The determinants of the internal migration of foreigners in Europe: a comparative study

Joaquin Recaño Valverde, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Verónica De Miguel, Universidad de Málaga

The purpose of this paper is to describe different socio-demographic explicative factors of the internal migration of the foreign population in different countries of Europe: France, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom. The analysis is based on data from the IPUMS microdata files which provide information on individuals changing place of residence by basic demographic characteristics (citizenship, age, sex and country of birth, origin and destination of internal migration, duration of residence and level of education) and other similar sources. We intend to answer the following questions: Are the demographic patterns of internal migration of foreigners similar to those of natives by age and sex? Do these migration patterns differ by origin? Are the observed demographic patterns by specific national groups always the same or do they differ according to the country of destination? How does the migration intensity of the foreigners or/and groups of foreigners vary in the different migration systems of the European countries? And lastly, what are the effects of the individual characteristics on the internal migration of foreigners as we compare by country of residence? Following a descriptive analysis of migration patterns of foreigners and non-foreigners we will perform multinomial logistic regression to explore some of the individual and aggregated characteristics that may influence in explaining differences in mobility among groups and countries in Europe.