In 2019, 20.3% of the EU population was aged 65 years or over; this was 0.3 percentage points higher than a year before and 2.9 percentage points higher than the corresponding share from a decade earlier. This article looks into the elderly population across EU regions, older people being considered at higher risk from the coronavirus.

Across the EU Member States, the highest share of the elderly in the total population in 2019 was observed in Italy (22.8%), followed by Greece (22.0%), Portugal and Finland (21.8% each), Germany (21.5%) and Bulgaria (21.3%). The lowest shares were recorded in Ireland (14.1%) and in Luxembourg (14.4%), Eurostat data showed.

At regional level, the highest shares of elderly people were found in Chemnitz (28.9%) in Germany, followed by Liguria (28.5%) in Italy, Ipeiros (27.0%) in Greece, Limousin (26.7%) in France and Sachsen-Anhalt (26.5%) in Germany. The lowest shares were recorded in Mayotte (2.7%) and Guyane (5.8%) in France and in Ciudad Autónoma de Melilla (10.7%) in Spain.