Europe - Foreign population
Population and migration
978-3-14-100890-6 | Page 69 | Ill. 6
Overview
Significant migration movements in recent years and decades within Europe and the EU have caused the proportion of the foreign population to increase significantly in many states and regions.
Foreign populations in figures
On average, around seven percent of people in the EU states live as foreigners (2015), i.e. they do not have the nationality of the country in which they live. Around 11.4 million foreigners live in Germany, which is approximately 14% of the population (2020). Many other people, on the other hand, have German citizenship, but also have a migratory background because they or their ancestors immigrated from another country for various reasons. In Germany, this is 11,8 million or 14% of the population (2020; excluding foreigners). Overall, every fourth inhabitant of Germany has a migratory background (21.2 million); in France the proportions are similar.
Share of foreigners according to geographical origin
Today, the numerically largest groups of people born abroad live in the countries of Western, Northern and Central Europe as well as in Southern Europe. The absolute numbers and proportions are lowest in large parts of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. However, there are exceptions here, such as Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, and Ukraine where many Russians live - a consequence of belonging to the Soviet Union until 1991. In recent decades, the proportion of foreigners or people with a migratory background has increased in most EU countries. Germany and many European countries are now immigration countries. The number of foreign-born citizens does not necessarily correspond to the total population or size of the country. Poland, for example, has a rather large total population in a rather large area, but the country’s share of foreign-born citizen is rather small (under 5 percent).
