Net migration plus statistical adjustment in the EU

How it is measured

Eurostat does not count migrants for this figure. It takes the change in a country's population over the year and removes the births and deaths. What is left is net migration plus a statistical adjustment. The adjustment can include corrections to the population figures and any other change that births, deaths, immigration and emigration do not explain. Errors in the population figures therefore pass into it.

Countries count different populations. Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden report the registered population. Germany uses another definition. The other EU countries report the usually resident population, and Finland is listed under both the usually resident and the legally resident population. Belgium and Germany count births and deaths in the registered population, and France uses another definition for them.

While countries' revisions are being processed, the EU figure may not exactly match the sum of the countries.

France's figures include an adjustment by France's statistical institute. Population figures from 2016 on are not comparable with earlier ones after a change in the census questionnaire, and the adjustment allows a comparison over time. A second adjustment, introduced in 2026, covers the years from 2020 on, for changes in the census collection and the effects of the health crisis. Both are part of net migration plus statistical adjustment.

France's figures cover the whole country, with its overseas departments. Mayotte has been included since 2014.

Since 2016, Estonia has determined its usually resident population with a residency index, from signs of life in several registers. Its population figures include migration from 2012 on, and did not before.

A region's figure also counts people who moved to or from another region of the same country. A country's figure counts no moves between its own regions. The two are therefore different measures.

The regions of a country may not add up exactly to the country's figure. Some people and events cannot be placed in a region, and countries match their regional estimates to the national total in different ways. Some revisions after a census exist only for the country's figure.

Provisional figures

Provisional values (flag p) may still change. Eurostat publishes its first estimates of a year's population change in July of the following year, and countries may confirm or update them in its data collection in December. This concerns Belgium (2025), Cyprus (2025), France (2023–2025), Greece (2025), Italy (2025), the Netherlands (2025), Poland (2019), Romania (2025), Spain (2025) and the EU (2019, 2023–2025).

A provisional value (flag p) may still be revised. This concerns the regions of France (2024).

Revisions

Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Portugal revised their population figures between the 2011 and 2021 censuses. The revisions were published by the end of 2024. Net migration in this dataset is computed from these population figures.

Breaks in the series

Portugal's population estimates from 2022 come from administrative sources, and those up to 2021 are based on the censuses. Comparisons between a year up to 2021 and a year from 2022 are affected. Portugal sent revised figures for 2022 to 2025 in June 2026.

A break in the series (flag b) means that a value is not fully comparable with the years before it. This concerns Czechia (2021), Germany (2022–2023), Latvia (2023), Poland (2020–2021), Portugal (2022) and the EU (2020–2023).

Estimates

A value with flag e is an estimate, not measured or counted in full. This concerns Greece (2025), Poland (2019–2020), Romania (2019–2025), the regions of Romania (2024) and the EU (2019–2025).