Two new thematic stories in the Atlas of Demography focus on return migration as well as depopulation and brain drain.

Depopulation and ageing are two intertwined factors affecting the future of Europe and particularly its rural areas where 30% of the total EU population live.

Youth mobility has a major impact on demographic change. Many young people leave their home towns or home countries in search of study or work opportunities. As a result, while some regions are thriving thanks to the inflow of younger people, others are lagging behind.

This ‘brain drain’ effect does not concern rural areas only; small and middle sized urban areas, and entire countries can be depopulating too.

Reversal in intra-EU migration trends

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A new thematic story published in the Atlas of Demography shows that the share of EU citizens of working age living in another Member State increased from 2.9% in 2011 to 4.1% in 2019.

The increase was higher for some Member States, including Romania where the share of the Romanians living in another Member State went from 14% in 2011 to 23% in 2020, Bulgaria which experience an increase from 7% to 11% between 2011 and 2020, and Poland with an increase from 4% to 9 % between 2011 and 2020.

Then, after ten years of a constantly increasing trend in the overall number of EU mobile citizens, the trend was inverted in 2020, when the share of EU citizens living in another Member State dropped for the first time since 2011.

Impact of COVID-19 and Brexit

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For the first time since 2011, the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit have triggered a decrease in the overall number of migrants within the EU.

The new data story shows that several EU countries, and in particular Bulgaria, recorded a rising number of returning migrants in 2020.  

Since 1990s, almost 30% of all migratory flows were made of returning migrants, and the share was even higher for EU countries (40% between 2015 and 2020).

The changes triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit and the high number of returning migrants have highlighted the key role of migrants in the EU economies on the one hand, and the temporary nature of migration on the other.

The stories of the Atlas of Demography aim to help identify risks and opportunities linked to demographic change in the EU and facilitate the development of EU policies which increase our demographic resilience.