A study from the private economic research institute Rockwool Foundation indicates that immigration into the European Union has reached a historical peak. According to the findings, the number of foreign-born residents across the EU was projected to hit 64.2 million in 2025. This represents growth of roughly 2.1 million people compared to the previous year, significantly up from the 40 million residents counted in 2010.
Germany remains the primary destination country, reporting 18 million foreign-born residents. Tommaso Frattini, director of the RF research center and a professor of economics at the University of Milan, noted that these figures are striking both in terms of sheer numbers and as a proportion of the respective populations.
However, Frattini cautioned that the overall picture is far from uniform. Migration is heavily concentrated in a small number of nations, and the relative population distribution varies greatly across the bloc, according to data from Eurostat and the UNHCR. Spain, for instance, demonstrated the period’s fastest growth, with its foreign-born population rising by approximately 700,000 to reach a total of 9.5 million. Furthermore, smaller countries such as Luxembourg, Malta, and Cyprus are facing significantly higher migration rates relative to their total size, often contributing a greater proportion of refugee intake based on their population count.
Christian Dustmann of RF Berlin highlighted another key finding: the composition of the origin countries for asylum applicants is highly varied across Europe. Germany continues to accommodate a high number of asylum seekers whose origins are primarily linked to conflicts, pointing to countries like Syria and Afghanistan. In contrast, statistics show that Spain has a substantial influx from Latin America, while Italy and France exhibit more diverse patterns regarding the nationalities of their arrivals.