Almost 20 million Europeans live in another EU country for work or are temporarily posted abroad by their employer.

Omissions

• The 'almost 20 million' figure aggregates three distinct and methodologically different categories: long-term intra-EU movers (~14 million), cross-border/frontier workers (~1.9 million) and posted workers (~3.6 million); the same individuals are not necessarily mutually exclusive across categories, and the figure is a stock/flow mix rather than a single homogeneous count.
• The Commission's Annual Report on intra-EU labour mobility (2024 edition) puts the number of working-age EU citizens (aged 20-64) living in another Member State at around 10 million, which is lower than the ~14 million 'live or work long term' figure used in the 2026 Communication — the higher figure reflects a broader definition and should be flagged.
• The claim reproduces the European Commission's own headline framing from the Fair Labour Mobility Package, so it reflects the institution's presentation rather than an independently derived statistic.

Sources

• PrimaryEuropean Commission — Communication on the Fair Labour Mobility Package (Placeholder)Today, around 14 million EU citizens live or work long term in another Member State, alongside 1.9 million cross-border workers and 3.64 [million posted workers] (sum ≈ 19.5 million, i.e. 'almost 20 million').
• PrimaryEuropean Commission — 'Commission proposes ambitious measures to strengthen fair labour mobility'Commission news item of 15 September 2026 presenting the Fair Labour Mobility Package (the policy package that frames the 'almost 20 million' mobile workers figure).
• PrimaryEuropean Commission — Annual report on intra-EU labour mobility 2024The number of working age EU citizens living in another Member State remains stable, at around 10 million persons aged 20-64.
• PrimaryEuropean Commission — Cross-border work in the EU and EFTA countriesIn the EU and the EFTA around 1.8 million workers regularly cross a country border when going from their place of living to their place of work.