Eurostat: Over 20 million foreigners in EU legally in 2019

28.01.2021

Photo: Eurostat

A total of 20,323,576 foreign nationals legally resided in the European Union in 2019 for at least three months, an increase compared to 2018 when there were 19.5 million of them.

Eurostat added that it was not unusual since the number of issued permits rose in the last ten years.

Some two million Moroccans were the largest group in the EU in 2019, and over a million Turks, Uranians and Chinese spent some time in the bloc.

The 868,000 of Albanians were the largest foreign group from the Western Balkans in the EU in 2019, while Serbia’s citizens held the 10th place.

The most favoured destination for foreigners was Germany, Italy, France and Spain. In those four countries, 71 percent of all foreigners legally resided in 2019.

The main reasons for residential permits were family reunification in 38 percent of the cases, then employment, education, but also migrant status and other forms of protection.

Source: Link