Foreign nationals represented 24.8% of the population of Cyprus on 1 January 2025, placing the country among those with the highest shares in the European Union. Across the EU, 46.7 million people, or 10.4% of the total population of 450.6 million, were born outside the EU, according to data published by Eurostat.
The figures also show that Luxembourg recorded the highest proportion of foreign nationals in relative terms in 2025.
Population born outside the EU
On 1 January 2025, approximately 46.7 million people living in the EU were born outside the EU, corresponding to 10.4% of the EU population. This represents an increase of 1.9 million compared with the previous year.
In absolute numbers, the highest number of foreign-born residents was recorded in Germany with 17.2 million, followed by France with 9.6 million, Spain with 9.5 million and Italy with 6.9 million.
In relative terms, Luxembourg had the highest proportion of foreign-born residents at 51.5% of its usual resident population. It was followed by Malta at 32.0%, Cyprus at 27.6%, Ireland at 23.3%, Austria at 22.5%, Sweden at 20.8% and Germany at 20.5%.
By contrast, foreign-born persons accounted for less than 5% of the population in Poland at 2.6%, Romania at 3.6%, Bulgaria at 3.8% and Slovakia at 4.0%.
Foreign nationals residing in the EU
On 1 January 2025, approximately 30.6 million third-country nationals were residing in an EU country, corresponding to 6.8% of the EU population. This represents an increase of 1.6 million compared with the previous year.
In addition, around 14.1 million people living in an EU country were citizens of another EU Member State, an increase of 0.1 million compared with the previous year.
In absolute terms, the highest number of foreign nationals residing in EU countries was recorded in Germany at 12.4 million, Spain at 6.9 million, France at 6.5 million and Italy at 5.4 million. These four countries accounted for 69.7% of the total number of foreign nationals living in the EU, while representing 57.8% of the EU population.
Countries with the highest shares of foreign nationals
In relative terms, Luxembourg had the highest share of foreign nationals on 1 January 2025, at 47.0% of its total population. High shares were also observed in Malta at 29.4% and Cyprus at 24.8%.
By contrast, foreign nationals represented less than 3% of the population in Poland at 1.2%, Slovakia at 1.2%, Romania at 1.6%, Bulgaria at 2.3% and Hungary at 2.7%.
Luxembourg also recorded the highest share of citizens from other EU countries at 35.8%, followed by Cyprus at 10.1% and Austria at 10.0%.
The lowest shares of EU citizens from other Member States were recorded in Poland and Lithuania at 0.1% of the usual resident population, Latvia at 0.2%, Romania at 0.3%, Bulgaria at 0.5%, Croatia at 0.6%, Slovakia at 0.7% and Hungary at 0.9%.
In the cases of Estonia and Latvia, the proportion of third-country nationals is particularly high due to the large number of recognised non-citizens, mainly former Soviet Union citizens who reside permanently in these countries but have not acquired any other nationality.
Source: Eurostat