60% of migration flows in the EU are made up by people coming from third countries, i.e. outside the European Union, while the remaining 40% is made up of people moving from one country to another within the 27 member states. A new demographic survey by Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, takes stock of the phenomenon, using the latest available and comparable final information from 2006. In that year, "approximately three million foreign immigrants settled in a EU member state. Such immigrants can be divided into two groups, depending on their nationality", states the survey: citizens of one member state who moved their permanent residence to a different country are 1.2 million, i.e. 40% of the overall movement; those of other countries are 1.8 million, i.e. 60%. People coming from third countries are equally divided into Asia, Africa, America and other non-EU European countries. In 2006, "the largest groups of immigrants in the 27 members atates explains Eurostat were Poles (about 290 thousand people), followed by Rumanians (230 thousand), Moroccans (140 thousand), British, Ukrainians, Chinese and Germans". (continued)
