How many Nigerians moved to Europe in 2025?

32,039 Nigerian citizens received a first residence permit in one of the 27 EU countries in 2025, according to Eurostat (data updated on 22 October 2026). That is 115 fewer than in 2024 (32,154), a change of −0.4%. The most went to Germany (7,812), Italy (7,205) and France (2,299). Another 565 received one in Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland. Outside the EU and EFTA, in 2025, 16,360 Nigerian citizens became permanent residents of Canada (IRCC), and the UK granted Nigerian citizens 50,203 work, study and family visas (Home Office).

First residence permits in the EUNigerian citizens · 2025

27 EU countries · Nigerian citizens · 2025: 32,039 first residence permits

32,154in 2024

−0.4%change on 2024

565Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland (+33.6%)

13European countries with 500+ permits

By reason: family 13,092 (40.9%), other reasons 8,767 (27.4%), education 6,219 (19.4%), work 3,961 (12.4%).

Source: Eurostat, First permits by reason, length of validity and citizenship (migr_resfirst), data updated on 22 October 2026, downloaded on 28 October 2026 (definitions). First residence permits, persons. Re-use: Eurostat copyright notice (free re-use with acknowledgement, CC BY 4.0).

What this number is, and what it is not

• It is the number of Nigerian citizens who received a residence permit in an EU country for the first time in 2025: a permit valid for at least 3 months, for family, education, work or other reasons. A permit also counts as "first" when the person had none for the same reason in the 6 months before.
• It is not a count of moves: some people who receive a permit never move, or leave soon after, and someone who received permits in two countries is counted in both.
• It leaves out Nigerians who also hold an EU passport (the statistics cover non-EU citizens only), stays shorter than 3 months and renewed permits.
• It is not the number of Nigerians living in an EU country, which is much larger.

Ireland: PPS numbers by month

Ireland also publishes a monthly count by nationality: 1,746 PPS numbers allocated to Nigerian citizens from January to September 2026, 3,121 in 2025 (Department of Social Protection, data to September 2026). A PPS number is not a count of arrivals.

How many Nigerians moved to Ireland: PPS numbers month by month

Source: Department of Social Protection (Ireland), Annual Allocations: PPS Numbers (gov.ie, page updated on 21 October 2026): PPSN registrations by year, month and country and by year and country (CSV, downloaded on 30 October 2026), data to September 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0 (data.gov.ie).

How many Nigerians moved to each EU country in 2025

First residence permits issued to Nigerian citizens, by EU country, from the most. Tap a column heading to sort. Countries with at least 500 permits in 2025 have their own page.

Source: Eurostat, First permits by reason, length of validity and citizenship (migr_resfirst), data updated on 22 October 2026, downloaded on 28 October 2026 (definitions). First residence permits, persons. Re-use: Eurostat copyright notice (free re-use with acknowledgement, CC BY 4.0).

b = Eurostat marks a break in the time series in 2025 for Portugal: the change from 2024 may partly reflect a change in how permits are counted. u = Eurostat marks the 2025 figures for Ireland as having low reliability.

Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland

Source: Eurostat, First permits by reason, length of validity and citizenship (migr_resfirst), data updated on 22 October 2026, downloaded on 28 October 2026 (definitions). First residence permits, persons. These four countries are not in the EU total. Re-use: Eurostat copyright notice (free re-use with acknowledgement, CC BY 4.0).

Nigerians moving to the EU, year by year (2019–2025)

Source: Eurostat, First permits by reason, length of validity and citizenship (migr_resfirst), data updated on 22 October 2026, downloaded on 28 October 2026 (definitions). First residence permits, persons. EU-27 = the 27 current EU countries in every year. Eurostat revises past years when countries correct their data. Re-use: Eurostat copyright notice (free re-use with acknowledgement, CC BY 4.0).

Canada and United Kingdom

Canada and the UK publish different figures, so they are not added to the European total: Canada counts new permanent residents by citizenship; the UK counts work, study and family visas granted.

Questions people ask

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Other nationalities

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