Immigration and Europe

Filed in archive Europe on February 23, 2010

© pterjan

Immigration is not a modern day phenomenon in Europe rather it has been taking place for tens of thousands of years. The fact is that the first real immigrants to Europe were from Africa who reached the continent via Middle East. Since that time migrants have played a pivotal role in redefining food, population and knowledge of Europe.

Post WW II, migrants moved to northern Europe but since the past two decades southern Europe has witnessed tremendous growth and seen number of immigrants carrying dreams of a better lifestyle. By the mid-2000s, southern Europe accounted for more than 60% of immigrants entering Europe.

Over the years immigration policy of Europe has become bureaucratic due to large influx of migrants but in case of Southern Europe the immigration enforcement rules are lax and migrants have been entering illegally as working illegitimately is easier as compared to opting for proper permits.

Even though recession has affected the number of people entering Europe but it can't undo the demographic shift as the birthrate among immigrants is higher as compared to the general population. Europe is also facing problems as the migrants are now feeling marginalized by the society and want to be made a part of the present. All this has been giving invitation to several problems in Europe which will be needed to be dealt with to prevent the situation from going out of hand. In my future posts I will be discussing all this and several issues pertaining to Europe.