ireland (14.6 live births per 1,000 inhabitants), followed by France (13.1), Luxembourg (13) and the Netherlands (13). The lowest rates were in Germany (9.2), Italy (9.7) and Austria (9.7);
2) the number of deaths remained stable (it has been practically unchanged for 30 years) at 3.7 million in the EU in 2000. The highest mortality rates were in Denmark and Portugal (10.8 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants) and Sweden (10.6), and the lowest rates in Ireland (8.0), Luxembourg (8.5) and the Netherlands (8.8);
3) about two thirds of international migration flows (816,000 in 2000) concerned Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, but Luxembourg recorded the highest net migration per 1,000 inhabitants in the EU (11.4), followed by Ireland (6.6). The lowest figures were recorded in Finland (0.6), France (0.8) and Spain (1.0);
4) population growth varied from one Member State to the next: the biggest increases occurred in Luxembourg (1.6%), Ireland (1.3%) and the Netherlands (0.7%), and the lowest in Germany (0.1%).