Immigration to Europe

Immigration to Europe has a long history, but increased substantially after World War II. Western European countries, especially, saw high growth in immigration post 1945, and many European nations today (particularly those of the EU-15) have sizeable immigrant populations, both of European and non-European origin. In contemporary globalization, migrations to Europe have accelerated in speed and scale. Over the last decades, there has been an increase in negative attitudes towards immigration, and many studies have emphasized marked differences in the strength of anti-immigrant attitudes among European countries.^[1]

Beginning in 2004, the European Union has granted EU citizens freedom of movement and residence within the EU, and the term "immigrant" has since been used to refer to non-EU citizens, meaning that EU citizens are not to be defined as immigrants within the EU territory. The European Commission defines "immigration" as the action by which a person from a non-EU country establishes his or her usual residence in the territory of an EU country for a period that is or is expected to be at least twelve months. Between 2010 and 2013, around 1.4 million non-EU nationals, excluding asylum seekers and refugees, immigrated into the EU each year using regular means, with a slight decrease since 2010.^[2]

According to the Financial Times, in 2022, through the OECD, the countries with the highest share of foreign born population and people with at least one foreign born parent were: Switzerland with 47% (31% foreign born and 16% people with one foreign born parent) followed by Sweden with 31% (21% foreign born and 10% with one foreign born parent), Austria 30% (18% foreign born and 12% with one foreign born parent), France 27% (12% foreign born and 15% with one foreign born parent), the United States 26% (14% foreign born and 12% with one foreign born parent), Belgium 25% (14% foreign born and 11% with one foreign born parent), Germany 24% (16% foreign born and 8% with one foreign born parent) and the United Kingdom with 23% (13% foreign born and 10% with one foreign born parent.^[3]