Migration and impact on family Life

• Migration and its impact on family life

Migration is central to population growth in the UK because of the decline of the birth and fertility rates and the ageing of the population. In 2013, the ONS reported that the UK population will grow by 9.6 million over the next 25 years. 57 per cent of that increase will be ‘natural’ meaning that there will be more births than deaths. The other 43 per cent of the increase will be the product of migration. However, it is important to understand that both these factors – birth and migration – interact with one another because migrants are more likely than the host population to be of child-bearing age. They also tend to have higher fertility rates than the host population. Consequently, the ONS estimate that 29 per cent of the natural increase in the British population between 2012 and 2037 will be the result of migration.

Historically, the population of Great Britain was made up of people from a White British ethnic background. The pattern of migration since the 1950s has produced a number of distinct, minority ethnic groups within the general population. The 2011 Census showed that the majority of the population of England and Wales was White (86 per cent) although only 80 per cent were born in the UK.

The remaining 14 per cent of the population belonged to other ethnic groups – Asians (Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi) make up 6.8 per cent; black (African-Caribbean and African) make up 3.4 per cent; Chinese make up 0.7 per cent; Arab make up 0.4 per cent and other make up 0.6 per cent. The 2011 Census also indicates that 2.2 per cent of people in England and Wales were mixed race (up from 1.27% in 2001) whilst 12 per cent of households had partners or household members of different ethnic groups, three points up from 2001.

Immigrants to the UK in the past thirty years have tended to be both relatively young and fertile. For example, the 2011 Census shows that of the foreign-born who arrived in England and Wales in the last 10 years, 95% were aged 45 years or under and this has had the effect of pushing up both the birth and fertility rates since 2005.

• Factors influencing migration

• (a) Legislation and border control

Legal migration is affected by laws governing the right of people to move to other countries, while illegal migration is affected by the attempts of governments to control access to their territory. For example, the UK has limited immigration from the Caribbean and Asian subcontinent due to Acts such as the 1962 and 1968 Commonwealth Immigration Acts. The 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act made it tougher for asylum seekers to settle in Britain. However, Britain is a member of the European Union (EU) which allows the free movement of people within its boundaries, therefore, the Brexit vote and negotiations may have the result of reducing immigration into the UK.

• (b) Globalisation

Globalisation involves a…