European Union member states issued 2.3 million first residence permits to non-EU citizens in 2014, official data showed on Tuesday.
The number was slightly lower than in 2013 and down by nine percent compared with 2008, Xinhua news agency cited Eurostat, EU's statistics agency as saying.
People from Ukraine, the US, China and India were the main recipients. A third of all new residence permits issued in the EU in 2014 were issued to citizens of these four countries.
Non-EU citizens were given residence permits for varied reasons: family, education, employment and others, according to Eurostat.