site.btaEU Population Up by 1 Mln Y/Y, Bulgaria’s Down by 8,000+, Eurostat Data

The population of the European Union on January 1, 2025 was 450.4 million people, or more than 1 million more than at the beginning of 2024. This is according to the latest Eurostat estimates published on July 11, World Population Day.

The EU's population is growing for the fourth year in a row after declining in 2021 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The growth can largely be explained by an increase in migration. Since 2012, negative natural population growth in the EU has been offset by positive net migration, according to Eurostat.

Compared to 1960, when the EU's population was 354.5 million, by January 1, 2025, the population had grown by 95.9 million. However, the rate of growth has gradually slowed in recent decades. Whereas in the 1960s the population grew by an average of around 3 million people per year, in the period 2005-2024 the growth rate was around 0.9 million people per year. 

By January 1, 2025, the most populous country in the EU was Germany (83.6 million people) and the least populous was Malta (around 600,000 people).

Bulgaria's population at the beginning of 2025 was 6,437,360 people, or 8,121 fewer than on January 1, 2024, Eurostat data shows.

By comparison, in 1960 Bulgaria’s population was 7,829,246.

The three countries with the largest populations, Germany (19% of the EU population), France (15%) and Italy (13%), accounted for almost half (47%) of the total EU population on January 1, 2025.

Between January 1, 2024, and January 1, 2025, eight EU countries recorded a population decrease, with the most significant declines in Latvia, Hungary, Poland and Estonia.

Among the 19 EU countries that recorded the highest population growth rates, Malta, Ireland and Luxembourg had the highest growth rates.

This article marks World Population Day, which takes place on 11 July to raise awareness of the global demographic situation.