Migration in Europe - Data and Background

The topic of migration is increasingly considered a European issue that calls for analyses beyond national borders. More and more persons and institutions participating in the migration discourse are involved in this process of "europeanisation" and internationalisation, resulting in an increasing demand for easily accessible and user-friendly information on migration and integration in Europe. So far, a compiled handbook on the situation in the various European countries had not been available.

Therefore, the aim of the handbook Forum Migration 8: Migration in Europe. Data and Background (in German) is to offer a presentation of comparable data in a systematic way, including a critical discussion of the methodology behind. This presentation comprises central aspects of access, structure of migration and the integration of migrants in Europe. For this purpose, various European countries have been selected on the basis of the current migration situation. Apart from data on Germany and the Netherlands as former recruitment countries, data from France and the United Kingdom are included. Austria's geographical proximity to Southeastern Europe, high immigration figures in Switzerland as a non-EU and non-Schengen country and the example of Sweden for the full statistical registration of migration in the Scandinavian countries provided reasons for these countries to be included in the analysis. In addition, Italy and Spain were selected as former sending countries which have now themselves have become countries of immigration, as well as Poland and Hungary with high migration potential as future EU member states.

The handbook focuses on the collection and analysis of statistical data on migration in Europe. Beside the general migration statistics and data on the number of foreigners in the respective countries, the various forms of migration have been differentiated.

But as the project does not only deal with the quantitative, but also with legal and administrative aspects, it provides both a documentation of the data sources and the methods applied for collecting them. Apart from a user-friendly presentation of the results, it also comprises a critical assessment of the methodology. The analyses of migration and integration policies in the selected countries include basic data, a brief outline of migration and integration policies as well as a documentation of relevant legal-administrative aspects.

The project findings were first published in 2001 in a final report presented to the Stiftung Bevölkerung, Migration und Umwelt (Foundation for population, migration and environmental studies), which has funded the project.

Funding: Stiftung Bevölkerung, Migration und Umwelt
Completed: June 2001
Researcher: Edda Currle

Publications: Forum Migration 8: Migration in Europa. Daten und Hintergründe. Edda Currle (author). Lucius&Lucius Verlag Stuttgart 2004, 428 pages (German) with 152 tables and 171 illustration, ISBN 3-8282-0276-4.