Einar H. Dyvik
Research expert covering Nordics and global data for society, economy, and politics
EU Enlargement - statistics & facts
Since its founding in 1957, the European Union has grown in size from six member states to 27 today, with the main waves of enlargement being in 1973, 1981-1986, 1995, and 2004-2013. As of 2025, nine countries have been granted candidate status and are undertaking accession talks. The future expansion of the Union is one of the most controversial topics in European policy today, with the European Commission seeing the integration of the remaining countries of south-eastern Europe into the bloc as an imperative to secure peace and stability on the continent, while euroskeptics are critical of this process, highlighting political instability and democratic backsliding in many candidate countries, that have sometimes led to the suspension of accession talks.
