Between 2019 and 2050, Malta is expected to see a 35.4% increase in overall urban population, the highest among European Union countries, Eurostat statistics show.
Populations are projected to grow in almost three out of five urban regions of the European Union (EU), whereas they are likely to shrink in four out of five rural regions by 2050.
This information comes from the latest population projections of regional demographic patterns across EU countries and the analysis of results from the urban-rural typology perspective.
Malta is followed by Ireland (29.2%) and Sweden (25.1%) when it comes to increase in overall urban population. The smallest increase is expected to be in Croatia, with a 2.3% increase.
On the other side of the spectrum, the overall urban population is projected to decrease in nine EU Member States: Bulgaria (-1.4%), Portugal (-1.6%), Hungary (-1.7%), Lithuania (-2.7%), Italy (-3.1%), Romania (-8.6%), Poland (-10.3%), Greece (-16.7%) and Latvia (-17.7%).
Over the same period, the overall rural population is projected to increase in just four EU Member States: Ireland (+24.5%), Sweden (+10.9%), Denmark (+1.2%) and Belgium (+1.0%).
Apart from this, 20 Member States are projected to record declines in their overall rural populations, ranging from -43.5% in Lithuania to -0.6% in Austria. Significant declines of more than 20 % are also projected in Latvia’s rural population (-37.6%), as well as the rural populations in Bulgaria (-26.8%), Romania (-25.0%) and Croatia (-23.3%).