Eurostat breaks the year-on-year change in a country's population into two crude rates, each expressed per 1,000 people so countries of different sizes compare fairly.
Net migration rate — arrivals minus departures (plus a small statistical adjustment), per 1,000 population. A positive figure means more people moved in than out.
Population change rate — the total change in population per 1,000, combining net migration with natural change (births minus deaths).
Why it matters
Across most of the EU, natural change has turned negative — more deaths than births — so net migration is now the main thing keeping populations from shrinking. Population is the denominator behind per-capita prosperity and the working-age base that funds pensions and healthcare, which makes these rates a quiet but powerful driver of the public finances tracked elsewhere on this site.
These are demographic accounting rates, not a judgement. We show the figure; the interpretation is yours.
Source: Eurostat demographics (demo_gind), annual.