Age patterns of net migration and urbanisation dynamics across European municipalities

Across the European Union (EU) Local Administrative Units (LAUs), populations are experiencing persisting differences in their age structures that can only be interpreted accounting for migration and mobility components. Yet, in the absence of census data, migration patterns of local populations are not available from EU-official statistics. To fill the gaps, we firstly combine census data with statistics available from the National Statistical Institutes of the EU-Member Sates in a harmonised database on age-specific population structures, covering all EU-LAUs for the period 2011−2019. Secondly, we apply model life tables to assess changes by cohort over the intercensal period and provide estimates of age-specific net migration rates at LAU levels. The analysis reveals how migration dynamics vary along demographic patterns and to what extent differences are related to the degree of urbanisation and territorial characteristics (distance from city centres, remoteness, population change, GDP per-capita and poverty level) across the EU municipalities.