How does migration affect innovation? The reality of the contribution of migrants is widely overlooked. With all the talk in the media about how migrants impact on country resources, we investigate the concept that migration is a stimulus for economic prosperity, specifically in relation to innovation, within Europe. We take a closer look at the two European countries that have the highest migrant populations, to try and find answers. By Richard Forsyth
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ome important facts about the positive aspects of immigration are being missed by the mainstream media. It’s time we took a step back to inspect how immigration plays a key role in economies. In the context of nurturing innovation, immigration is being identified as a driving force. It’s a complex thing to measure but there are ways to correlate data and find indicators. First, let’s get a feel for the numbers and look at the influx of migrants coming into Europe, which countries have the most
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migrants and where migrants are moving from. According to a report released in March 2017 by Eurostat, in 2015, a total of 4.7 million people migrated to one of the EU-28 Member States. By 1 January 2016, there were 35.1 million people residing in an EU Member State born outside the EU, 20.7 million citizens of non-member countries living in the EU and 16 million people living in one of the EU Member States with citizenship of another EU Member State. Germany took in the highest number of immigrants, followed by the UK, then Italy, Spain and France, in that order.
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