Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Out of the more than 400 million inhabitants that make up the total population of the European Union, during 2021, human resources in science and technology (HRST) in the European Union amounted to 117.2 million people; Of these, 74.0 million were working in science and technology, 93.1 million had an educational background in science and technology, and 49.8 million met both criteria (otherwise referred to as core HRST).
The highest HRST populations were recorded in some of the most populous regions in the European Union in 2021: Ile-de-France (4.7 million HRST) and Rhône-Alpes (2.1 million) in France; also Catalonia and Madrid in Spain; Comunidad de Madrid and Cataluña (both 2.3 million) and Andalusia (2.0 million) in Spain; and Lombardy in Italy (2.0 million).
There were 25 regions that employed more than 980,000 people at HRST. Apart from the regions mentioned above, the rest of this group was mainly located in Germany and France, although it also included several regions in other member states, including four other capital regions.
The population of the European Union decreased in 2021, for the second year in a row, due to the ongoing repercussions of the Corona epidemic, according to figures published by “Eurostat”, at a time when the center’s experts warned that the future decline in the population or growth in the European Union depends to a large extent on immigration factor.
Last July, the European Statistics Office said that the total population of the 27 member states of the European Union decreased from 447 million on January 1, 2021 to 446.8 million on January 1, 2022, a decrease of about 172,000 people.