European Immigration Trends

The European Commission defines an immigrant as a person from
outside the European Union who establishes residency in an EU country for at
least 12 months.  Immigration to Europe reached its peak during the 2015 migrant
and refugee crisis, when over 1 million asylum seekers and economic migrants
entered the continent. 

Today, statistics
show that immigration
to Europe has
decreased dramatically, likely due to immigration reforms such as
strengthened borders in the Balkans, the EU and Turkey refugee agreement, and
new arrangements between Italy and Libya.  Despite this, immigrants still have a
large presence in the EU: In January 2018, 22.3
million people (4.4%) of the 512.4 million people living in the EU were not
citizens.  The number of immigrant arrivals is expected to rise again soon,
prompting more discussions about increased immigration and the effects on the EU. 

Reasons
for Immigration to the European Union

Violence, poverty, war, and economic depression are the biggest
reasons for the increase in immigration to the EU, with most people migrating
from the Middle East and Africa.  According to the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, the top three countries of origin for people
immigrating during the 2015 migrant crisis were Syria (46.7%), Afghanistan
(20.9%), and Iraq (9.4%). 

Asylum, the protection granted by a foreign state to people unable
to seek protection in their home country, is a substantial reason for increased
immigration to Europe.  The Syrian Civil War led more than 919,000 Syrians (a large
portion of Syria’s original population) to apply for asylum in the EU between
2014 and 2017.  Germany is the country that granted asylum to the greatest
number of refugees, followed by France, Italy, and Austria. 

Where
People Are Immigrating to in Europe

Germany has the largest number of immigrants and non-nationals
living in their country out of all 28 EU member states, reporting 9.7 million
immigrants in January 2018.  The United Kingdom has the second highest number of
immigrants at 6.3 million, followed by Italy with 5.1 million, France with 4.7
million, and Spain with 4.6 million. 

The number of citizenships granted to an EU Member State in 2017
was 825,400, a 17% decrease from 2016.  Italy granted the highest number of
citizenships in 2017 to 146,600 people, followed by the United Kingdom with
123,100, Germany with 115,400, France with 114,300, and Sweden with 68,900. 

Immigration’s Effect on the European
Job Market

In most cases, a spike in population increases the number of people in the workforce and creates jobs in response to a greater demand for goods and services.  Under the right circumstances, population booms can lead to economic prosperity.  The effect of immigration on the European job market depends on the skills of the immigrants, the skills of resident workers, and the characteristics of each specific economy.  Immigrants attempting to integrate into the European job market face obstacles like limited language proficiency, a lack of knowledge about the job market, and difficulties finding jobs with their skill sets.  As a result, immigration is generally expected to affect low-skilled jobs the most, creating greater competition in industries that require less specialized skill sets or in-depth communication.  Going forward, Europe will continue to ensure immigrants and non-nationals of any socioeconomic background and with any experience level will find their place in the workforce through labor market integration efforts. 

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