The term “migrant” encompasses distinct statistical realities depending on whether we measure the stock of foreign residents, the share of people born outside the country, or the annual flow of entries. Identifying the European country that hosts the fewest migrants requires choosing a precise indicator; otherwise, comparisons lose all relevance. Several EU member states show very low proportions, but not always the same ones depending on the criterion used.
Stock of residents, annual flows, place of birth: three distinct measures of migration
The most common confusion in public debate is treating as equivalent indicators that measure different phenomena. The stock of foreign nationals counts individuals living in a country without holding its citizenship at a given moment. The share of people born abroad also includes those who have been naturalized since their arrival.
The annual immigration flow measures new entries over a given period, whether or not related to the population. A country may have a low stock but a recent increasing flow, as shown by the case of the Czech Republic, which had over one million registered foreign nationals at the end of March 2025.
To analyze immigration in Europe according to Pays de Bécherel, these distinctions are central: a ranking based on nationality will place certain countries at the bottom, while a ranking by place of birth will designate others.
Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland: European countries with the lowest proportions of migrants
Several sources converge to locate a small group of Central and Eastern European countries at the bottom of the scale. Slovakia appears as the country with the lowest share of the population born outside the European Union. This result, derived from comparative data published by averageperson.eu, only measures the non-European place of birth.
Romania, Bulgaria, and Poland also rank among the member states with the lowest proportions of residents born abroad, according to a synthesis based on OECD data. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Luxembourg stands out with one of the highest proportions of foreign residents in Europe.
Why these Eastern European countries show such low figures
Several structural factors explain this situation. These states have long been net emigration countries: their nationals moved to Western Europe for economic reasons. The local labor market, wage levels, and the absence of significant diasporic communities limit attractiveness for non-European migrants.
- Restrictive migration policies, particularly in Poland and Hungary, reduce legal pathways for permanent settlement.
- The absence of a colonial past removes a historical migration channel that feeds flows to France, the UK, or the Netherlands.
- The language barrier plays a concrete role: Slovak, Romanian, or Bulgarian are not widely taught as foreign languages globally.
Immigration rate per thousand inhabitants: France’s position in the European Union
The French case illustrates the gap between perception and data. France ranks among the EU countries with the lowest immigration rate, significantly below the European average.
Insee confirms this relative position: the share of foreigners in the French population remains lower than that observed in Germany, Spain, Austria, or Belgium. The European Union as a whole has about six percent of foreign nationals residing within its territory.
An indicator that doesn’t tell the whole story
A low immigration rate relative to the population does not mean a low absolute number of entries. France, due to its demographic size, hosts a significant number of people each year. Bringing this volume down to a population of several tens of millions produces a low ratio.
The comparison with smaller countries like Malta or Cyprus confirms this: these states have immigration rates per thousand inhabitants that are much higher than those of France or Germany, while absolute volumes remain modest.
Asylum applications and irregular crossings: another angle on migrant reception in Europe
Asylum applications are a complementary indicator, but they only cover a fraction of migration flows. The majority of people arriving in Europe do so for professional or family reasons, rather than through an asylum procedure.
Central European countries like Slovakia or Romania receive very few asylum applications in proportion to their population. Their geographical position, away from the main Mediterranean and Atlantic migration routes, contributes to this low exposure.
Regular flows versus irregular flows
Narrowing the question of migrant reception to only irregular crossings skews the understanding. Residence permits issued for work, study, or family reunification make up the majority of titles granted in almost all member states. A country that “hosts few migrants” in terms of asylum applications may host more through legal channels, and vice versa.
The choice of indicator determines the answer. If we consider the share of the population born outside the EU, Slovakia stands out. If we focus on the annual immigration rate relative to the population, France ranks among the lowest in the Union. No single ranking summarizes the complexity of European migration flows, and it is precisely this plurality of measures that makes the subject difficult to summarize in a single figure.
