The results of the latest population projections released by Eurostat (EUROPOP2004) are summarised in this paper. According to the Baseline variant of the Trend scenario, over the next two decades the total population of the EU25 is expected to increase by more than 13 million inhabitants. Population growth in the EU25 until 2025 will be mainly due to net migration, since total deaths in the EU25 will outnumber total births from 2010. The effect of net migration will no longer outweigh the natural decrease after 2025, when the population will start to decline gradually. The proportion of the population of working age (between 15 and 64) is expected to decline sharply in the long run while the proportion of elderly people (aged 65 and over) will rise substantially throughout the whole projection period. Decline and ageing of the population are thus the main outcomes in the Baseline variant of this scenario.

keywords: population projections, variants, European Union population, population growth, working age population, age dependency ratio, ageing.