Local impacts of international migration: the information base

Aims

To explore local databases and information sources to help measure the local effects of migration and to examine the wider issue of the impact on local communities and economies of increasing international migration.

Methodology

The report includes data from a literature review of newspapers and other popular media, and government, non-governmental and academic literature; and secondary quantitative data review and results of qualitative surveys.

Key issues

The report introduces the area of migration studies in relation to diversity and difference, costs and benefits, types of migrants and available numbers. Findings from the review, which evaluate existing data and highlight gaps in research and data, are presented in relation to demography and geography, community relations, culture and sociality, economy, polity, health and social services, housing, and education. The idea of impacts and short term or long term impacts is discussed.

Conclusions

A great diversity of data is required to estimate the impact of international immigration on local communities.

Recommendations

The review provides a list of areas for data collection, including the need for information at a local level, large national surveys on migrants including longitudinal elements, accounting for migrants in all primary data collection, and investigation of the psychosocial wellbeing of migrants.