Romania was one of the EU countries with large population decreases last year.  The population increased in 18 EU member states and decreased in ten in 2016, according to data from EU’s statistical office Eurostat.

With a decrease of -6.2 per 1,000 residents, Romania registered the fifth-largest decline in the EU after Lithuania (-14.2‰), Latvia (-9.6‰), Croatia (-8.7‰), and Bulgaria (-7.3‰).

On the other hand, the largest relative increase was observed in Luxembourg (+19.8 per 1 000 residents), Sweden (+14.5‰), Malta (+13.8‰), Ireland (+10.6‰), Austria (+9.5‰), and Germany and Cyprus (both +7.6‰).

Meanwhile, EU’s overall population increased, Eurostat data show. On January 1, 2017, the European Union was estimated to host 511.8 million inhabitants, up from 510.3 million on a year prior.

Romania also registered some of the highest crude death rates in the European Union, of 13 per 1,000 residents, similar to that of Hungary. Only Bulgaria (15.1 per 1,000 residents), Latvia (14.6‰), and Lithuania (14.3‰) registered higher rates. On the other hand, Ireland and Cyprus (both 6.4 per 1,000 residents), as well as Luxembourg (6.8‰) had in 2016 the lowest crude death rate, followed by Malta (7.6‰), the Netherlands (8.7‰), and Spain and France (both 8.8‰).

Ireland, with a natural change of its population of +7.1‰, also remained the member state where births most outnumbered deaths in 2016, ahead of Cyprus (+4.7‰), Luxembourg (+3.6‰), France (+3.0‰), Sweden and the United Kingdom (both +2.7‰), and Malta (+2.6‰). By contrast, among the 13 EU Member States that registered a negative natural change in 2016, deaths outnumbered births the most in Bulgaria (-6.0‰), followed by Lithuania (-3.7‰), Romania (-3.5‰), Croatia and Latvia (both -3.4‰), and Hungary (-3.2‰), reads the Eurostat press release.

However, with an estimated population of over 19.63 million on January 1, 2017 (3.8% of the total EU population), Romania was the seventh most populated EU member state, after Germany - 82.8 million residents, France - 67 million, the United Kingdom - 65.8 million, Italy - 60.6 million, Spain - 46.5 million, and Poland - 38 million.

Romania’s population drops by two million in ten years

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com