New statistics on EU

The European Union has released the latest statistics on its demographic situation. There are 379.4 million inhabitants of the European Union, according to the latest statistics issued by Eurostat, regarding the population of the 15 member states of the E.U. on 1st January, 2002.

The figure shows a demographic growth of 410,000 people during 2001, compared with an increase of 380,000 in the previous year. The number of immigrants decreased slightly from 1,070,000 in 2000 to 1,050,000 in 2001. The final result was an increase of 1,460,000 inhabitants in the EU during 2001. John ASHTEAD PRAVDA.Ru London, UK