Migration
- Migration refers to the movement of people from one place to another both within
countries and across international borders
- Migrants have chosen to move to new locations in search of better opportunities
● These are often short term e.g. make money to send back to relatives or
experience a new country then return home
- Societies need migrants to thrive and grow, however their reception is often mixed as
existing citizens may feel threatened or suspicious of newcomers who they see as
competitors for jobs, benefits, housing and education
- Some people have no choice but to leave their home, and are therefore refugees or
asylum seekers
- Migration has grown by 50% over the past 25years, in 2020 it was estimated there
were 281million international migrants
- The US holds 20% of the global migrant population including 11million Mexicans
- There are 72million migrants in Europe with the majority in Germany, followed by the
UK then France
- 19million Africans migrated within the continent in 2020 (not including those who
were undocumented)
- 86% of people in Qatar are migrants due to the high prevalence of construction work
and job opportunities
Destination Europe
- Key migration routes into Europe are through Spain/Italy from Africa and
Turkey/Greece from the Middle East
- There is mixed opinions on the admission of refugees in various EU countries with
varying levels of government and civilian acceptance
- Migrant populations benefit many European countries as there are increasing ageing
populations and growth of the dependent population
, Migration
Lee’s Model of Migration
- Lee’s model tries to explain migration factors both in terms of the positive and
negative characteristics of the origin and destination location
- Push factors may be conflict, corruption or government instability
- Pull factors may be healthcare and education or economic benefits
- Intervening obstacles/places may include human factors such as lack of capital,
illiteracy, military services, misinformation, family pressures, national policy,
immediate jobs, travel costs, language, religion, political differences and bureaucracy
or physical barriers like mountain ranges or bodies of water
The EU
- 1.7million migrants moved from one country inside the EU to another in 2018
● 345,692 went to Germany and 192,495 to the UK
- The East-West divide within Europe means that there is a huge influx of people from
countries like Poland and Estonia into Western Europe
- The Schengen Agreement means that there is easy movement across European
borders once inside
● This encourages migrants to take dangerous and high cost routes to enter
Europe as once they are in they can stay
Poland → UK Migration
- For the last 10 years, Polish people have accounted for ⅔ of the EU migrants entering the UK, leading
the Polish born population of the UK to increase from 75,000 to 532,000
- The major factor enabling this was Poland joining the EU in 2004 allowing effectively unlimited
immigration from the new member states as they could work in the UK without a visa
- It was estimated that up to 91,000 migrants would settle in the UK in the 7 years following the A8
countries joining the EU
● Only 2 years later in January 2006 over 293,000 new migrants had applied for work permits
with Polish people accounting for 64% of this applications
- In 2004, unemployment in Poland was close to 20% compared to 5% in the UK resulting in a mass
exodus of the working age population
● In 2010, 86% of the British Polish population were between 16-64, before the Poland joined the
EU this was only 55%
- Pull factors to the UK are likely economic because the minimum wage in the UK is roughly double that
in Poland taking into consideration taxation
- Other pull factors include the social benefits of education and healthcare with the number of Polish
people at British universities increasing three fold over 10 years
- Migration refers to the movement of people from one place to another both within
countries and across international borders
- Migrants have chosen to move to new locations in search of better opportunities
● These are often short term e.g. make money to send back to relatives or
experience a new country then return home
- Societies need migrants to thrive and grow, however their reception is often mixed as
existing citizens may feel threatened or suspicious of newcomers who they see as
competitors for jobs, benefits, housing and education
- Some people have no choice but to leave their home, and are therefore refugees or
asylum seekers
- Migration has grown by 50% over the past 25years, in 2020 it was estimated there
were 281million international migrants
- The US holds 20% of the global migrant population including 11million Mexicans
- There are 72million migrants in Europe with the majority in Germany, followed by the
UK then France
- 19million Africans migrated within the continent in 2020 (not including those who
were undocumented)
- 86% of people in Qatar are migrants due to the high prevalence of construction work
and job opportunities
Destination Europe
- Key migration routes into Europe are through Spain/Italy from Africa and
Turkey/Greece from the Middle East
- There is mixed opinions on the admission of refugees in various EU countries with
varying levels of government and civilian acceptance
- Migrant populations benefit many European countries as there are increasing ageing
populations and growth of the dependent population
, Migration
Lee’s Model of Migration
- Lee’s model tries to explain migration factors both in terms of the positive and
negative characteristics of the origin and destination location
- Push factors may be conflict, corruption or government instability
- Pull factors may be healthcare and education or economic benefits
- Intervening obstacles/places may include human factors such as lack of capital,
illiteracy, military services, misinformation, family pressures, national policy,
immediate jobs, travel costs, language, religion, political differences and bureaucracy
or physical barriers like mountain ranges or bodies of water
The EU
- 1.7million migrants moved from one country inside the EU to another in 2018
● 345,692 went to Germany and 192,495 to the UK
- The East-West divide within Europe means that there is a huge influx of people from
countries like Poland and Estonia into Western Europe
- The Schengen Agreement means that there is easy movement across European
borders once inside
● This encourages migrants to take dangerous and high cost routes to enter
Europe as once they are in they can stay
Poland → UK Migration
- For the last 10 years, Polish people have accounted for ⅔ of the EU migrants entering the UK, leading
the Polish born population of the UK to increase from 75,000 to 532,000
- The major factor enabling this was Poland joining the EU in 2004 allowing effectively unlimited
immigration from the new member states as they could work in the UK without a visa
- It was estimated that up to 91,000 migrants would settle in the UK in the 7 years following the A8
countries joining the EU
● Only 2 years later in January 2006 over 293,000 new migrants had applied for work permits
with Polish people accounting for 64% of this applications
- In 2004, unemployment in Poland was close to 20% compared to 5% in the UK resulting in a mass
exodus of the working age population
● In 2010, 86% of the British Polish population were between 16-64, before the Poland joined the
EU this was only 55%
- Pull factors to the UK are likely economic because the minimum wage in the UK is roughly double that
in Poland taking into consideration taxation
- Other pull factors include the social benefits of education and healthcare with the number of Polish
people at British universities increasing three fold over 10 years
