logo
EU population hits record 450 million on another migration boost, World News

EU population hits record 450 million on another migration boost, World News

AsiaOne3 days ago
Migration into the European Union pushed its population to a record 450.4 million people last year, offsetting a natural population decline for the fourth straight year, EU data released on Friday (July 11) showed. Why it matters
Since 2012, the EU has recorded more deaths than births annually, making migration the sole driver of population growth.
The trend highlights Europe's demographic challenge as an aging population and low fertility rates strain welfare systems and create labour shortages. By the numbers
The bloc added 1.07 million inhabitants in 2024, with positive net migration of 2.3 million people compensating for a natural population decline of 1.3 million as deaths (4.82 million) continued to outweigh births (3.56 million).
Germany, France and Italy remain the bloc's most populous countries, accounting for almost half of the total EU population with 47 per cent.
While 19 EU countries recorded population increases in 2024, eight saw declines.
Malta recorded the highest growth rate at 19.0 per 1,000 people, followed by Ireland (16.3) and Luxembourg (14.7).
Among countries with declining populations, Latvia was the steepest (-9.9), followed by Hungary (-4.7), Poland and Estonia (both -3.4).
The bloc's population has grown from 354.5 million in 1960, though growth rates have slowed significantly from 3 million annually in the 1960s to 0.9 million during 2005-2024. Key quotes
"The observed population growth can be largely attributed to the increased migratory movements post-Covid-19," EU statistics arm Eurostat said. Context
Population in the 27 member states had declined during the Covid-19 pandemic.
[[nid:638542]]
Some European governments have also tightened border controls amid public concerns over migration even as irregular border crossings dropped 38 per cent in 2024 to their lowest level since 2021.
Belgium, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands have all introduced temporary border checks over the past year and a half, straining the EU's passport-free Schengen zone.
The EU also rolled out a revamped migration system last year aimed at reducing irregular arrivals and speeding up asylum procedures.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

ECB to test banks' resilience to geopolitical risk in 2026
ECB to test banks' resilience to geopolitical risk in 2026

Business Times

timean hour ago

  • Business Times

ECB to test banks' resilience to geopolitical risk in 2026

[FRANKFURT] The European Central Bank will test banks' resilience to geopolitical risk next year, telling them to come up with scenarios that would wipe out large chunks of their capital, chief ECB supervisor Claudia Buch said on Tuesday (Jul 15). The ECB has long warned that geopolitics is one of the biggest risks for eurozone banks amid conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as the trade war stoked by US President Donald Trump. It will now assess banks' preparedness to that type of risk, but with a twist: in typical stress tests, banks are given scenarios and must calculate how much capital would be wiped out under each. In this exercise, however, the ECB will hand out levels of capital depletion and tell banks to come up with scenarios that could cause them. 'In the 2026 thematic stress test exercise, we will follow up on this year's stress test by asking banks to assess which firm-specific geopolitical risk scenarios could severely impact their solvency,' Buch told the European Parliament. Supervisors have been telling banks for months to prepare for politically motivated disruption, including a global dollar drought if the Federal Reserve withdraws its lifelines. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Next year's exercise will be part of banks' self-evaluation of their capital needs, known in regulatory jargon as the Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (ICAAP). The ECB runs thematic health checks on eurozone banks every other year, that is when there is no European Union-wide stress test by the European Banking Authority. Its latest, in 2024, was about cyber-resilience. The results of the EBA's latest stress test, which includes some US tariffs in its adverse scenario, will be announced in early August. REUTERS

Egypt grand museum delay puts tourism hopes on hold
Egypt grand museum delay puts tourism hopes on hold

Business Times

time2 hours ago

  • Business Times

Egypt grand museum delay puts tourism hopes on hold

[CAIRO] In the shadow of the Grand Egyptian Museum, souvenir shop owner Mona has been readying for the tourist boom she hoped the long-awaited opening would bring, now once again out of reach. 'I had bet everything on this opening,' she said from her shop, just steps from the iconic pyramids of Giza, which the much-anticipated museum overlooks. Originally scheduled to fully open this month, the museum was expected to attract up to five million visitors annually, fuelling optimism across Cairo's battered tourism sector. 'We planned our entire summer and fall packages around the museum opening,' said Nadine Ahmed, a 28-year-old agent with Time Travel tours. 'But with group cancellations, refunds and route changes, we have lost tens of thousands of US dollars.' Though parts of the museum have been open for months, the main draw, the treasures of Tutankhamun, will remain under wraps until the official launch. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up Less than three weeks before its Jul 3 opening, the government announced another delay, this time pushing the landmark event to the final quarter of the year. Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly cited regional security concerns and the desire to host an event of 'global scale'. Decades in the making The vast museum, two decades in the making, has faced repeated delays, from political upheaval and economic crises to the Covid-19 pandemic. Ahead of the expected launch, Mona, who asked to be identified by her first name only, took out a loan to renovate her store and stock up on goods inspired by the museum's collection. A few streets away, Mohamed Mamdouh Khattab, 38, prepared months in advance, hiring and training extra staff and expanding his inventory. 'The opening of the museum is a key milestone,' said Khattab, who owns a sprawling bazaar of handcrafted jewellery and ancient replicas. 'It's a project that should have been launched a long time ago,' said the vendor, whose family has been in the industry since the 1970s. Tourism accounts for about 10 per cent of Egypt's workforce, but the sector has struggled, from the fallout of the 2011 Arab Spring to militant attacks and the Covid-19 shutdown. Still, signs of recovery have emerged: Egypt welcomed 3.9 million tourists in the first quarter of 2025, up 25 per cent from the same period last year, itself a record. Fragility At a Giza papyrus workshop, 30-year-old tour guide Sara Mahmoud hopes the opening will revive visitor numbers. 'Big openings have brought a lot of tourism to Egypt before,' she said, pointing to the 2021 Pharaohs' Golden Parade and the reopening of the Avenue of the Sphinxes. 'These events get people excited, we saw the crowds coming in.' Such momentum could make a real difference, said Ragui Assaad, an economist at the University of Minnesota. 'Any initiative that directly increases foreign exchange earnings is likely to have a good return on investment,' he said. 'If you compare it with all the other mega-projects, which do not increase foreign exchange earnings... this is a far better project.' He was referring to a sweeping infrastructure drive under President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, including the construction of a massive new administrative capital east of Cairo. The stakes are high: since 2022, Egypt's currency has lost two-thirds of its value, squeezing household budgets and straining every layer of the economy. 'There were days when I sold just one bracelet,' Mona lamented, thinking back to the years when 'tourists arrived in droves'. AFP

Eroding US exceptionalism will impact world economy
Eroding US exceptionalism will impact world economy

Business Times

time2 hours ago

  • Business Times

Eroding US exceptionalism will impact world economy

GLOBAL investors have long grown wealthy by following the maxim of never betting against the US economy. Yet, there are growing signs that key foundations of this 'US financial exceptionalism' are eroding in what could be an era-defining moment. Unchecked, the impact could be a dramatically different global financial system for years to come – not only with lower volumes of international trade, but also smaller capital flows, fewer economies of scale for businesses, and slower growth in productivity and living standards worldwide. Longstanding pillars of US financial exceptionalism include institutional integrity, the rule of law, predictable and stable economic policies, central bank independence, deep capital markets, and a core government belief in private enterprise. Underpinning these foundations are the strengths of the US university research system, excellence in science and medicine, traditions of venture capital and entrepreneurship, supportive regulatory and tax structures, and transparent government procurement processes. Global investors also have benefited greatly from US openness to foreign students. Indeed, in recent decades, a very significant portion of all US companies that have gone public with a market capitalisation of more than US$1 billion (so-called 'unicorns') were founded by foreigners who studied at US universities and stayed afterward to become leading entrepreneurs. Over the past decade, this has helped fuel US productivity growth which has increased at more than double Europe's rates. US per capita income is now more than one third higher than European levels, and US equity markets today represent more than half of total global equity valuations. Yet, US financial exceptionalism is today potentially facing its biggest challenge in at least a generation. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up President Donald Trump's attempts to boost domestic manufacturing through imposition of large-scale tariffs is causing major disruption. It is true that some countries engage in 'beggar-thy-neighbour' trade policies that have harmed many workers in industrial countries, including lost manufacturing jobs. However, launching a global trade war is misguided. Instead, policies should promote high value-add US manufacturing jobs, like in transportation equipment, capital equipment, semiconductors, clean energy and chemicals. Tariffs on many low value-add products, including on agricultural products that the US does not grow, make little sense. Meanwhile, vilification of US universities and foreign students in an attempt to undo diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and because of an anti-foreigner philosophy, are misguided. Billions of dollars of government research grants are being cut, and many foreign student visa applications are being blocked. In the immediate future, consequences include sharp losses of important service exports. For example, the US exports roughly US$60 billion each year in education services to foreign students attending US universities – more than corn, wheat and soybeans exports combined. Longer term, there will be fewer discoveries, fewer startup companies formed, and a smaller US financial base. There also are concerns about a reverse brain drain, where highly skilled US-based researchers choose to relocate to their home countries or to other nations offering more favourable conditions for academic and professional growth. The US will always get back up Of course, Trump administration officials predict a golden economic era ahead of renewed, even outsized, US exceptionalism. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, for instance, recently said that 'throw whatever you will at our capital markets – the Great Depression, two World Wars, 9/11, a global recession, the Covid pandemic, or the last few years of sky-high inflation. Each time the American economy gets knocked down, it gets back up again. And it gets back up even stronger than it was before'. This narrative is powerful, and many investors still share it. The US economy has multiple formidable advantages, including high levels of household wealth, a secure supply of energy, and a powerful science and technology base. Nevertheless, global investor scrutiny of US exceptionalism is becoming a significant headwind as the financial foundations of US soft power erode. Not only is US economic growth slowing, but business investment is weakening and key industries, such as energy and sustainable infrastructure, are scaling back projects amidst budget cutbacks and trade uncertainty. Even the oil and gas sector, traditionally a beneficiary of Republican deregulatory policies, is moving sideways with its investment plans. This appears to be largely driven by tariffs whose impact includes increasing costs of new drilling equipment due to higher metal prices. Although US equity markets have rebounded since April, and indeed the Nasdaq and S&P 500 have reached record highs again recently, this recovery may reflect more short-term optimism rather than a fundamental improvement in economic conditions. Many investors may still be underestimating potential risks of heightened policy uncertainty, rising inflation expectations, and weakening consumer confidence. Particularly concerning is the sharp decline in the value of the dollar, which had its worst first half performance in 2025 in around half a century. Many global institutional investors are now reassessing US financial exceptionalism with a view to redeploying more capital back to home markets, including in Europe. The future direction of trade negotiations and tariff deals is still uncertain, but there are strong clues. Only two countries so far, the UK and Vietnam, have secured final agreements with the US. While it is likely that additional deals will be secured, the US Commerce Department is actively researching support for potential Section 232 sector-by-sector tariffs that could be imposed on top of previously announced 'retaliatory' tariffs, which are currently facing court challenges. It seems likely that the president will reach for these tariff tools next. The consequences of reduced US financial exceptionalism include smaller foreign capital flows to the United States and slower US investment spending. Innovative US companies will grow less quickly, and the pace of global productivity growth is likely to slow. Moreover, world living standards are likely to post smaller gains. More capital will flow to other markets, including the UK, EU, Japan and South Korea, and there will be a lower cost of funds in these places. This should spark more innovation and growth in these markets. However, it is not yet clear how potential benefits will net out for these countries, because they also will experience downside effects from a less dynamic US economy. This is not a zero-sum game. Less trade, less confidence in global markets, less innovation, fewer economies of scale, and softer demand from the world's largest economy are likely to reduce prosperity not just in the US, but much of the rest of the world too. Dr Robert Wescott served during the Bill Clinton administration as special assistant to the president for economic policy and as chief economist in his Council of Economic Advisers. Andrew Hammond is a former UK special adviser in the government of Tony Blair.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store