European Union Population 2024

The European Union is a coalition of 27 member states located in Europe. This unified body eases border controls, enabling a free flow of people, goods and services, and capital between EU members. Member states also exchange technologies and are represented by the EU within judicial and legislative institutions. In return, EU member states are subject to binding laws as a condition of their membership, and must adopt laws implemented by the EU in areas including foreign policy and defense. As of 2020, the EU represented approximately 5.8% of the world's population and generated roughly 17% of the global nominal GDP.

The United Kingdom was a founding member of the European Union, but left the organization in 2019, in an event now known as "Brexit".

The predecessor of the EU was formed in 1957. This was known as the European Economic Community. The founding members included France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and West Germany. This organization became known as the EU in 1958. Throughout the years, it has grown with more members, with the most recent, Croatia, joining in 2013. Common policies on trade, agriculture and development are shared by the member states.

The largest member state of the EU by area is France, which is also the second largest by population. The largest by population is Germany, which is estimated to have more than 83 million residents as of late 2023. All but three EU member states have a population exceeding one million residents. Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta are the three least-populated member states, with Malta’s population falling just over 500,000 people. Malta is also the smallest member state by area.

The most populated city in the EU is London, UK, which has a population of over 12 million. Paris, France only falls slightly behind with a population rapidly approaching 12 million. The third most populous city is Madrid, which has over 6.6 million residents.

When breaking down the population of the EU as a whole, just 9.4% of residents were born outside of their resident country. There are 24 official languages spoken throughout the EU, with 51% of (pre-Brexit) residents speaking English. Other languages include German, French, Italian, Spanish and Poland, just to name a few. Additionally, more than 150 regional and minority languages are spoken by about 50 million EU residents.

There is no official religion observed in the EU. Most residents are Christian, with over 71% following this religion. Of this number over 45% are Catholic, while other Christian religions include Protestant and Eastern Orthodox. Other religions observed in the UK include Muslim and other faiths, although these are minority religions.

With the exception of Brexit, which subtracted the population of the UK from the EU's total, the European Union has seen slight population growth in recent years. The birth rate is about 10 per 1,000 people, which falls below the world average. According to estimates from 2016, the population rose just 0.23%. Slow growth is expected in the near future.