New data released by the European Union statistical office, Eurostat, indicates that almost 920,000 British citizens held a valid residence permit in EU countries as of the end of 2025. This figure positions Britons as the 7th largest group of non-EU nationals residing within the bloc, trailing behind citizens from Morocco, Turkey, Ukraine, China, Syria, and India.
For context, the total number of non-EU citizens holding residence permits across the EU at the conclusion of 2025 stood at 27.8 million.
Eurostat began tracking residence permits issued to British nationals in 2021, coinciding with the end of the transition period following the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union and the subsequent termination of the free movement of people.
While these statistics reflect the total number of permits held at the end of 2025, it is noted that many British citizens may have returned to the UK since 2021, while others have opted to naturalize in EU countries that permit dual citizenship.
The British population is heavily concentrated in specific regions, with nearly three-quarters of the total residing in three countries. Spain leads the list with 409,000 residents, representing 44 percent of the total, followed by France with 172,000 (19 percent) and the Netherlands with 92,000 (10 percent). Other nations host significantly smaller British communities, including Germany (50,100), Italy (21,200), Denmark (17,400), Sweden (13,400), and Austria (9,600).
Within the broader European Economic Area, Norway accounts for 14,000 residents, while Switzerland hosts 37,600, marking a decrease from 42,200 in 2021.
The vast majority of these permits—approximately 738,700 or 80 percent—were categorized under "other reasons." This designation typically encompasses retired individuals, diplomats, those under international protection, and, significantly, documents issued under the EU-UK withdrawal agreement for citizens living in the EU prior to Brexit. Spain alone recorded 348,000 permits in this category, followed by France (157,000), the Netherlands (59,000), Portugal (43,000), and Germany (39,000).
Other countries in this category include Italy (16,900), Denmark (14,300), Austria (8,800), Poland (6,200), and Sweden (3,500). In Switzerland, 22,800 UK citizens held permits for these reasons, with 9,800 in Norway.
Other permit categories represent smaller portions of the population. Employment-related permits account for 94,800 or 10 percent of the total. The Netherlands and Spain collectively issued more than half of these, with 26,500 and 28,800 respectively, followed by France (8,900), Switzerland (7,700), Germany (4,500), Sweden (4,500), Norway (2,500), Denmark (1,700), Italy (1,050), and Austria (330).
Family-related residency was granted to 67,400 individuals (7 percent), with Spain leading at 24,200, followed by the Netherlands (5,000), Sweden (4,800), France (4,300), Germany (4,000), Italy (3,000), Denmark (1,100), Austria (360), Switzerland (6,200), and Norway (1,500).
Education-related permits comprise less than 2 percent of the total, amounting to 16,600, with Spain serving as the top destination for students (8,200), followed by France (1,800) and Bulgaria (1,600).
Britons were the 7th largest group of non-EU nationals residing in the EU, the data show, after Moroccan, Turkish, Ukrainian, Chinese, Syrian and Indian citizens.
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