More than 60 million migrants in European countries. Germany leads with 17 million, Britain — without counts.

As of January 2024, 70% of the population in Liechtenstein are migrants, equivalent to 28,000 people. Almost half of them were not born in the European Union, which is about 19,000 people. Meanwhile, Liechtenstein itself is not a member of the European Union.

Main Facts

• Germany has the largest number of migrants in Europe — 16.9 million people, which is about 20% of the total population. Of these, about 10.5 million were not born in the EU.

What do migration data include?

EU countries use administrative data to account for migrants, such as records of the population, foreigners, places of residence, work permits, health insurance, and taxes.

However, such data do not include illegal migrants and those who live in the country without registration in state systems.

Moreover, almost all countries, except Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, and Liechtenstein, include Ukrainians with temporary residence permits in their immigration statistics.

To be counted, migrants must reside in the country for more than 12 months.

The Situation in the United Kingdom

After the United Kingdom left the EU, Eurostat stopped collecting and publishing current information on Britain.

According to the latest census of 2020–2021, about 16% of the UK’s residents are of foreign origin.

Data Sources

The lack of data for some countries is explained by the lack of access to information. In some cases, data may not fully add up due to rounding or the exclusion of values related to the “unknown country of origin.” Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, and Liechtenstein do not include Ukrainians under temporary protection in their migration statistics. Also, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Iceland, and Norway are not members of the EU.