The European Union population increased last year by around two million to 510.1 million, largely due to the influx of refugees and migrants into the 28-nation bloc, the EU statistics agency said Friday. Also for the first time, the EU recorded more deaths than births among the population. During 2015, some 5.2 million inhabitants of the EU died while there were 5.1 million babies born.
That means the EU recorded for the first time ever "a negative natural change of its population," Eurostat said in a statement. Nevertheless, the population grew last year from 508.3 million a year earlier because of the arrival of some 1.9 million refugees and migrants into Europe, mainly from the war-torn Middle East, creating the biggest migration crisis since World War II. There were 1.2 million demands for asylum in the EU last year, double the number filed in 2014, Eurostat said. Germany remains the most populous state in the bloc, followed by France and Britain. The highest birth rates were seen in Ireland, France and Britain, with the lowest in Italy, Portugal and Greece.