Immigration to Europe

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Immigration to Europe is a phenomenon that has grown dramatically since the end of World War II. Most European nations today (particularly those of the EU-15) have sizeable immigrant populations, many of non-European origin.

Immigrants fall into the categories of migrant/foreign workers (both legal and illegal) and refugees.

Contents

[edit] Immigrant populations

The European countries with the highest proportion of non-native residents are small nations or microstates. In Andorra, immigrants comprise 77% of the country's 82,000 people; in Monaco, they make up 70% of the total population of 32,000; in Luxembourg, immigrants are 37% of the total of 480,000; in Liechtenstein they are 35% of the 34,000 people; and in San Marino they comprise 32% of the country's population of 29,000.</ref>

Switzerland has the highest immigrant population of any European country with more than one and a half million residents, as 23% of its 7.5 million residents are foreign-born. Countries in which immigrants form between 10% and 20% of the population are: Latvia (19%), Estonia (15%), Austria (15%), Ukraine (15%), Croatia (15%), Ireland (14%), Moldova (13%), Germany (12%), Sweden (12%), Belarus (12%), Italy (11,9%),Spain (11%), France (10%) and the Netherlands (10%).[1]

The European countries with the smallest proportion of immigrants are: Albania (2%), Poland (2%),Bosnia and Herzegovina (1%), and Romania (0.5%).

Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Belgium, Russia, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia and the United Kingdom each have a proportion of immigrants between 5% and 10% of the total population.Until the 1970s, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain were primarily sources of emigration, sending large numbers of emigrants to the Americas, Australia and other European countries (notably France, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium). As living standards in these countries have risen, the trend has reversed and they are now a magnet for immigration (most notably from Albania, Romania, Poland, Morocco, Somalia, Egypt and Ukraine to Italy, and from Morocco, Romania, Ukraine, Russia and Latin America to Spain and Portugal).

[edit] History

Further information: historical migration and genetic history of Europe

Prehistorical and historical migrations to Europe include the first colonisation of Europe by Homo sapiens (Cro Magnon) in the Upper Paleolithic, migrations in the wake of the Last Glacial Maximum and the Neolithic Revolution, the Bronze Age Indo-European expansion, the Iron Age Celtic expansion, the Barbarian invasions of the early centuries AD (Germanic and Slavic expansions), the Turkic, Magyar and Mongol expansions of the High Middle Ages, the arrival of the Romani people in the Late Middle Ages, and in more recent times the population movements due to World War II.

[edit] Migration within Europe

As a result of the Schengen Agreement, there is free travel within Europe. Citizens of European Union member states and their families have the right to live and work anywhere within the EU because of EU citizenship but citizens of non-EU states do not have those rights.[2] Most immigrants are from former eastern bloc states to the developed western European states, especially to Italy, Spain, Germany, Britain and Portugal. Noticeably, some countries seemed to be favoured by these new EU member nationals than others. For example, there are large numbers of Poles who have moved to the United Kingdom, Ireland and Netherlands, while Romanians have chosen Italy and Spain.[3] While France and Germany have put in place controls to curb Eastern European migration, Ireland and the UK did not impose restrictions.

From Poland's entry into the EU in May 2004 to the start of 2007, an estimated 375,000 Poles registered to work in the UK, although the total Polish population in the UK is believed to be 750,000. Many Poles work in seasonal occupations and a large number are likely to move back and forth including between Ireland and other EU Western nations.[4]

Another migration trend has been that of Northern Europeans moving toward Southern Europe. Citizens from the European Union make up a growing proportion of immigrants in Spain, coming chiefly from the United Kingdom and Germany. British authorities estimate that the population of UK citizens living in Spain is much larger than Spanish official figures suggest, establishing them at about 1,000,000, about 800,000 being permanent residents. According to the Financial Times, Spain is the most favoured destination for Western Europeans considering to move from their own country and seek jobs elsewhere in the EU.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

[edit] Immigration from outside of Europe

Eurostat data[12] reveal that some EU member states are currently receiving large-scale immigration. The EU in 2005 had an overall net gain from international migration of 1.8 million people, which accounted for almost 85% of Europe's total population growth that year.[13] In 2004, a total of 140,033 people immigrated to France. Of them, 90,250 were from Africa and 13,710 from elsewhere in Europe.[14] In 2005, the total number of immigrants fell slightly, to 135,890.[15] In recent years, immigration has accounted for more than half of Norway's population growth. In 2006, Statistics Norway's (SSB) counted a record 45,800 immigrants arriving in Norway, an increase of 30% from 2005.[16] At the beginning of 2007, there were 415,300 people in Norway with an immigrant background (i.e. immigrants, or born of immigrant parents), comprising 8.3 per cent of the total population.[17]

In 2004 the number of people who became naturalised British citizens rose to a record 140,795 - a 12% increase from the previous year, and a dramatic increase since 2000. Most new citizens came from Asia (40%) or Africa (32%); the largest three countries of origin were Pakistan, India and Somalia.[18] In 2005, an estimated 565,000 migrants arrived to live in the United Kingdom for at least a year, primarily from Asia and Africa,[19] while 380,000 people emigrated from the country for a year or more, chiefly to Australia, Spain and France.[20]

Since 2000, Spain has absorbed around four million immigrants, adding 10% to its population. The total immigrant population of the country now exceeds 4.5 million. According to residence permit data for 2005, about 500,000 were Moroccan, another 500,000 were Ecuadorian, 260,000 were Colombian, and more than 200,000 were Romanian. A 2005 regularisation programme increased the legal immigrant population by 700,000 people that year.[21][22][23][24][25]

Portugal, long a country of emigration,[26] has now become a country of net immigration, from both its former colonies and other sources. By the end of 2003, legal immigrants represented about 4% of the population, and the largest communities were from Cape Verde, Brazil, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, the United Kingdom, Spain and Ukraine.[27]

[edit] Opposition

Main article: Opposition to immigration

Opposition to immigration in Europe is visible, and the issue is among the central political issues in several countries, and increasingly also at European Union level. The anti mass immigration perspective is predominantly nationalist and cultural, rather than economic. A major issue of concern to immigration opponents is that large numbers of immigrants to Western Europe are Muslims, from North Africa, Turkey and the Indian sub-continent, while most ethnic Europeans hold Christian or secular religious views. Prominent populist European opponents of immigration, which include Jörg Haider of Austria, Jean-Marie Le Pen of France, and the assassinated Pim Fortuyn of the Netherlands, have argued that Muslim immigrants are particularly unlikely to assimilate into mainstream European society. Particularly extreme anti-immigration statements may be considered criminal offenses under anti-discrimination statutes, and there are frequent calls for stiff sentences for xenophobic statements and acts in many European countries, as well as by the European Union.

In France, the National Front opposes immigration. Major media, political parties, and a large share of the public believe that anti-immigrant sentiment has increased since the country's riots of 2005. In Germany, a major anti mass immigration political organization is the National Democratic Party. Criticism in the United Kingdom is frequently targeted at the many South Asians, particularly Pakistanis and Indians, who have moved there in recent decades. Current concerns also involve Africans, East Asians, Middle Easterners, and others who have become part of the country's estimated 4.3 million foreign-born residents[28].

Switzerland has a history of anti mass immigration right-wing populism which dates to the early 1970s and the campaigns of James Schwarzenbach. Since the 1990s, the topic has been dominated by the populist Swiss People's Party, led by Christoph Blocher, and associated far right groups like the AUNS.

[edit] By country

[edit] Immigrant populations

Further information: Islam in Europe, Muslims in Western Europe, Hinduism in Europe, and Buddhism in Europe

Approximate populations of non-European origin in Europe (approx. 20 - 30+ million, or 3 - 4% (depending on the definition of non-European origin), out of a total population of approx. 728 million):

  • Turks: 5 million, mostly in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Austria
  • North Africans (Arabs and Berbers): approximately 5 million, mostly in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Sweden
  • Black Africans (including Afro-Caribbeans and others by descent): approximately 5 million, mostly in France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany [29]
  • South Asians: approx. 4 million, mostly in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy.
    • Pakistanis: 1,000,000, in the United Kingdom; in Norway, 60,000.
    • Tamils: 250,000
  • Latin Americans: 2.2 million, with the largest groups in Spain, Italy and Portugal.[30]
  • Armenians (sometimes considered European): 1.5 million
  • Kurds: 1.5 million, mostly in Germany
  • Chinese: 1 million, mostly in France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands
  • Filipinos: 500,000, mostly in the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany
  • Vietnamese: 420,000, mostly in France and Germany
  • Horn Africans: approx. 200,000 Somalis,[31] in the UK, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
  • Assyrians: 130,000?
  • Japanese: 100,000, mostly in the United Kingdom

[edit] References

  1. ^ UN statistics as of 2005, see list of countries by immigrant population.
  2. ^ "Migrants, States, and EU Citizenship’s Unfulfilled Promise" Citizenship Studies 12:6 (2008): 583–596
  3. ^ BBC Europe diary: Romanian emigration
  4. ^ 750,000 and rising: how Polish workers have built a home in Britain.
  5. ^ BBC article: Brits Abroad
  6. ^ BBC article: Btits Abroad Country by Country
  7. ^ Guardian article: Spain attracts record levels of immigrants seeking jobs and sun
  8. ^ Bye Bye Blighty article: British Immigrants Swamping Spanish Villages?
  9. ^ Guardian article: An Englishman's home is his casa as thousands go south
  10. ^ BCC article: 5.5m Britons 'opt to live abroad'
  11. ^ BBC article: More Britons consider move abroad
  12. ^ Eurostat News Release on Immigration in EU
  13. ^ Europe: Population and Migration in 2005
  14. ^ Inflow of third-country nationals by country of nationality
  15. ^ Immigration and the 2007 French Presidential Elections
  16. ^ Immigration to Norway increasing
  17. ^ Immigrant population
  18. ^ BBC Thousands in UK citizenship queue
  19. ^ 1,500 immigrants arrive in Britain daily, report says
  20. ^ Indians largest group among new immigrants to UK
  21. ^ Instituto Nacional de Estadística: Avance del Padrón Municipal a 1 de enero de 2006. Datos provisionales
  22. ^ Immigration Shift: Many Latin Americans Choosing Spain Over U.S.
  23. ^ Spain: Immigrants Welcome
  24. ^ Immigrants Fuel Europe's Civilization Clash
  25. ^ Spanish youth clash with immigrant gangs
  26. ^ Portugal - Emigration
  27. ^ Charis Dunn-Chan, Portugal sees integration progress, BBC
  28. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4220002.stm
  29. ^ France's blacks stand up to be counted
  30. ^ Latin American Immigration to Southern Europe
  31. ^ Youths bring violence from a war-torn land

[edit] See also

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Europe"
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