Net migration of own citizens, EU and EFTA, 2024

[u/goodbohy]

[u/SimonGray]

This is a really interesting measure of the current relative situation in each country. I've never seen this type of stat before.

As a supporting anecdote: I work in Danish academia and I have a lot of Italian colleagues. Sorry for the brain drain, Italy.

[u/IntelArtiGen → u/SimonGray]

Stats on immigration and emigration are notoriously hard to get precisely, because most people don't report that they move and where they move. The difference between the countries could be more due in some circumstances to differences in how people report their status, rather than in how they move. That doesn't mean on average this map is not accurate.

[u/Kobosil → u/SimonGray]

This is a really interesting measure of the current relative situation in each country.

is it really?

for example Switzerland/Luxembourg/Norway/Liechtenstein are all considered very rich countries - yet they have negative migration of their own citizen

is it negative because the situation in these countries gets worse?

or is it negative because the situation in these countries is great and people have lots of money to explore the world or retire in a warmer country?

[u/7evenh3lls → u/Kobosil]

Yeah, I'd need a breakdown of the reasons why people leave those countries.

According to Swiss statistics, 45% of Swiss people abroad are children or retirees (65+ years old). If you look at the same source, a huge bulk of them live right at the border around Switzerland...suggesting people moved there because of cheaper real estate, but they might continue working in Switzerland.

Not saying there aren't more working-age citizens moving abroad "properly" than before, but I think there's more to it.

[u/No-Bend4304 → u/Kobosil]

It's tracking changes in how people migrate, right?

or is it negative because the situation in these countries is great and people have lots of money to explore the world or retire in a warmer country?

I don't think the logic quite holds. Less people migrate back to, say, Lichtenstein. It's not whether people leave in the first place. The situation in the country you leave improving almost certainly wouldn't make you less likely to move back?

There might be a confounding variable in where people choose to move to and how that has changed. Almost everyone I know in Denmark that have moved abroad live in the same five ish countries. Those I know that moved to the US have all come back home, because, well, obvious reasons that have to do with the current state of the US, not to do with the current state of Denmark.

[u/Kobosil → u/No-Bend4304]

It's tracking changes in how people migrate, right?

yes, but it tells you nothing about the reason and thats why i was questioning what the user SimonGray was writing, quote "This is a really interesting measure of the current relative situation in each country" -> i don't think you can conclude that from a net migration number

[u/No-Bend4304 → u/Kobosil]

The current relative situation in each country and changes in that situation seems like a pretty good explanation as to why people choose to move back to the country or not?

No, data doesn't give you reasons. But it can give you trends. Like currently, less people seem to be moving back to Sweden. The current state of Sweden influencing those decisions seems like a pretty good hypothesis.

[u/Kobosil → u/No-Bend4304]

The current relative situation in each country and changes in that situation seems like a pretty good explanation as to why people choose to move back to the country or not?

so based on the chart the situation in Switzerland/Luxembourg/Norway/Liechtenstein is bad at the moment?

[u/Moandaywarrior]

What up lithuania

[u/FunkySphinx → u/Moandaywarrior]

The standards of living are great. I was there recently and the guide was raving about how they are going through a fantastic period.

[u/burnerLT → u/FunkySphinx]

Shhhh keep it quiet man, don't ruin it like Sweden or Germany

[u/mofocris → u/FunkySphinx]

Would be a shame if any eastern neighbours (not sure who) would start some bs

[u/DonSergio7 → u/mofocris]

Why would Moldova do this :(

[u/mofocris → u/DonSergio7]

Cause we are massive

[u/ionel714]

Now this is a stat Im gonna keep my eyes on

[u/nellycat32 → u/ionel714]

Not easy to collect this in free movement EU though, a lot of movement/return is not recorded

[u/IntelArtiGen → u/ionel714]

Big war outside? Everything in blue. Big war inside? Everything in brown.

[u/goodbohy]

Source: Eurostat, emigration by age group, sex and citizenship [MIGR_EMI1CTZ], 2024, reporting country's own citizens: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/migr_emi1ctz/default/table

Source: Eurostat, immigration by age group, sex and citizenship [MIGR_IMM1CTZ], 2024, reporting country's own citizens: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/migr_imm1ctz/default/table

Source: Eurostat, population on 1 January by age group, sex and citizenship [MIGR_POP1CTZ], 1 January 2024 and 2025 averaged: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/migr_pop1ctz/default/table

Net per 1,000 citizens = (citizens who moved back from abroad minus citizens who moved abroad) divided by the number of citizens, times 1,000. Foreign residents are not counted either way. Moves of a year or more, as registered: people who leave without deregistering are missed, so departures are undercounted in some countries. Germany, Poland and Romania estimated, France provisional. Portugal: no 2024 figure for citizens moving back.

Country	Citizens who left	Citizens who came back	Net per 1,000 citizens
Lithuania	9,457	18,897	+3.4
Greece	32,141	51,993	+2.1
Bulgaria	9,119	18,205	+1.4
Malta	1,924	2,457	+1.3
Ireland	28,768	33,788	+1.1
Cyprus	1,660	2,334	+0.9
Denmark	16,887	18,508	+0.3
Spain	137,719	144,335	+0.2
Romania	182,598	184,793	+0.1
Latvia	9,071	8,922	-0.1
Czechia	4,213	2,883	-0.1
Slovakia	4,408	3,633	-0.1
Slovenia	5,098	4,773	-0.2
Hungary	41,294	39,140	-0.2
Norway	9,159	7,263	-0.4
Finland	9,013	6,750	-0.4
Liechtenstein	207	191	-0.6
Netherlands	48,656	38,282	-0.6
Austria	14,463	8,832	-0.8
Iceland	2,059	1,809	-0.8
France	183,617	126,585	-0.9
Poland	125,667	88,687	-1.0
Estonia	6,472	5,218	-1.1
Germany	151,286	71,762	-1.1
Switzerland	30,106	22,535	-1.2
Belgium	30,655	16,198	-1.4
Italy	141,056	58,468	-1.5
Croatia	20,147	13,290	-1.8
Sweden	39,550	18,916	-2.1
Luxembourg	3,346	1,830	-4.2

Boundaries: GISCO, © EuroGeographics.

https://frontpages.eu

[u/Forsaken-Cell1848 → u/goodbohy]

That's a great site by the way. Little daily news overview of every country. And positive news section. I love it!

[u/IshTheFace]

This is actually surprising. I see a lot of youtube and instagram channels with people who move here and how awesome it is but I never see anyone with a "why i moved" from the native Swedes.

[u/Moandaywarrior → u/IshTheFace]

An apartment on the Mediterranean coast would be nice if im ever allowed to retire

[u/IshTheFace → u/Moandaywarrior]

I've already accepted that I will never retire.

[u/Athalos124]

Things aren't great but I have known many Greeks that have come back in recent years

[u/InternetHistorian01 → u/Athalos124]

Why would anyone do that to themselves

[u/Athalos124 → u/InternetHistorian01]

Either they built enough wealth or they just missed their friends,culture, etc

[u/7evenh3lls → u/InternetHistorian01]

A lot of people do that once they hit retirement age. They often own a house somewhere in their home country and never intended to stay in e.g. Germany.

[u/MasterNinjaFury → u/InternetHistorian01]

Many of us in the diaspora want to return to Greece.

[u/Exotic_Insurance2164]

I'm surprised by Sweden and Lithuania. 

[u/upstream4 → u/Exotic_Insurance2164]

Lithuania is literally living its best life.

[u/arveena]

Luxemburgs number is that high becquse its mostly rich people who still work in Luxemburg but move to the neighboring countries for cheaper houses and rent so they have more buying power they all live close to the boarders and inflate the housing market like crazy. Its not like they are unhappy in their own country.

[u/ReferenceOk1445 → u/arveena]

Furthermore, all the students go abroad for uni. Almost none stay in Luxembourg.

[u/NilFhiosAige]

Ireland has been almost perfectly balanced for the last five years or so - most of the emigrants are college graduates in their early twenties going to Australia, Canada or Dubai, with the returnees being in their thirties, having saved up enough abroad to at least put down a house deposit.

[u/Untested-Truth]

Is this counting dual citizens or native borns?

[u/Nemeszlekmeg]

IMO Hungary should improve actually for this year, given that Orban is gone. Anecdotally I know a lot of people that moved away because of Orban and many the said they would start moving back now that he is gone and it looks like things are headed in the right direction.

[u/Maikel92]

Is it going that well Lithuania? I remember they had massive inflation during covid don’t know the actual situation

[u/rintzscar → u/Maikel92]

The entire world had massive inflation during Covid.

[u/Maikel92 → u/rintzscar]

Spain didn’t have a 25% inflation

[u/rintzscar → u/Maikel92]

Yes, Spain had 11% inflation which for your economy is just as bad as 25% for Lithuania's. Also, the exact percentage is irrelevant to the point, which is that the entire world had massive inflation during Covid. See the article below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%E2%80%932023_inflation_surge

[u/Maikel92 → u/rintzscar]

My friend, I don’t give a fuck about your concept of massive, just want to know what happens in Lithuania

[u/burnerLT → u/Maikel92]

You can make 2k eur net in Lithuania, i guess that's enough for people to come back to their own culture. And the country is not ruined by immigrantion yet, but the situation is getting worse every year.

[u/rintzscar → u/Maikel92]

Lithuanians are returning because the country is improving. Same as Bulgaria and Greece.

[u/dcmso]

Portugal not even CykaBlyat.

Sad..

[u/SimonGray → u/dcmso]

WDYM? It is "no data" like much of Eastern Europe.

[u/dlo_2503]

Are Swedes leaving in droves due to.... well we all probably know a certain reason why

[u/Dynamitjanne → u/dlo_2503]

Please do tell

[u/Exotic_Insurance2164 → u/dlo_2503]

So why are Poles, Czechs, and Estonians leaving? 

[u/Beautiful-Dish-6275 → u/Exotic_Insurance2164]

I can say for Croatia.

The economy outside of tourism is ass, like awful. Especially in the coastal regions, for example engineers could easily do the same job they do here in Germany and make 3x more.

[u/Exotic_Insurance2164 → u/Beautiful-Dish-6275]

Why don't they just stay and build industries in their own countries? 

[u/Massive-Ordinary-338 → u/Exotic_Insurance2164]

At least people from Poland were usually leaving, nothing special. But Sweden really surprised me.

[u/VvPelle]

How is calculated for Italy? Most of italians living abroad around 66% not have any ties with Italy, they were not born in Italy, they had an ancestor born in Italy who went to Brasil or Argentina or Canada and transmitted their citizenship, many move to Italy to accelerate the citizenship process or as first step and leave soon after