1.3 million Europeans live in one country, but work in another (statistics on mobility in Europe)

Did you know that among the half a billion people living in the EU, 8% do not have the nationality of their country of residence? Also, 1.3 million Europeans live in one country, but work in another, and 1.7 million EU students study abroad.

People in today’s Europe are on the move more than ever before, be it due to migration, education, work or tourism, according to the latest figures on the mobility of people in Europe included in the new digital publication “People on the move – statistics on mobility in Europe”, issued yesterday (9 July) by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Mobility in Europe

The publication is divided into four chapters:

– European melting pot describes people entering and exiting the EU Member States. You will find there data on the nationality of EU residents, migration, and people acquiring citizenship and getting residence permits.

– Studying and working abroad gives an overview of students studying abroad, commuters who cross the borders of their country or region to go to work, and the employment situation of non-nationals of EU Member States.

– Trains, planes and automobiles focuses on how people travel to work and elsewhere – is it by car, train or bus? The chapter shows how many cars we have in the EU and how old they are, and looks at the number of people travelling by plane and by ship. You will also find out which passenger airports and ports are the busiest in the EU.

– Out and about focuses on tourism. It describes whether people travel for work or leisure, where they go, where they stay and how much they spend.

Working abroad

Not only studying abroad but also working abroad has become more and more common in the EU. Looking closer at the employment situation of the three different groups of people by citizenship, the employment rate for those with a citizenship of another Member State than the one they were living in was 77 % in 2018, compared with 74 % for nationals and 59 % for non-EU citizens.

In thirteen Member States each, the employment rate was either highest among nationals or among those with a citizenship of another EU Member State. In contrast, in Romania and Slovakia, the employment rate was highest for non-EU citizens.

The employment rates of nationals ranged from 60 % in Greece to 85 % in Sweden in 2018, for those from another EU Member State they ranged from 54 % in Greece to 95 % in Lithuania, and for non-EU citizens, the rates varied between 43 % in Belgium and 82 % in Czechia.

8.3 % of employed in the EU are non-nationals

Another way of looking at employment by citizenship is by the share of non-nationals in total employment. In the EU in 2018, the share of other EU citizens (those with a citizenship of another Member State than the one they were living in) in total employment was 4.1 % and for non-EU citizens 4.2 %. Going more in detail, by sector, the shares were 4.0 % for other EU-citizens and 4.3 % for non-EU citizens in the service sector, 4.5 % and 3.9 % respectively in the industrial sector and 2.5 % and 3.4 % respectively in agriculture.

Among the Member States, the shares differed with the largest share in total employment of other EU citizens in Luxembourg (49.4 %), followed by Ireland (12.8 %) and Cyprus (11.4 %), while for non EU citizens the largest proportions were found in Estonia (13.1 %), Malta (9.4 %) and Cyprus (7.6 %).

In the service sector, the largest shares of other EU nationals were found in Luxembourg (48.1 %), Ireland (12.6 %) and Cyprus (10.7 %) and of non-EU citizens in Estonia (10.3 %), Malta (9.4 %) and Cyprus (7.6 %).

For industry, over half of employed in Luxembourg (61.9 %) were other EU citizens working in this sector, followed by Ireland (15.4 %) and Cyprus (14.9 %). For non-EU citizens in this sector, the highest shares were observed in Estonia (20.7 %), Malta (9.8 %) and Greece (8.6 %).

Within the agricultural sector, Denmark (11.7 %) had the highest share of other EU citizens, followed by the United Kingdom (8.8 %) and Cyprus (7.6 %). For non-EU citizens, on the other hand, the largest shares in this sector were observed in Cyprus (19.1 %), Spain (14.7 %) and Italy (12.2 %).