What country has the youngest population in Europe?

The median age of the EU’s population stood at 44.7 years as of 1 January 2024, according to Eurostat.

This indicates that the median age across the bloc has increased 2.2 years since 2014, when it stood at 42.5 years.

Ireland boasts the youngest population in the European Union, on average, at 39.4 years, followed by Luxembourg (39.7 years), Malta (39.8 years), Cyprus (40.6 years) and Sweden (41.0 years), the data showed.

The oldest population, meanwhile, is in Italy, at 48.7 years on average, followed by Portugal (47.1 years), Bulgaria (47.1 years), Greece (46.9 years) and Spain (45.6 years).

Read more: What will be Europe’s most densely-populated city by the end of this century?

Increase in median age

Increases in median age were recorded in all EU countries, except for Malta, which saw its average age fall by 0.7 years, and Germany, which was down 0.1 years.

The most significant increase in median age was seen in Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Slovakia, where the median age rose by four years. Cyprus, Spain, and Poland followed closely with increases of 3.8 years.

According to the data, the median age of the native-born population in each European country was 45.1 years, two years higher than the median age of foreign-born residents, which stood at 43.1 years. Read more here.

Median age of population by EU member state, 2024