Foreign-born residents in the EU, 2025: where they make up the largest share
Published
On 1 January 2025, 51.5% of Luxembourg's residents were born in another country, against 2.6% in Poland. Across the EU the share was 14.4%. Here is how the 26 countries with 2025 data compare, split between people born elsewhere in the EU and outside it.
On 1 January 2025, 64.7 million people living in the EU had been born in a country other than the one they lived in, 14.4% of the population. Of these, 46.7 million were born outside the EU and 18.0 million in another EU country. The shares vary a lot between countries: from 51.5% in Luxembourg to 2.6% in Poland.
These are Eurostat figures on the population by country of birth. They describe where people were born, not their nationality: someone born abroad who has become a citizen still counts as foreign-born, and a foreign citizen born in the country does not.
The table
The table covers the 26 EU countries with data for 1 January 2025. Portugal did not send Eurostat its 2025 figures by country of birth; on 1 January 2024, 16.0% of its residents were foreign-born.
| Rank | Country | Born in another country | Born in another EU country | Born outside the EU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luxembourg | 51.5% | 32.5% | 19.0% |
| 2 | Malta | 32.0% | 7.4% | 24.6% |
| 3 | Cyprus | 27.6% | 9.1% | 18.4% |
| 4 | Ireland | 23.3% | 6.7% | 16.6% |
| 5 | Austria | 22.5% | 9.7% | 12.8% |
| 6 | Sweden | 20.8% | 5.2% | 15.5% |
| 7 | Germany | 20.5% | 7.6% | 13.0% |
| 8 | Belgium | 20.2% | 8.1% | 12.1% |
| 9 | Spain | 19.3% | 3.3% | 16.0% |
| 10 | Estonia | 17.8% | 1.9% | 15.9% |
| 11 | Netherlands | 16.8% | 4.4% | 12.4% |
| 12 | Slovenia | 15.5% | 2.8% | 12.6% |
| 13 | Denmark | 14.4% | 4.6% | 9.7% |
| 14 | Croatia | 14.1% | 1.7% | 12.4% |
| 15 | France | 14.0% | 2.9% | 11.1% |
| 16 | Italy | 11.8% | 2.7% | 9.1% |
| 17 | Latvia | 11.6% | 1.1% | 10.4% |
| 18 | Greece | 11.0% | 2.3% | 8.8% |
| 19 | Czechia | 10.0% | 2.9% | 7.2% |
| 19 | Finland | 10.0% | 2.4% | 7.6% |
| 21 | Lithuania | 9.7% | 0.7% | 9.0% |
| 22 | Hungary | 7.3% | 3.7% | 3.6% |
| 23 | Romania | 6.2% | 1.7% | 4.5% |
| 24 | Slovakia | 4.0% | 2.9% | 1.1% |
| 25 | Bulgaria | 3.8% | 1.2% | 2.7% |
| 26 | Poland | 2.6% | 0.7% | 1.9% |
| EU | 14.4% | 4.0% | 10.4% |
The two right-hand columns may not add up to the first because of rounding and, in some countries, people whose country of birth is unknown. Eurostat marks the figures for Germany and Romania as estimates, France's as provisional and Poland's as estimated and provisional.
Three patterns in the table
Small countries lead. Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus have the highest shares. In Luxembourg, more than half of residents were born abroad, and 32.5% were born in another EU country, by far the highest share of intra-EU movers.
Most foreign-born residents come from outside the EU. In 23 of the 26 countries, people born outside the EU outnumber those born in another EU country. The exceptions are Luxembourg, Hungary and Slovakia. Malta has the highest share born outside the EU, 24.6%, followed by Luxembourg, Cyprus, Ireland and Spain.
Large countries hold most of the people. In absolute numbers, Germany had 17.2 million foreign-born residents, France 9.6 million, Spain 9.5 million and Italy 6.9 million. According to Eurostat, these four countries were home to 66.7% of the foreign-born people living in the EU, while accounting for 57.8% of its population.
What the figures do not show
- National, not local. A national share says nothing about the differences between cities, regions or neighbourhoods.
- Country of birth, not origin. The table does not say which specific countries people came from, how long ago they moved, or whether they are citizens now.
- Stocks, not flows. These are people living in a country on one date, not the number who arrived in a given year.
Why this matters if you are planning a move
A large foreign-born population can mean established communities, international schools, services in more languages and employers used to hiring from abroad. It does not tell you how easy it is to get a visa, find a job or feel at home, and it says nothing about a specific city.
Use the table as a starting point, then look at the city you have in mind. Our ranking of the cheapest countries in the EU to live in covers living costs. Country profiles: Luxembourg, Ireland, Austria, Sweden, Germany, Spain and Portugal.
Sources
- Eurostat. Population on 1 January by age group, sex and country of birth (migr_pop3ctb), 1 January 2025. accessed .
- Eurostat. EU population diversity by citizenship and country of birth (Statistics Explained). accessed .