What are Europeans’ Views on Integration of Immigrants?

The more immigrant and host communities interact, the more positively integration is perceived – according to a new joint study from the European Commission’s Knowledge Centre on Migration and Demography (KCMD), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Migration Policy Centre (MPC).

This study provides an in-depth description of public opinion about immigrants’ integration in European countries, as captured in the 2017 Special Eurobarometer on this topic. It highlights a near consensus among European respondents on the meaning of integration, but more variation across countries regarding policy options to support integration. It also shows that positive opinions about immigration are often associated with a favourable public perception of integration. Looking at the individual correlates of opinions about immigration and integration, this paper finds that actual knowledge about the magnitude of immigration is positively correlated with attitudes to immigration but not integration. In contrast, more interactions with immigrants are associated with more positive views on integration but not necessarily on immigration.

This is an abstract of a technical report published by L.Drazanova, T. Liepig, S. Migali, M. Scipioni and G. Speilvogel.

(This publication is a Technical report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policymaking process. The scientific output expressed does not imply a policy position of the European Commission).