DEMOGRAPHICS : EU POPULATION GROWS, MAINLY DUE TO MIGRATION.

• Position: Brief article

According to first demographic estimates published by Eurostat on 15 December, the EU will have a population of 499.7 million on 1 January 2009. The population grew by 4.4 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2008 due to natural population growth of +1.1 and net migration of +3.3 . In total, the EU27 population is estimated to have increased by 2.2 million in 2008.

Live births in the EU are estimated to be 5.4 million in 2008, corresponding to a crude birth rate of 10.8 per 1,000 inhabitants. There are estimated to have been 4.8 million deaths in the EU in 2008, corresponding to a crude death rate of 9.7 per 1,000 inhabitants. Consequently, the highest natural growth of the population is...