Record. The number of immigrants residing in the European Union has reached an unprecedented level in 2025, according to a study published this Wednesday by the Center for Research and Analysis on Migration at RFBerlin. There are now 64.2 million, or around 2.1 million more than a year earlier. The report, which is based in particular on data from Eurostat and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, puts into perspective a continuous increase since 2010, when the EU had around 40 million immigrants.
Germany remains the continent’s leading receiving country, with nearly 18 million people born abroad, 72% of whom are of working age. Spain, for its part, is experiencing the fastest growth, with around 700,000 additional arrivals, bringing its immigrant population to 9.5 million. “Germany remains the main destination for migrants in Europe, both in absolute terms and, to a large extent, relative to its population”underlines Tommaso Frattini, one of the authors of the study, to Reuters.
Regularizations in Spain
The document also highlights significant disparities within the Union, with certain states such as Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus displaying particularly high proportions of immigrants in relation to their total population. Asylum requests also remain concentrated in a few countries. Spain, Italy, France and Germany alone represent almost three quarters of applications filed in the EU. Germany remains the leading country receiving refugees, with 2.7 million people protected.
These developments are not without provoking reactions within the political class. National Rally deputy Matthias Renault denounced on social networks a phenomenon that he considers massive, evoking “64 million first generation immigrants in the European Union”either “25 million more than in 2010”and approximately “a seventh of the EU population”. Meanwhile, Spain announced a plan to regularize 500,000 illegal foreigners. The president of the Republicans Bruno Retailleau strongly criticized this decision on LCI, believing that it is “contrary to the European spirit”. He even mentioned the idea of putting Spain “banned from European nations” in the event of continuation of such a policy, fearing a pull effect towards France.
