Openness to immigration in Europe
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Europeans differ widely in their willingness to admit immigrants from different ethnic backgrounds, and the divides by education and age are much larger in some countries than in others.
Overall, in the latest European Social Survey (ESS) data, Europeans differ substantially in their willingness to admit immigrants from different racial or ethnic backgrounds. Acceptance is generally higher in Northern and Western Europe, while it is lower in some Central and Eastern European countries.
A matter of education?
Breaking down the level of openness to immigrants of a different race or ethnic group by educational level, we observe that people with higher levels of education generally report higher levels of acceptance.
This is the case, for instance of the United Kingdom: while 62% of those who did not complete secondary school think “many” or at least “some” immigrants of a different race or ethnic group should be admitted (in opposition to “few” or “none”), that value increases to 85% among those who completed a college education. In Portugal, those values (48% and 77%, respectively) produce an even larger educational gap in attitudes, in fact the largest in the Atlas countries. However, the pattern is far from universal, as some countries show small differences between levels of education, whether they are more open (Sweden and Norway) or more restrictive (Hungary, Czechia or Greece).
What about age?
Although younger people tend to show higher acceptance, again the differences between younger and older age groups do not follow the same pattern in all countries. For instance, while in countries like France, Germany or the UK the difference is very expressive (exceeding 25%), there are cases where age has a very small or barely any relationship with these attitudes, such as Bulgaria and Hungary (less than 6%).
Concluding, the story of openness to immigration is a complex one. Attitudes towards admitting immigrants seem to be structured both by sociodemographic features and by national context. While higher education and younger age are often associated with greater acceptance, neither relationship is equally strong in all places. Other factors, such as national culture, economic conditions, political debate, and previous experiences of immigration may also play an important role.
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