Healthy birth rate is EU’s fifth highest

CYPRUS has the fifth highest birth rate in the EU according to statistics released by Eurostat.

Last year 11.8 births per 1,000 people were recorded on the island, putting Cyprus in fifth position in the EU for births.

Ireland was first with 15.7 per thousand, next came the UK with 13.7, France in third with 12.6, Sweden in fourth with 11.9 followed by Cyprus with 11.8.

At the other end of the scale was Germany with 8.4 births per 1000 people, followed by Portugal with 8.5, Greece and Italy with nine and Hungary with 9.1 according to Eurostat.

The countries with the largest natural population growth were Ireland with 9.5 per 1,000 people, followed by Cyprus with 5.2, Luxembourg with four and France and the UK with 3.8.

Natural population growth happens as people are born into a country, and decrease as people die.

On January 1 of this year the population of the 28 nations in the EU came to 505.7 million while in Cyprus it was 865,900 and in Greece eleven million.

Last year the number of foreign national from third countries within the EU increased by 882,200. Their numbers decreased in Greece by 44,200 and in Cyprus by 600. The largest increase in population were recorded in Germany which saw 391,000 foreign nationals arrive, second was Italy with 369,700 and third the UK with 148,700.

On January 1 of this year the country with the largest population in the EU was Germany with 80.5 million, France in second with 65.6 million, the UK was third with 63.9 million and Italy in fourth with 59.6 million. The countries with the smallest population were Malta with 421,400, Luxembourg with 537,000 and Cyprus 865,900.

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.