Countries by Foreign-Born Share of Working-Age Population (Ages 15–64), 2024
Which EU Countries Have the Highest Foreign-Born Working-Age Shares?
Luxembourg has the highest foreign-born share of the resident population aged 15–64 in the European Union, followed by Malta and Cyprus. The indicator includes residents born in another EU member state and residents born outside the EU.
This is a 2026 snapshot based on the latest comparable official country comparison for 2024. Coverage is limited to the EU-27 so that every country is compared using the same definition, reference year and source framework. Higher values rank higher, but the direction is descriptive rather than a measure of better performance.
The table is a compiled research dataset based on one European Commission country comparison and two supporting Eurostat datasets. Row-level source and method notes are shown in the ranking table. All 27 entries are historical observations; no forecasts or modeled projections are used.
Reference date: 2024. Publication reviewed: European Commission, November 17, 2025. Data checked: July 23, 2026. Country shares are shown as whole percentages because the official comparison publishes them graphically rather than as labelled unrounded country values.
Luxembourg has the largest foreign-born share among the EU-27 countries.
Poland has the lowest share in the published 2024 comparison.
The EU benchmark combines 12.6% born outside the EU and 4.4% born in another EU country.
Every EU member state shown in the official comparison is included.
Official observations / official forecasts / modeled projections.
How the Foreign-Born Share Is Defined
The indicator compares the number of foreign-born residents aged 15–64 with the total resident population in the same age group. A person is foreign-born when the country of birth differs from the current country of residence. Citizenship is not used to determine this status.
The European Commission divides the foreign-born working-age population into two groups: people born in another EU member state and people born outside the EU. The ranking combines those components to show the total share born abroad.
This is a population-composition measure. It does not show how many foreign-born residents are employed, unemployed or economically inactive, and it does not measure immigration during 2024 alone.
Countries included
The ranking covers the EU-27 only. Non-EU countries are excluded because they are not part of the same European Commission comparison and may use different statistical definitions, reference dates or publication methods.
Top 10 EU Countries by Foreign-Born Working-Age Share
Luxembourg stands well above the rest of the EU ranking. Malta and Cyprus form the next tier, while Austria, Sweden and Ireland each have foreign-born shares of approximately one quarter or more.
Top 10 confirmed EU-country entries, 2024
| Rank | Country | Share | Source / method note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luxembourg | 60% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 2 | Malta | 40% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 3 | Cyprus | 33% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 4 | Austria | 27% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 5 | Sweden | 26% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · temporary-protection coverage caveat applies. |
| 5 | Ireland | 26% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 7 | Belgium | 24% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 8 | Spain | 23% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 8 | Germany | 23% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 10 | Portugal | 21% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
Equal displayed values share the same rank. The table contains ten confirmed country rows and does not use projected 2025 or 2026 values.
Top 20 EU Countries Compared With the EU Benchmark
The bars show the foreign-born share of residents aged 15–64. The orange marker represents the 17% EU-27 benchmark. The EU figure is a weighted aggregate, not a simple average of the country percentages.
How the Countries and Values Were Compared
This compiled research dataset uses the European Commission’s 2024 country comparison as the primary ranking source. Eurostat’s population-by-country-of-birth table and proportion table provide the supporting definitions, dimensions and data framework.
Metric
Foreign-born residents aged 15–64 divided by all residents aged 15–64. The foreign-born population includes people born in another EU country and people born outside the EU.
Unit and direction
Unit: percent. Countries are ordered from the largest share to the smallest. A higher rank describes population composition and does not represent better policy performance.
Reference year
Every ranked row refers to 2024. The page is described as a 2026 snapshot because the latest publication and data availability were reviewed in July 2026.
Coverage
All 27 EU member states shown in the European Commission chart are included. The EU-27 aggregate is a benchmark and is not ranked as a country.
Rounding
Country totals are shown as whole percentages because the primary source presents them as plotted bars without labelled unrounded values for each country.
Missing values and conflicts
No country value was imputed, averaged with another source or projected forward. Values from different years or citizenship-based indicators were not mixed into the ranking.
Calculation
Inclusion rules
- Included: EU member states shown in the official 2024 comparison.
- Included: residents born in another EU country or outside the EU.
- Excluded: non-EU economies and observations from other years.
- Excluded: citizenship shares, employment rates, annual migrant inflows and asylum applications.
- Excluded: forecasts and modeled 2025 or 2026 estimates.
Temporary-protection caveat
The European Commission notes that some countries, including Poland, Slovakia and Sweden, did not include displaced people from Ukraine benefiting from temporary protection in their most recent population and migration statistics. Their recorded shares may therefore be lower than under fully harmonised coverage.
What the indicator does not measure
The ranking does not measure employment success, labour-force participation, wages, fiscal impact, integration outcomes, irregular migration or the domestic-born children of immigrants.
Full Ranking of All 27 EU Countries
Use the controls to search for a country, compare positions with the EU benchmark, sort the values or limit the table to the first 10 or 20 rows. All entries remain visible when JavaScript is unavailable.
EU countries ranked by foreign-born share of residents aged 15–64, 2024
| Rank | Country | Share | Source / method note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luxembourg | 60% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 2 | Malta | 40% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 3 | Cyprus | 33% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 4 | Austria | 27% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 5 | Sweden | 26% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · temporary-protection coverage caveat. |
| 5 | Ireland | 26% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 7 | Belgium | 24% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 8 | Spain | 23% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 8 | Germany | 23% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 10 | Portugal | 21% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 11 | Netherlands | 20% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 12 | Denmark | 18% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 12 | Slovenia | 18% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 14 | Estonia | 16% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 14 | France | 16% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 16 | Italy | 15% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 16 | Greece | 15% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 18 | Croatia | 14% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 19 | Finland | 13% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 20 | Czechia | 12% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 21 | Latvia | 9% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 21 | Lithuania | 9% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 23 | Hungary | 8% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · whole-percentage chart value. |
| 24 | Slovakia | 3% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · temporary-protection coverage caveat. |
| 24 | Bulgaria | 3% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 24 | Romania | 3% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · tied after whole-percentage rounding. |
| 27 | Poland | 2% | Official · European Commission / Eurostat · 2024 · temporary-protection coverage caveat. |
Compiled research dataset using the European Commission comparison and supporting Eurostat tables. Values are historical 2024 observations shown as whole percentages; no forecasts, projections or mixed-year estimates are included.
What Stands Out in the EU Ranking
Key Insight
Luxembourg is the clear leader at about 60%. Its foreign-born working-age share is approximately 20 percentage points higher than Malta’s.
Notable Pattern
Thirteen member states are above the 17% EU aggregate. The middle country in the ordered table is Estonia at approximately 16%.
Upper-Ranking Concentration
Six of the first ten positions belong to member states with populations substantially smaller than those of Germany, France, Italy or Spain.
Largest Gap
The difference between Luxembourg and Poland is approximately 58 percentage points, showing how strongly country patterns differ inside the EU.
How to Interpret the Results
A high foreign-born share indicates that migration and intra-EU mobility account for a substantial part of the country’s resident working-age population. It does not reveal whether those residents arrived recently or have lived in the country for many years.
Percentage rankings can also make small countries appear especially prominent. A comparatively modest number of residents can represent a large share of the working-age population in Luxembourg, Malta or Cyprus, while larger countries may have more foreign-born residents in absolute numbers but lower percentages.
The table is not an integration or labour-market performance score. Employment, wages, skills, housing conditions and public-service outcomes require separate indicators.
Values for Poland, Slovakia and Sweden need additional caution because the source identifies differences in the inclusion of displaced people from Ukraine benefiting from temporary protection.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which EU country has the highest foreign-born working-age share?
Luxembourg ranks first at approximately 60% of its resident population aged 15–64, followed by Malta at about 40% and Cyprus at about 33%.
Why does a 2026 snapshot use 2024 values?
The page uses the latest complete and comparable official EU-country comparison available for this indicator. It does not relabel the 2024 observations as 2026 values.
Does foreign-born mean foreign citizen?
No. Country of birth and citizenship are different characteristics. A person born abroad may later acquire the citizenship of the country of residence.
Does the ranking include only employed residents?
No. It covers the full resident population aged 15–64, including employed, unemployed and economically inactive people.
Why are the country values shown as whole percentages?
The primary European Commission comparison presents the country totals as bars rather than labelled unrounded figures. Whole percentages avoid implying unsupported decimal precision.
Does a higher share mean a country performs better?
No. The ranking describes population composition. Labour-market and integration outcomes must be evaluated with separate evidence.
Sources
This compiled research dataset uses one primary European Commission comparison and two supporting Eurostat datasets.
European Commission: Migration, Mobility and the EU Labour Market
Primary source for the 2024 country comparison, the EU benchmark and the temporary-protection coverage note.
https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/migration-mobility-and-eu-labour-market_en
Eurostat: Population by Age, Sex and Country of Birth
Supporting official dataset for the population counts and country-of-birth structure used in the Commission calculations.
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/product/page/MIGR_POP3CTB
Eurostat: Proportion of Population by Country of Birth
Supporting official percentage dataset for checking the indicator’s age, sex, country-of-birth and geography dimensions.
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/demo_poppcctb/default/table?lang=en
