Migration

Migration

1. Along with natural change, migration also affects the size and age of the population. Migration is the movement of people from place to place, and can be internal or international. Immigration refers to movement into a society, and emigration refers to movement out of a society. Net migration refers to the difference between the number of immigrants and the number of emigrants, and is expressed as a net increase or a net decrease due to migration. In the UK, for most of the 20th century, there were fewer immigrants than emigrants. However, this changed in the 1980s.

   • From 1900 until World War II, the largest immigrant group were the Irish, followed by Eastern and Central European Jews, and people of British descent from Canada and America. Very few immigrants were non-white. However, during the 1950s, black immigrants from the Caribbean began to arrive in the UK, followed during the 1960s and 1970s by South Asian immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and by East African Asians from Kenya and Uganda. One consequence is a more ethnically diverse society; by 2011, ethnic minority groups accounted for 14% of the population. As a result, there has been a greater diversity of family patterns.
     • However, more people left the UK than entered it, and most immigrants were white, matching the prior statistics of the early 20th century. Despite this, a series of immigration and nationality acts from 1962 to 1990 placed severe restrictions on non-white immigration. By the 1980s, non-whites accounted for little more than a quarter of all immigrants, while the mainly white countries of the EU became the main source of settlers in the UK.
       • From as early as the mid-16th century until the 1980s, the UK was almost always a net exporter of people. Since 1900, emigrants have gone to countries such as America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The main reasons for emigration have been economic. These economic reasons for migration contrast with those of some other groups, who may have been forced to migrate due to religious, political or racial persecution. Reasons for leaving a home country are referred to as ‘push factors’, while reasons for moving to a particular country are referred to as ‘pull factors’.

2. In recent years, there has been an increase in both immigration and emigration. These trends affect the size of the population, its age structure and the dependency ration.

   • The UK population is currently growing, partly as a result of immigration. Net migration is high: in 2014, there were 583,000 immigrants compared to only 323,000 emigrants. 47% of these immigrants were non-EU citizens and 38% were EU citizens, while the remaining 14% were British citizens returning to the UK. Alongside this net migration, there is also a natural increase, with births exceeding deaths. However, births of UK born mothers remain low, and births of non-UK born mothers account for about 25% of all births. Having said that, the birth rate remains below the replacement level of 2.1 per woman – without net migration, the UK’s population would be shrinking.
   • Immigration lowers the average age of the population. It does this directly, as immigrants are typically younger than the average age, and indirectly, as by being younger, these immigrants are more fertile and thusly produce more babies.
   • Immigration has three effects on the dependency ratio: (1) Immigrants are more likely to be of working age, helping to lower the dependency ratio. Furthermore, many migrants opt to return to their home country for their retirement. (2) However, because they’re younger, immigrants are producing more children, thereby increasing the dependency ratio. That said, over time these children will join the labour force and help to lower the ratio once again. (3) Finally, the longer a group is settled in the country, the closer their fertility rate comes to the national average, reducing their overall impact on the dependency ratio.