IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/poprpr/v32y2013i2p261-284.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Should International Migration Be Encouraged to Offset Population Aging? A Cross-Country Analysis of Public Attitudes in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Alin Ceobanu
  • Tanya Koropeckyj-Cox

Abstract

Concerns about population aging in Europe have occupied the attention of policy makers and demographers for over a decade. Some policy makers have proposed increased immigration to offset the aging of the population (i.e., replacement migration). However, demographers have estimated that a very high (and likely untenable) level of immigration would be required, and little is known about whether the national publics of Europe would support international migration as a potential solution to population aging. Using Eurobarometer data from 2006 and concurrent country-level measures from Eurostat, this study examines individual- and contextual-level factors related to public attitudes toward immigration as an effective solution to the problem of population aging in the current 27 member countries of the European Union. Results from multilevel logit analyses indicate that urban, university-educated, and childless individuals are consistently more likely than others to endorse replacement migration. Countries with more prosperous economies and proportionally fewer foreign-born residents also show more supportive attitudes. Such results echo research on anti-immigrant sentiment, suggesting considerable public resistance to population policies that might encourage large-scale immigration. At the same time, these findings show consistent patterns of endorsement despite demographers’ criticism of the concept of replacement migration and concerns about developing alternative long-term strategies. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Alin Ceobanu & Tanya Koropeckyj-Cox, 2013. "Should International Migration Be Encouraged to Offset Population Aging? A Cross-Country Analysis of Public Attitudes in Europe," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(2), pages 261-284, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:32:y:2013:i:2:p:261-284
    DOI: 10.1007/s11113-012-9260-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11113-012-9260-7
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11113-012-9260-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert W. Hartman & Thomas J. Espenshade, 1994. "Can immigration slow U.S. population aging?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(4), pages 759-768.
    2. Anna Maria Mayda, 2006. "Who Is Against Immigration? A Cross-Country Investigation of Individual Attitudes toward Immigrants," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(3), pages 510-530, August.
    3. Maria Rita Testa, 2007. "Childbearing preferences and family issues in Europe: evidence from the Eurobarometer 2006 survey," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 5(1), pages 357-379.
    4. Klaus F. Zimmermann, 1995. "Tackling the European Migration Problems," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 45-62, Spring.
    5. Sides, John & Citrin, Jack, 2007. "European Opinion About Immigration: The Role of Identities, Interests and Information," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 37(3), pages 477-504, July.
    6. Jakub Bijak & Dorota Kupiszewska & Marek Kupiszewski & Katarzyna Saczuk & Anna Kicinger, 2007. "Population and labour force projections for 27 European countries, 2002-052: impact of international migration on population ageing," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 23(1), pages 1-31, March.
    7. Michael S. Teitelbaum, 2004. "The Media Marketplace for Garbled Demography," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 30(2), pages 317-327, June.
    8. David Coleman, 2008. "The demographic effects of international migration in Europe," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 24(3), pages 453-477, Autumn.
    9. Sniderman, Paul M. & Hagendoorn, Louk & Prior, Markus, 2004. "Predisposing Factors and Situational Triggers: Exclusionary Reactions to Immigrant Minorities," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 98(1), pages 35-49, February.
    10. Adam Luedtke, 2005. "European Integration, Public Opinion and Immigration Policy," European Union Politics, , vol. 6(1), pages 83-112, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gil S. Epstein & Shirit Katav-Herz, 2019. "Who Is in Favor of Immigration," Working Papers 2019-05, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics.
    2. Gil S. Epstein & Shirit Katav Herz, 2019. "Who is in favor of immigration: the wealthy or the poor? the old or the young?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(2), pages 1424-1434.
    3. Zaiceva, A. & Zimmermann, K.F., 2016. "Migration and the Demographic Shift," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 119-177, Elsevier.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mª Ángeles Cea D’Ancona, 2016. "Immigration as a Threat: Explaining the Changing Pattern of Xenophobia in Spain," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 569-591, May.
    2. Louis Jaeck, 2022. "Political economy of immigration policy in GCC countries," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 444-464, July.
    3. Hatton, Timothy J., 2014. "Public Opinion on Immigration: Has the Recession Changed Minds?," IZA Discussion Papers 8248, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Jens Hainmueller & Daniel J. Hopkins, 2013. "Public Attitudes toward Immigration," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1315, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    5. Jennifer Fitzgerald, 2012. "Social Engagement and Immigration Attitudes: Panel Survey Evidence from Germany," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(4), pages 941-970, December.
    6. Hainmueller, Jens & Hiscox, Michael J., 2007. "Educated Preferences: Explaining Attitudes Toward Immigration in Europe," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(2), pages 399-442, April.
    7. Economidou, Claire & Karamanis, Dimitris & Kechrinioti, Alexandra & Xesfingi, Sofia, 2017. "What Shapes Europeans’ Attitudes toward Xeno-philia(/phobia)?," MPRA Paper 76511, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. K Amber Curtis, 2014. "Inclusive versus exclusive: A cross-national comparison of the effects of subnational, national, and supranational identity," European Union Politics, , vol. 15(4), pages 521-546, December.
    9. Martínez i Coma, Ferran & Duval Hernández, Robert, 2009. "Hostility Toward Immigration in Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 4109, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Cooray, Arusha & Marfouk, Abdeslam & Nazir, Maliha, 2018. "Public Opinion and Immigration: Who Favors Employment Discrimination against Immigrants?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 175, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    11. Alberto Alesina & Marco Tabellini, 2024. "The Political Effects of Immigration: Culture or Economics?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 5-46, March.
    12. Sebastian Fietkau & Kasper M Hansen, 2018. "How perceptions of immigrants trigger feelings of economic and cultural threats in two welfare states," European Union Politics, , vol. 19(1), pages 119-139, March.
    13. Gil S. Epstein & Shirit Katav-Herz, 2019. "Who Is in Favor of Immigration," Working Papers 2019-05, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics.
    14. Gil S. Epstein & Shirit Katav Herz, 2019. "Who is in favor of immigration: the wealthy or the poor? the old or the young?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(2), pages 1424-1434.
    15. Salomon, Katja, 2020. "Dynamics of immigrant resentment in Europe," Discussion Papers, Presidential Department P 2020-002, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    16. Anzelika Zaiceva & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2008. "Scale, diversity, and determinants of labour migration in Europe," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 24(3), pages 428-452, Autumn.
    17. ., 2012. "Migration impact assessment: a state of the art," Chapters, in: Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot & Mediha Sahin (ed.), Migration Impact Assessment, chapter 1, pages 3-62, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. H鲩court & Spielvogel, 2014. "Beliefs, media exposure and policy preferences on immigration: evidence from Europe," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 225-239, January.
    19. Annamaria Nese, 2023. "Migrations in Italy and Perceptions of Ethnic Threat," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 939-968, September.
    20. Claudia N. Avellaneda & Johabed G. Olvera, 2018. "Chief executives’ approval of immigrants: Evidence from a survey experiment of 101 Latin American and Caribbean mayors," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 1(1).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:32:y:2013:i:2:p:261-284. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.