17 million Europeans live year-round in the EU's outermost regions.

Omissions

• The correct order of magnitude is about 5 million inhabitants (European Commission: 'Home to 5 million people'; EP fact sheet: 'Around five million people live in the outermost regions'), i.e. roughly a third of the claimed 17 million.
• The 17 million figure does not correspond to the resident population of the outermost regions under any standard definition, including when the associated Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) are added.
• The claim could conceivably conflate the outermost regions with another statistical universe (e.g. EU citizens residing in another Member State, or island/coastal populations), but no source supports 17 million as the year-round population of the outermost regions.

Sources

• PrimaryEuropean Commission – press release: A new strategic vision for the outermost regionsToday, the European Commission adopted a Communication setting out ... outermost regions and their 5 million people, but Europe as a whole.
• PrimaryEuropean Commission – Realising the potential of the EU's outermost regionsHome to 5 million people, the EU's outermost regions - French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion, Saint-Martin (France), the ...
• SecondaryEuropean Parliament – Fact Sheets on the European Union: Outermost regions (ORs)Around five million people live in the outermost regions, some of which have experienced significant population growth owing to inward migration ...