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Contenu The population of the European Union![]() Reading the graph This graph presents the population of the European Union, from its initial formation, through successive enlargements, up to the present day. Population increase in Europe is due mainly to external growth In early 1973, three new countries - United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland (population 64 million) - joined the six founding members of the European Community, raising the population from 192 to 256 million. The enlargement process then continued in successive stages. Greece joined in 1981 (population 10 million), Spain and Portugal in 1986 (49 million), and in 1990 the reunification of Germany brought a further 16 million citizens into Europe. The next enlargement was in 1995, with the accession of Sweden, Austria and Finland (22 million), followed in 2004 by ten new members: Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Cyprus and Malta (74 million). The most recent entrants are Bulgaria and Romania, which joined the EU in 2007 (29 million). Sources The updated data of this graph are taken from Population & Societies 398, written by Alain Monnier in 2004, an issue which also gives the population pyramids of the 25 EU member countries in that year. The populations of European countries, along with other demographic indicators, are available on the Eurostat website: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat The INED website features a database of information on developed countries: http://www.ined.fr/en/pop_figures/developed_countries/situation/ Last update : December 28 2010 |