The EU’s population is growing again, but Italy is bucking the trend, registering the sharpest decline in the Union. After declining in 2020 and 2021 with Covid, Europe’s population increased from 446.7 to 448.4 million people in 2022, Eurostat reports.
Natural variation was negative (more deaths than births) but was outweighed by the positive migration balance, driven both by the recovery of post-Covid movements and the massive influx of displaced people from Ukraine. Seven countries recorded a decrease in population between January 1, 2022 and January 1, 2023, with the largest decrease being in Italy (-179,419 people).