Information on data
Data collections
Eurostat collects data on international migration and citizenship at national level from the national statistical institutes (NSIs) of the EU members, EFTA countries as well as countries that are candidates or potential candidates for EU membership.
Main annual data collections
There are 2 main annual data collection in the area of international migration and citizenship:
- The demographic balance data collection
- By end of June of year n, this collection provides the first demographic data for the year n-1 and an estimate of the total population on 1 January of year n;
- At the beginning of July, data are disseminated in the database table Population change - Demographic balance and crude rates at national level (demo_gind), together with Eurostat and national metadata information;
- Based on these data, Eurostat calculates the ‘net migration plus statistical adjustment’.
- Detailed data on international migration flows and acquisition and loss of citizenship with different breakdowns:
- By the end of each year n, countries provide data for the year n-1;
- In February (year n+1), the series are released in the Eurostat database, together with Eurostat and national metadata information. At the same time, information provided in dataset Population change - Demographic balance and crude rates at national level (demo_gind) is updated on this occasion.
Available statistics
The available time series collected and published varies depending on the migration breakdowns:
- from 1990, by age and sex
- from 1998, by country of citizenship, country of previous/next residence
- from 2008, by country of birth
The 3 database folders offer the following information:
- immigration provides data on international immigration flows by various breakdowns, such as age, sex, country of birth, country of citizenship, country of previous residence;
- emigration provides data on international emigration flows by various breakdowns, such as age, sex, country of birth, country of citizenship, country of next residence;
- acquisitions and loss of citizenship provides data by age, sex and former/new citizenship and residents who acquired citizenship by former citizenship and by sex. Based on the detailed collected data, Eurostat computes some indicators, such as the share of EU, non-EU and foreign citizens who have acquired the citizenship of the reporting country.
For more detailed information, please consult the overview of datasets on international migration and citizenship available in the database.
European aggregates
For acquisition and loss of citizenship, Eurostat derives geographical aggregates for the EU by applying common aggregation methods based on the national detailed figures transmitted by the national statistical institutes. The EU aggregates are expressed in absolute numbers. They are obtained from the arithmetical sum of components of the EU countries. If values are missing for one or more countries, geographical aggregates are not calculated. Please note that the EU aggregates for the period 2010-2012 includes 2009 data for Romania.
Based on the detailed collected data, Eurostat computes some indicators, such as the share of EU, non-EU and foreign citizens who have acquired the citizenship of the reporting country.
For migration flows, the aggregate for the European Union as whole is not calculated as an arithmetical sum of the migration flows of the EU Member States. This is because the aggregate is not simply the sum of the flows from and to the EU. Further explanations can be found in the article Migration and migrant population statistics.
Data releases
For each reference year T, Eurostat in February-March of year T+2 the detailed annual data on international migration flows, acquisition and loss of citizenship, by various breakdowns.
Data revision policy
Eurostat encourages national statistical institutes to keep demographic statistics up to date. Countries may send updates of the data which they previously provided throughout the entire year, in line with their national release calendar and more recent information. This means that updates of the data in Eurostat's database may occur at any time.