At the beginning of 2014, the total population of EU countries was 506.8 million.
Foreign citizens living in EU countries accounted for fewer than 7%, as reported by from official statistics by Eurostat.
Of the total, 472.8 million were nationals of the country and 34.1 million were foreign citizens – 14.3 million were passport carriers of another European country while 19.8 million came from outside the EU.
This means that 93.3% were nationals, 2.8% were from another EU country, and 3.9% were living in but from outside the EU.
People who had acquired citizenship of the country in which they lived were counted as citizens and not as foreigners.
Luxembourg had the highest proportion of foreign citizens (45%) followed by Cyprus (19.5%). In contrast, Poland had the lowest proportion (0.3%).
In Portugal there were 10,427,301 residents of whom 96% were Portuguese. Just 4% were foreigners living in the country. Of these, 1% were from other EU nations while 3% were from non-European countries.
Of the 28 reporting European countries, Portugal had the 9th lowest proportion of foreign residents.
The top five origings of foreigners in Portugal were 92,120 Brazilians, 42,400 Cape Verdeans, 42,000 Ukrainians, 34,200 Romanians and 20,000 Angolans.
Where have Portuguese expats gone? There were 500,000 in France, representing the highest proportion of foreigners in France. In Luxembourg as well the 82,300 Portuguese there formed the highest proportion of foreigners.
The Portuguese do not crop up elsewhere on the proportion chart, although that does not mean they have not gone to many other countries but simply that the number of other foreigners was greater.
Looking at the UK, 92% of its residents were British citizens. The majority of foreigners living there had come from Poland, India, Ireland, Pakistan and Lithuania.
In Germany 91% were German nationals and that bulk of its foreign residents had hailed from Turkey, Poland, Italy, Greece and Romania.
With its sudden influx of non-European refugees, these statistics will no doubt look much different next year.
Brits living abroad account for the highest proportion of foreigners in Malta (6,650), and the second highest proportion in Cyprus (24,000) as well as the second largest in Ireland (115,600).
Brits in Spain were the third highest proportion with 310,000 expats. There were more Romanians and more Moroccans than Brits living in Spain.
In both Denmark and Bulgaria, the British accounted for the fourth highest proportion, with 15,800 and 3,500 respectively.
Nor were Brits shy about going to the Netherlands – 42,300 lived there at the start of 2014, although they only represented the fifth largest group in the land.
