Many European nations today have sizeable immigrant populations, both of European and non-European origin.
The European Commission defines immigration as the action by which a person from a non-EU country establishes his or her usual residence in the territory of an EU country for a period that is or is expected to be at least twelve months.
According to European Commission statistics, in 2022, the countries with the highest number of immigrants were Germany (2 million), Spain (1.2 million), Turkey (500,000), France (431,000), and Italy (411,000).
Illegal immigration and asylum-seeking in Europe from outside the continent has been an issue for decades. For years, immigrant numbers were relatively manageable, but they began to rise substantially in 2013.
In 2023, people from up to 150 countries sought asylum in the EU. More than 380,000 irregular border crossings were registered, an 18% increase on 2022. There were also 270,366 sea crossings, up 64% on 2022, but land border crossings were at 115,079, down 29%.
In recent decades, European attitudes towards immigration has become more negative on the whole. This is partly down to populist and far-right politicians. However, attitudes towards immigrants did differ between European countries.
