Bulgaria Third in Immigration to EU Countries 2008

Bulgaria was the country with the third largest of migrants in the European Union in 2008, according to data from Eurostat.

The data from the statistical office of the European Union showed that Romania ranked first, followed by Poland.

In 2008, EU member states received 384,000 citizens of Romania, 266,000 citizens of Poland and 91,000 Bulgarian citizens. In total, the number of migrants to EU member states from other EU nationalities was nearly two million.

The main destinations of Romanian citizens in the EU were Italy and Spain. About 45% of all Polish migrants in 2008 chose to go to Germany.

Bulgaria, together with Romania, Poland, Germany and the three Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia), reported a larger number of emigrants than immigrants, unlike most of the other EU member states.

Germany reported the highest number of emigrants in 2008, followed by the United Kingdom and Spain. Emigration was also important for Romania and Poland.

Citizens of EU member states also immigrated to a different EU country. Immigration by nationals included both returning migrants and citizens from abroad who are immigrating for the first time.

In 2008, the share of nationals among immigrants were highest in Poland (75%), Lithuania (68%) and Estonia(48%).

By contrast, the Czech Republic, Spain, Hungary, Luxembourg, Italy, Slovakia, Cyprus and Slovenia reported very low shares, with nationals making up under 10% of immigrants.

Estimates suggest that the biggest group of non-EU nationals migrating to one of the EU member states in 2008 was formed by citizens of countries in Asia (29%), followed by North, Central and South America (24%).

In total, EU member states received 3.8 million immigrants and at least 2.3 million emigrants are reported to have left one of the EU countries in 2008.

Compared to 2007, immigration to EU member states decreased by 6% and emigration increased by 13%.