According to shocking data from Eurostat, in 2022, about 3 million EU nationals renounced their citizenship, revealing massive emigration trends within the EU.
Since 2011, immigration to the EU has become a contentious issue. Immigrants account for close to one-fifth of the population in several EU nations. But what about the emigration trends within the EU?
Pallavi Rao of Visual Capitalist plots the number of EU migrants by nationality in 2022. This visualization’s data came from Eurostat.
Which EU Country Had the Most Emigrants in 2022?
With a combined emigration rate of well over half a million, Germany and Spain led the EU in emigration in 2022.
It’s interesting to note that whereas Spanish immigrants frequently settled in Germany, German emigrants liked relocating to Switzerland and Austria.
Below is a comprehensive list of all 27 EU member nations together with the proportion of their respective populations and the amount of persons that will be emigrating in 2022. For perspective, data for Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Norway has also been added; however, it is not featured in the visualization or adds to the total number of EU members.
| Rank | Country | Emigrants (2022) | % of Population (2022) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇩🇪 Germany | 533,485 | 0.64% |
| 2 | 🇪🇸 Spain | 531,889 | 1.11% |
| 3 | 🇫🇷 France | 249,355 | 0.37% |
| 4 | 🇵🇱 Poland | 228,006 | 0.62% |
| 5 | 🇷🇴 Romania | 202,311 | 1.06% |
| 6 | 🇮🇹 Italy | 150,189 | 0.25% |
| 7 | 🇨🇠Switzerland* | 122,123 | 1.39% |
| 8 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 109,616 | 0.62% |
| 9 | 🇧🇪 Belgium | 84,627 | 0.72% |
| 10 | 🇬🇷 Greece | 80,307 | 0.77% |
| 11 | 🇦🇹 Austria | 74,271 | 0.82% |
| 12 | 🇩🇰 Denmark | 62,927 | 1.07% |
| 13 | 🇮🇪 Ireland | 61,133 | 1.19% |
| 14 | ðŸ‡ðŸ‡º Hungary | 58,408 | 0.61% |
| 15 | 🇸🇪 Sweden | 50,592 | 0.48% |
| 16 | ðŸ‡ðŸ‡· Croatia | 46,287 | 1.20% |
| 17 | 🇳🇴 Norway* | 32,536 | 0.60% |
| 18 | 🇨🇿 Czech Republic | 31,764 | 0.30% |
| 19 | 🇵🇹 Portugal | 30,954 | 0.30% |
| 20 | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | 20,956 | 0.99% |
| 21 | 🇨🇾 Cyprus | 17,958 | 1.43% |
| 22 | 🇱🇺 Luxembourg | 17,227 | 2.64% |
| 23 | 🇱🇻 Latvia | 16,680 | 0.89% |
| 24 | 🇫🇮 Finland | 15,635 | 0.28% |
| 25 | 🇱🇹 Lithuania | 15,270 | 0.54% |
| 26 | 🇧🇬 Bulgaria | 13,175 | 0.20% |
| 27 | 🇲🇹 Malta | 13,166 | 2.48% |
| 28 | 🇪🇪 Estonia | 9,657 | 0.72% |
| 29 | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | 4,468 | 0.08% |
| 30 | 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein* | 480 | 1.22% |
| N/A | 🇪🇺 EU | 2,730,313 | 0.61% |
*Part of the European Economic Area or the European Free Trade Area, but not the EU. Citizenship rather than place of birth is used to count emigrants.
The percentage of the population that emigrated to Malta and Luxembourg in 2022 was a little over 2%.
In 2022, about 3 million nationals of the EU renounced their citizenship. One million of them completely departed the union, and about half of them relocated inside the member nations.
In contrast, a little over 5 million people entered the union in a single year. Germany, Spain, and France were the top three nations of destination and emigration, respectively.
Aging nations view immigration as a means of increasing labor force participation and reducing the proportion of elderly dependents. Nevertheless, current EU immigration will not reverse aging trends, according to Eurostat’s estimations.
Recently, GreatGameIndia reported that according to data from UNHCR, as of mid-2023, there are 36.5 million refugees worldwide. Countries like Iran and Turkey host the most refugees due to their proximity to conflict zones. Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and South Sudan have the highest number of people fleeing.
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