Britons more positive than most countries about immigration despite concerns around public services
The latest Ipsos Global @dvisor reveals the British public is more positive in their attitudes towards immigration compared with many other countries. The survey, which asks a series of questions on immigration across 24 countries, also shows Britons have become more positive since 2011 but still have their concerns over immigration, primarily around its effect on public services.
When asked if immigration has had a positive or negative impact on their country, three in 10 (28%) members of the British public say that immigrants have had either a ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ positive impact. This is up 9 points from 2011 (when it was 19%). This is above the global average score of 21% saying immigration has had a positive impact and higher than countries such as the United States (25%) and Germany (20%).
Britons are also more likely to believe that immigration has made their country a more interesting place to live when compared to most other countries. Two in five (40%) Britons agree immigration has made the country a more interesting place to live compared to the global average of three in 10 (30%) – placing Britain 8th out of 24 and higher than countries such as Germany (33%), France (20%) and Italy (13%). More Britons believe this is the case today than in 2011 when one in three (33%) believed immigration made Britain a more interesting place to live.
More Britons also now say that immigration has been good for the economy – two in five (38%) agree with the statement compared to 32% in 2014 and 27% in 2011. Britain ranks 6th out of 24 countries with positive views on immigration’s impact on the economy, and scores 10% higher than the global average of 28%. Fewer Britons (48%) also say that immigration makes it more difficult for nationals to get jobs than in 2011 (down from 62%) and slightly above the global average of 45%.
Despite British attitudes towards immigration becoming more positive since 2011 and being more positive than most other countries in the survey, the British public still have their concerns. When asked if immigration has placed too much pressure on public services seven in 10 (68%) believe this to be the case, making Britain the 2nd most concerned country (behind Turkey where 81% are concerned and ahead of Italy where 67% are concerned). More than half of Britons (54%) also agree that immigration is causing the country to change in ways they don’t like (26% disagreeing) – placing Britain 8th out of 24 countries when ranking by the number believing their country is changing in a negative way.
Bobby Duffy, Managing Director, Ipsos Social Research Institute, said
“These international studies are useful in reminding us that Britain is far from alone in having concerns about immigration. In fact, many other countries in Europe and around the world are more worried than us about immigration and its impact, with Turkey, Italy and France often among the most negative. Britons are actually among the most positive on some measures, such as whether immigration makes the country more interesting as a place to live – but we need to bear in mind it is still a minority, 40%, who think that.” “But the British stand out as particularly worried about the impact of immigration on public services, as reflected in the focus of discussion from politicians and the media. We’re second only to Turkey in our concern that immigrants put too much pressure on services. This is a much greater concern here than other impacts, such as on the ability of Britons to get jobs.”
Technical Note
The study is based on interviews with 17,533 adults across 24 countries. Data are weighted to age, gender, region and household income based on recent Census and/or population figures for each country. The global numbers were calculated such that each market was given equal weight when aggregated (unweighted base size = 500 for all). Interviews were conducted via Ipsos Global @dvisor Online Omnibus from June 19 to July 3, 2015.
