In total, 453,920 people were ordered to leave an EU country in 2024, a 4 per cent increase compared to the 435,685 in 2023, an analysis of Eurostat data for The Local shows.
The figure was 124,935 in the last three months of the year, an increase by 16 per cent compared to the same period in 2023.
France tops the table
France topped the European table for being the country that ordered the largest number of non-EU citizens to leave - 128,250 in 2024, although that figure represented a decline compared to the 137,880 in 2023.
Germany followed, with 57,080 orders to leave in 2024. Although that was a 27 per cent increase compared to 44,625 in 2023. Spain ordered 51,030 non-EU nationals to leave in 2024, more than a four-fold increase compared to the 10,645 in 2023. These three countries made up more than half of all the orders to leave issued by EU member states last year.
In comparison, Italy ordered 27,975 people to depart in 2024, Belgium 26,075, the Netherlands 19,075, Sweden 17,015 and Denmark 2,170. Among other European countries, Norway expelled 3,640 people in 2024, compared to 4,035 in 2023, and Switzerland 8,465 compared to 3,920 the previous year.
Countries of origin
The number of British citizens ordered to leave EU countries in 2024 remained stable, compared to previous year, at 1,075.
The highest numbers were recorded in the Netherlands (275) and Sweden (190). Norway, not an EU country but part of the free movement Schengen area, also ordered 190 British national to leave its territory last year.
In the last three months of 2024, most people ordered to leave the territory of an EU country were citizens of Algeria (11,362), followed by Syria, Morocco, Afghanistan and Türkiye.
During the same period, 28,630 persons were returned to non-EU countries following the issuing of an order to leave, an increase by 24 per cent over the same period the previous year. Germany, France and Sweden reported the highest numbers.
Georgians, Turks and Albanians were the largest groups of non-EU citizens returned outside EU in the last three months of 2024.
Overall, more than half of returns (57 per cent) concerned people who left voluntarily, while 43 per cent were forced. In Italy and Romania all the reported returns were enforced, while in Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, more than 90 per cent were recorded as voluntary, Eurostat reports.
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