According to Eurostat, the population increased, in 2009, in nineteen member states of the European Union and decreased in eight, with considerable variations between member states. The largest relative increases were observed in Luxembourg (+17.2‰), Sweden (+9.1‰), Slovenia (+7.2‰) and Belgium (+7.1‰), and the largest decreases in Lithuania (-6.2‰), Latvia (-5.7‰) and Bulgaria (-5.6‰). In 2009, just over 60% of the increase in the EU27 population came from migration. In relative terms, Luxembourg (+13.2‰), Sweden (+6.7‰), Slovenia (+5.8‰) and Italy (+5.3‰) had the largest net inflows, while Ireland (-9.0‰) and Lithuania (-4.6‰) recorded the highest net outflows.

On 1 January 2010, the population of the EU27 was estimated at 501.1 million, compared with 499.7 million on 1 January 2009. The population of the EU27 grew by 1.4 million in 2009, an annual rate of 2.7 per 1000 inhabitants, due to a natural increase of 0.5 million (+1.0‰) and net migration of 0.9 million (+1.7‰).

In 2009, 5.4 million children were born in the EU27. The crude birth rate was 10.7 per 1000 inhabitants, slightly down compared with 2008 (10.9‰). The highest birth rates were recorded in Ireland (16.8‰), the United Kingdom (12.8‰), France (12.7‰), Cyprus (12.2‰) and Sweden (12.0‰), and the lowest rates in Germany (7.9‰), Austria (9.1‰), Portugal (9.4‰) and Italy (9.5‰).

There were 4.8 million deaths registered in the EU27 in 2009. The crude death rate was 9.7 per 1000 inhabitants, the same as in 2008. The highest death rates were observed in Bulgaria (14.2‰), Latvia (13.3‰) and Hungary (13.0‰), and the lowest rates in Ireland (6.6‰), Cyprus (6.7‰) and Luxembourg (7.3‰).

n