In 2025, the European country registering the largest number of migrants' arrivals was Italy. As of June 2025, 27,000 immigrants reached the Italian peninsula by sea. Spain had the second-largest number of arrivals by sea, 16,400 immigrants, both from the Wester Mediterranean route and the Wester African Atlantic route.

Migration in Europe in 2024 marks a return to normality after the extreme disruptions experienced in 2022. While in 2022 ******* saw the largest negative net migration balance, with almost * million of its citizens fleeing the eastern European country in the aftermath of Russia's invasion, in 2024 it is in fact the country with the largest positive net migration balance. Over **** million Ukrainians have returned to their home country from abroad, leading Poland, Romania, and Hungary to have large net migration deficits, as they were key recipient countries for Ukrainians in 2022. The other countries which experienced large positive net migration balances in 2023 are all in Western Europe, as the UK, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Spain all remain popular destinations for migrants.

Migration data in EU in 2023 based on Eurostat datasets.

Including: People living in the EU in 2023, Foreign-born residents per country, Reasons to stay in Europe, Employment of immigrants, Refugees in Europe, Migration to and from the EU, Seeking asylum in Europe, Irregular border crossings

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In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the majority of documented migration to the United States of American came from European countries. Between 1820 and 1957, of the approximate 41 million migrants to the US, over 34 million of these came from Europe. The most commonly documented countries of origin during this time were Germany (6.6 million), Italy (4.9 million), Ireland (4.6 million), Great Britain (4.5 million), and Russia (3.4 million). The first wave of mass migration came in the 1850s, as the Great famine crippled Ireland's population, and many in rural areas of mainland Europe struggled to adapt to industrialization, and economic opportunities attracted many in the 1870s, following the American Civil War. The 1880s saw another wave, as steam powered ships and lower fares made trans-Atlantic journeys much more affordable. The first wave of mass migration from Eastern and Southern Europe also arrived at this time, as industrialization and agricultural advancements led to high unemployment in these regions.

The majority of migrants to the United States settled in major urban centers, which allowed the expansion of industry, leading to the United States' emergence as one of the leading global economies at the turn of the twentieth century. The largest wave of migration to the United states during this period came in the first fifteen years of the 1900s. The influx of migrants from Northern and Western Europe had now been replaced by an influx from Eastern and Southern Europe (although migration from the British Isles was still quite high during this time). European migration fell to it's lowest levels in eighty years during the First World War, before fluctuating again in the interwar period, due to the Great Depression. As the twentieth century progressed, the continent with the highest levels of migration to the US gradually changed from Europe to Latin America, as economic opportunities in Western Europe improved, and the US' relationship with the Soviet Union and other Eastern, communist states became complicated.

Eurostat's annual collections of statistics on international migration flows are structured as follows:

• NOWCAST: Annual collection of provisional monthly data on live births and deaths covering at least 6 months of the reference year (Article 4.3 of https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2014/205/oj/eng" target="_self">Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 205/2014) and provisional monthly data on migrants covering at least 6 months of the reference year on a voluntary basis.
• DEMOBAL (Demographic balance): Annual collection of provisional data on population, total live births and total deaths at national level (Article 4.1 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 205/2014) and provisional data on total migrants at national level on a voluntary basis.
• POPSTAT (population statistics): The most in-depth annual national and regional data collection on demography and migration, for population, births, deaths, immigrants, emigrants, marriages and divorces by a large number of breakdowns. (Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 and Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007).

The aim is to collect annual mandatory and voluntary data from the national statistical institutes. Mandatory data are those defined by the legislation listed under ‘6.1. Institutional mandate — legal acts and other agreements’.

The quality of the demographic data collected on a voluntary basis depends on the availability and quality of information provided by the national statistical institutes.

For more information on mandatory/voluntary data collection, see 6.1. Institutional mandate — legal acts and other agreements.

The following data on migrants are collected under unified demographic data collection:

• Immigrants by age, sex and:
  • Country of citizenship;
  • Country of birth;
  • Country of previous residence.
• Immigrants by country of citizenship and country of birth.
• Emigrants by age, sex and:
  • Country of citizenship;
  • Country of birth;
  • Country of next residence.

United States Immigrants Admitted: Europe data was reported at 84,335.000 Person in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 93,567.000 Person for 2016. United States Immigrants Admitted: Europe data is updated yearly, averaging 104,629.000 Person from Sep 1986 (Median) to 2017, with 32 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 165,507.000 Person in 2001 and a record low of 61,174.000 Person in 1987. United States Immigrants Admitted: Europe data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by US Department of Homeland Security. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.G087: Immigration.

This release replaces the previous annual and quarterly publications Control of Immigration Statistics and the annual British Citizenship, following a public consultation. Each topic now has its own entry, links to these related reports can be found under the "additional links" section. The European Economic Area (EEA) consists of countries within the EU, together with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Nationals of the EEA and Switzerland have rights of free movement within the United Kingdom. This means that there is less information on numbers coming to the United Kingdom than for nationals of other countries. This topic brief brings together the information that is known about these nationals.

European Countries have seen a surge in immigrants in the last 2 decades. These immigrants are impacting the Social, Political, and Economic dynamics of European countries. According to studies: - 2.3 million immigrants entered the EU from non-EU countries in 2021, an increase of almost 18% compared with 2020. - 1.4 million people previously residing in one EU Member State migrated to another Member State, an increase of almost 17% compared with 2020. - 23.8 million people (5.3%) of the 446.7 million people living in the EU on 1 January 2022 were non-EU citizens. - In 2021, EU Member States granted** citizenship to 827 300** persons having their usual residence on the EU territory, an increase of around 14% compared with 2020.

This Dataset explores the number of immigrants in each European country along with other categories. The data is arranged by European statistics organization Eurostat [https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat]

Quarterly statistics relating to information on border control and visas, asylum, managed migration, and enforcement and compliance.

Source agency: Home Office

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Control of Immigration: Quarterly statistics

This chapter investigates the effects of immigration on European democracies. After taking stock of the impact of international migration on European societies, it examines how such demographic processes relate to political and economic developments. Furthermore, the analysis sheds light on changes in public opinion over time, describes differences and similarities across countries, and examines the effects of the 2015 immigration and refugee crisis. It also shows that there is a relationship between democracy, politics, and the economy, and preferences regarding immigrants, the regulations of immigration, and refugee policies.

Historical dataset showing European Union immigration statistics by year from 1960 to 2015.

Residence permits data collection refers to residence permits as any authorisation issued by the authorities of a Member State allowing a third-country national (non-EU citizen) to stay legally on its territory. These statistics cover also some specific cases in which the third-country nationals have the right to be move to and stay in other EU Member States.

Data is based on administrative sources¹, provided mainly by the Ministries of Interior or related Immigration Agencies. Data are generally disseminated in July in the year following the reference year, subject to data availability and data quality.

Residence permits statistics is based on http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32007R0862" target="_blank">Council Regulation (CE) No 862 of 11 July 2007 (Migration Statistics Regulation) as amended by the Regulation 2020/851 and it covers the following topics:

• the main RESPER data collection based on Article 6 of the Migration Statistics Regulation
  • First residence permits;
  • Residence permits issued on the occasion of changing the immigration status or reason to stay;
  • Residence permits valid at the end of the year;
  • Long-term residence permits valid at the end of the year;
  • Long-term permits issued during the year.

• Statistics collected on voluntary basis
  • Residence permits issued for family reunification with beneficiaries of protection status.

The definitions used for residence permits and other concepts (e.g. first permit) are presented in the section 3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions. The detailed data collection methodology is presented in Annex 9 of this metadata file.

Temporary protection status is considered of different administrative nature then the residence permits reported in RESPER data collection. Therefore, persons benefitting from temporary protection are not included in any of the Residence permits statistics. These persons are subject of another data collection on Temporary Protection (TP).

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

Residence data contain statistical information based on Article 6 of http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32007R0862" target="_blank">Council Regulation (CE) No 862 of 11 July 2007. This legal framework refers to the initial residence permits data collection with 2008 first reference period (e.g. first residence permits; change of immigration status or reason to stay; all valid residence permits in the end of the year and long-term residence permits valid in the end of the year) and it provides also a general framework for newer data collections based on specific European legal acts (e.g. statistics on EU Blue Cards and statistics on single permits) or provided on voluntary basis (e.g. residence permits issued for family reunification with beneficiaries of protection status).

Regulation 2020/851 amending Council Regulation (CE) No 862 of 11 July 2007 was recently implemented. The amendment introduced several changes to the statistics on Asylum and Managed Migration. Some data collections become mandatory starting with the 2021 reference period, while new statistics are subject to pilot studies for further assessing the feasibility of collecting these statistics.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Starting with the 2021 reference period, there were several improvements in the data collection, including the methodological aspects. These changes were introduced through the implementation of Regulation 2020/851 amending Council Regulation (CE) No 862 of 11 July 2007. More details are available in the Annex 9.

Starting from 2025, the residence permits and EU directives data collection now includes six metadata files in total. Countries are required to submit six distinct files. For those that have not yet provided the updated six files, the previous metadata format, included in the annex of this metadata file (Annex 10), remains available as a reference.

INDICATORS

The indicators presented in the table 'Long-term residents among all non-EU citizens holding residence permits by citizenship on 31 December (%)' are produced within the framework of the pilot study related to the integration of migrants in the Member States, following the Zaragoza Declaration.

The Zaragoza Declaration, adopted in April 2010 by EU Ministers responsible for immigrant integration issues, and approved at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 3-4 June 2010, called upon the Commission to undertake a pilot study to examine proposals for common integration indicators and to report on the availability and quality of the data from agreed harmonised sources necessary for the calculation of these indicators. In June 2010 the ministers agreed "to promote the launching of a pilot project with a view to the evaluation of integration policies, including examining the indicators and analysing the significance of the defined indicators taking into account the national contexts, the background of diverse migrant populations and different migration and integration policies of the Member States, and reporting on the availability and quality of the data from agreed harmonised sources necessary for the calculation of these indicators".

These indicators are produced on the basis of residence permit statistics collected by Eurostat on the basis of Article 6 of the Migration Statistics Regulation 862/2007. As a denominator data on the stock of all valid permits to stay at the end of each reporting year are used. As a numerator data on the stock of long-term residents are used. Two types of long term residents are distinguished in accordance with the residence permit statistics: EU long-term resident status (as regulated by the Council Directive 2003/109/EC) and the National long-term resident status (as regulated by the national legislation in the Member States).

DATA CONSISTENCY

The data providers should use the same methodological specifications provided by Eurostat and some collected tables from should be cross-consistent according to this methodology. However, consistency issues between tables exist due to some technical limitations (e.g. different data sources) or different methodology applied to each table (see the quality information from below or the national metadata files) or different point in time of producing each tables.

¹There are few exceptions referring to the situation in which the administrative registers cannot provide the required information and some estimations are made. For example, the statistics for the United Kingdom (2008-2019) use different data sources to those used in EU Member States and EFTA countries. For that reason, the statistics on residence permits published by Eurostat for UK may not be fully comparable with the statistics reported by other countries. Statistics for the United Kingdom are not based on records of residence permits issued (as the United Kingdom does not operate a system of residence permits), but instead relate to the numbers of arriving non-EU citizens permitted to enter the country under selected immigration categories. According to the United Kingdom authorities, data are estimated from a combination of information due to be published in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin 'Control of Immigration: Statistics, United Kingdom' and unpublished management information. The 'Other reasons' category includes: diplomat, consular officer treated as exempt from control; retired persons of independent means; all other passengers given limited leave to enter who are not included in any other category; non-asylum discretionary permissions. Another example is the data on stock of all valid residence permits for Denmark, see Annex 8 (Data quality of valid residence permits in Denmark).

Graph and download economic data for Net migration for the European Union (SMPOPNETMEUU) from 1962 to 2017 about migration, EU, Europe, Net, and 5-year.

Enforcement of immigration legislation data (EIL statistics) contain statistical information based on Article 5 and 7 of the Council Regulation (EC) no 862/2007 as amended by the Regulation 2020/851 with reference to Third country nationals:

• refused entry at the external border;
• found to be illegally present;
• ordered to leave;
• returned following an order to leave.

The national framework has an important impact on the resulted figures (the data comparability between the Member States is limited due to the national specific rules and procedures).

EIL data are based on administrative sources and are provided mainly by the Ministries of Interior or related Immigration Agencies. All of the data collected are disaggregated by citizenship.

Legal framework

The EIL statistics based on Article 5 and 7 of the Council Regulation (EC) no 862/2007 as amended by the Regulation 2020/851.

Some category of data is collected on voluntary basis.

Recent change in EIL data collection

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2020.198.01.0001.01.ENG" href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2020.198.01.0001.01.ENG" target="_blank">Regulation 2020/851 amending Council Regulation (EC) no 862/2007 introduced several changes such as increasing the frequency of the data collection on returns and collecting more breakdowns for the statistics on third country nationals found to be illegally present and third country nationals returned. 2021 year is the first reference period for the amendments (E.G., 1st quarter of 2021 represent the first reference period affected by the introduced by the Regulation 2020/851 for quarterly staistics on returns).

More details on the changes see Annex 5, 2021 EIL Technical Guidelines (see below).

Several member States applied for derogations regarding the new requirements mentioned by the https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2020.198.01.0001.01.ENG" href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2020.198.01.0001.01.ENG" target="_blank">Regulation 2020/851. See list of the derogation granted are in the Commission implementing Decision (EU) 2021/431 of 10 March 2021 granting https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32021D0431&from=EN" target="_blank">derogations to certain Member States from Regulation (EC) No 862/2007

Data disemination

The dissemination of the annual statistics is mainly in March of each year for the previous reference year, depending on the data availability. The dissemination of the quarterly data is mainly in March, June, September and December, of each year for the previous reference quarter, depending on the data availability.

Data have been rounded to the nearest 5 while the EU aggregate is computed using the unrounded figures, which may trigger inconsistencies between the aggregate and the sum of the values.

Newer EIL statistics

I. Starting with first reference year 2014 new statistics on third country nationals returned were collected by Eurostat on voluntary basis:

• Third-country nationals who have left the territory by type of return and citizenship (migr_eirt_vol)
• Third-country nationals who have left the territory by type of assistance received and citizenship (migr_eirt_ass)
• Third-country nationals who have left the territory to a third country by type of agreement procedure and citizenship (migr_eirt_agr)
• Third-country nationals who have left the territory to a third country by destination country and citizenship (migr_eirt_des)

These new statistics is the result of a pilot data collection; clarifications and improvement is being pursued with the data providers. Technical and methodological limitations exist for some data providers and some figures might be estimated. As a result some inconsistency might exist between these statistics and the statistics provided for table 'Third country nationals returned following an order to leave (migr_eiord and migr_eirtn). In those cases where inconsistency between tables exists, data revision is expected.

II. Starting with first quarter of 2018 new quartely statistics on third country returned were as well collected by Eurostat on voluntary basis:

• Third country nationals returned following an order to leave by citizenship age and sex - quarterly data (rounded) (migr_eirtn1)
• Third country nationals ordered to leave by citizenship, age and sex - quarterly data (rounded) (migr_eiord1)

These new statistics were initially the result of a pilot data collection;

III. Starting with first quarter of 2018 age and sex categories are collected for the statistics on thirst country nationals subject of return procedure (ordered to leave and returned persons), annual and quarterly data, for the following tables:

• Third country nationals ordered to leave - annual data (rounded) (migr_eiord)
• Third country nationals ordered to leave by citizenship, age and sex - quarterly data (rounded) (migr_eiord1)
• Third country nationals returned following an order to leave - annual data (rounded) (migr_eirtn)
• Third-country nationals returned following an order to leave, by type of return, citizenship, country of destination, age and and sex – quarterly data (rounded) (migr_eirtn1)

IV. Starting with first quarter of 2021 the quarterly statistics on returns is becoming mandatory for all the Member States. Third country nationals unacompanied minors subject of return procedure are also collected following the https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2020.198.01.0001.01.ENG" href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2020.198.01.0001.01.ENG" target="_blank">Regulation 2020/851. The following tables are collected under this framework in 2021:

• Third country nationals ordered to leave by citizenship, age and sex - quarterly data (rounded) (migr_eiord1)
• Third-country unaccompanied minors ordered to leave, by citizenship, age and sex of the minor – quarterly data (rounded) (migr_eiord2)
• Third-country nationals returned following an order to leave, by type of return, citizenship, country of destination, age and and sex – quarterly data (rounded) (migr_eirtn1)
• Third-country unaccompanied minors returned following an order to leave, by type of return, citizenship, country of destination, age and sex of the minor – quarterly data (rounded) (migr_eirtn2)

Theese quality statistics are expected to meet the minimum requirements as stated in 2021 EIL Technical guidelines. However, the data availability is affected by the derogations granted to several countries, especially for the statistics on returns of unaccompanied minors. See list of the derogation granted are in the Commission implementing Decision (EU) 2021/431 of 10 March 2021 granting https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32021D0431&from=EN" target="_blank">derogations to certain Member States from Regulation (EC) No 862/2007

Annex 4 present the data quality assessment done in June 2021 for the EIL quarterly statistics provided under the new framework refering to the https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2020.198.01.0001.01.ENG" href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2020.198.01.0001.01.ENG" target="_blank">Regulation 2020/851.

In 2021, Germany, Spain, and France were the countries which saw the highest immigration in the European Union. Germany alone say over 870,000 immigrants entering the country in that year, with a majority coming from non-EU countries. There is significant variation in the make-up of the inflows of migrants in different EU member states, with countries such as Spain and Italy seeing large majorities coming from outside the EU, while France and Germany saw roughly an equal number of migrants coming from other EU countries or being returning citizens of those countries. The Netherlands and Belgium stand out as countries which saw more intra-EU migrants than non-EU migrants, with approximately 90,000 and 63,000 moving to these countries respectively from within the EU. Several EU member states saw the greatest share of migrants being citizens of the country themselves, with Romania, Ireland, Greece, and Portugal being notable in this respect. These countries have all seen large flows of people working in other EU member states in recent years, who in many case return to their country of origin within a couple of years.

Norway Immigration: Europe: Germany data was reported at 1,403.000 Person in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 1,534.000 Person for 2016. Norway Immigration: Europe: Germany data is updated yearly, averaging 897.000 Person from Dec 1967 (Median) to 2017, with 51 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4,580.000 Person in 2008 and a record low of 580.000 Person in 1979. Norway Immigration: Europe: Germany data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistics Norway. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Norway – Table NO.G006: Immigration: by Country.

Eurostat's annual collections of statistics on international migration flows are structured as follows:

• NOWCAST: Annual collection of provisional monthly data on live births and deaths covering at least 6 months of the reference year (Article 4.3 of https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2014/205/oj/eng" target="_self">Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 205/2014) and provisional monthly data on migrants covering at least 6 months of the reference year on a voluntary basis.
• DEMOBAL (Demographic balance): Annual collection of provisional data on population, total live births and total deaths at national level (Article 4.1 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 205/2014) and provisional data on total migrants at national level on a voluntary basis.
• POPSTAT (population statistics): The most in-depth annual national and regional data collection on demography and migration, for population, births, deaths, immigrants, emigrants, marriages and divorces by a large number of breakdowns. (Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 and Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007).

The aim is to collect annual mandatory and voluntary data from the national statistical institutes. Mandatory data are those defined by the legislation listed under ‘6.1. Institutional mandate — legal acts and other agreements’.

The quality of the demographic data collected on a voluntary basis depends on the availability and quality of information provided by the national statistical institutes.

For more information on mandatory/voluntary data collection, see 6.1. Institutional mandate — legal acts and other agreements.

The following data on migrants are collected under unified demographic data collection:

• Immigrants by age, sex and:
  • Country of citizenship;
  • Country of birth;
  • Country of previous residence.
• Immigrants by country of citizenship and country of birth.
• Emigrants by age, sex and:
  • Country of citizenship;
  • Country of birth;
  • Country of next residence.

Full edition for public use. The REMINDER Integrated Multilevel Database on Migration in the EU brings together cross-national public opinion data and statistics related to immigration and EU mobility from multiple sources. The archived material offers complete replication code and auxiliary files to assist researchers in reconstructing and expanding the database for their own analyses. Please note that replication requires users to access the original survey data separately. The integrated database consists of 184400 observations and 160 variables, 61 of which are at the country level (28 EU plus Norway and Switzerland). We harmonize existing and newly collected survey data between 2002 and 2017, matched with country level data on the welfare impacts of immigration as well as stocks and flows of immigrant populations.

Germany Emigration: Europe data was reported at 894,520.000 Person in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 854,879.000 Person for 2022. Germany Emigration: Europe data is updated yearly, averaging 495,836.000 Person from Dec 1964 (Median) to 2023, with 60 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 894,520.000 Person in 2023 and a record low of 297,311.000 Person in 1987. Germany Emigration: Europe data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistisches Bundesamt. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.G005: Migration.

Context

This dataset is compiled from European data about Migrants Integration in Europe - Self Perceived Health (by Sex, Age and Origin).

Content

The data contains information on Migrants Integration in Europe - Self Perceived Health (by Sex, Age and Origin).

Geographies values are acronyms (2 characters) for EU countries and group of countries from Europe.

Source of metadata: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/cybernews/abbreviations.htm

Acknowledgements

The main data source is: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database For the data dictionaries, the source is: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/estat-navtree-portlet-prod/BulkDownloadListing?sort=1&dir=dic%2Fen as well: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/cybernews/abbreviations.htm