Families and Households: 2.2.4 Migration

Question 1

Immigration statistics

Answer 1

• 1900 to WWII: largest immigrant group to the UK were the Irish (economic reasons), then Eastern/Central Jews who were refugees fleeing persecution
• 1950s: black immigrants from the Caribbean settled followed by Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lanka
• 2011: Ethnic minority group = 12% of the total population, contributing to family diversity

Question 2

Immigration statistics: EVALUATION

Answer 2

A series of immigration acts placed from the 1960s places severe restrictions on non-white immigrants with white people from the European union being the main source of immigration

Question 3

Emigration statistics

Answer 3

• Since majority of emigrants have gone to the US and old commonwealth countries (Canada, Australia and New Zealand)
• Due to economic reasons in terms of push factors e.g. unemployment at home, and pull factor abroad e.g. high wages/better opportunities abroad
• Other groups driven by religious, political or racial persecution

Question 4

State the impacts of migration on the UK population structure

Answer 4

• Population size increases
• Age structure (younger)
• Dependency ratio
• Distribution of the population

Question 5

Impact of migration on the UK population structure: population size

Answer 5

• 2012: 497,000 immigrating and 321,000 emigrating
  2004: net migration was 223,000 due to the expansion of the European Union, giving citizens the right to live and work in the UK

Question 6

Impact of migration on the UK population structure: age structure

Answer 6

• Younger and more likely to be male
  2011: average age of UK passport holders was 41 and non-UK was 31
• Being younger = more fertile and produce more babies
• Emigrants are older, 40% moving to EU countries

Question 7

Impact of migration on the UK population structure: dependency ratio

Answer 7

• Migrants are of working age and reduces dependency but immigrant women have a higher fertility rate
• Contributes to a high dependency but in the long term, produces more workers, reducing the ration
• The longer a group is settled, the closer fertility rates come to the national average, reducing their impact on he dependency ratio overall

Question 8

Impact of migration on the UK population structure: distribution of the population

Answer 8

• Internal migration during the industrial revolution with a population shift from the agricultural south to the industrial north for jobs in mining, shipbuilding, textiles
• 1900s: industries died and gave way to newer ones (cars, chemicals, electrical engineering) developing in the south and the midlands
• Recent: London and the south east has exerted a pull due to the growth in the finance and service industries // + the growth of large residential areas surrounding the major cities and a reversal of the outflow of population from inner city areas