Immigration pumps up Cyprus population growth

BY THE end of this year, the population of Cyprus is expected to be close to 802,000, following a 15 per cent increase in 2008, nearly 12 per cent of which was due to migration, and only 3.8 per cent to natural cycles.

Cyprus had a crude birth rate of 10.4 per cent in 2008 and a death rate of 6.6 per cent, which means the population grew 3.8 per cent.

Migration, at 11.7 per cent, was the fourth highest in the EU after Luxembourg with 11.9 per cent, Slovenia 12.6 per cent and Ireland 14.1 per cent.

Net migration in the EU on average was 3.3 per cent, while a number of member states recorded negative migration trends. These included Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Most of the other member states had migration levels of less than five per cent.

Cyprus’ birth rate hovered around the EU average of 10.8, but the island’s death rate at 6.6 per cent was the second lowest in the bloc after Ireland’s 6.1 per cent. The EU’s average death rate was 9.7 per cent.

Countries with a higher death rate than the average included Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden and several of the new member states.

By January 1, 2009, the EU will have a population of 499.7 million, and the population of the euro zone area will be 328.6 million.

The population is expected to have increased in 20 member states and decreased in seven by the end of the year. Overall, the EU27’s population grew by 4.4 per cent in 2008. Natural growth was 1.1 per cent and migration 3.3 per cent.

The highest birth rates were in Ireland at 18.1 per cent, the UK 13.0 per cent, France 12.9 per cent, and Estonia 12.2 per cent.

The highest death rates in 2008 were in Bulgaria, with 14.2 per cent and Latvia with 14.0 per cent.

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.