Abstract
This paper examines the situation of children in immigrant families living in the UK through an analysis of 2001 census data according to the country of birth of children and their parents. The foreign-born population in the United Kingdom reached 4.9 million in 2001, representing 8.3 per cent of the total population. Around 2.1 million children (16.3 per cent of all children in the UK) were living in immigrant families. A fifth of these children were born outside the UK with the remainder being born in the UK with at least one foreign-born parent. More than 40 per cent were in families from Asia, around 20 per cent from Africa and around 20 per cent from countries in Europe. Pakistan, India, the Republic of Ireland, Germany and Bangladesh were the main countries of origin. Although there is significant variation in the socio-economic status and living conditions of immigrant families from different regions and countries of origin, it is clear that immigrant children are faring less well overall than their native-born counterparts. Levels of employment are higher among the parents of native-born children despite the fact that parents in immigrant families generally exhibit higher educational attainment levels. Immigrant children are more likely to be living in overcrowded housing that is not owned. The analysis presented in this paper suggests that an ethnicity-focused approach alone is inadequate for addressing the present and future needs of immigrants and their children or in understanding the dynamics of immigrant inclusion and exclusion.
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Notes
The A-8 countries are Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The number of applicants does not represent a measurement of net migration to the UK (inflows minus outflows). Rather, it is a gross (cumulative) figure for the number of workers applying to the WRS. The figures are not current: an individual who has registered to work and who leaves employment is not required to de-register, so some of those counted will have left the employment for which they registered and indeed some are likely to have left the UK.
The foreign-born population is defined by birthplace, not nationality or ethnicity. Birthplace, nationality and ethnicity are related in the United Kingdom, but not equivalent. The foreign-born population includes people who have become British citizens since their arrival in the UK.
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a quarterly sample survey of households living at private addresses in the UK. Its purpose is to provide information on the UK labour market that can then be used to develop, manage, evaluate and report on labour market policies.
There is no comparable information on the number of immigrant children in schools in Wales.
The census was conducted on 29 April 2001 and was organized by the Office for National Statistics (in England and Wales), the General Register Office for Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. It has not been possible to differentiate between the circumstances of children in immigrant families living in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales because of the relatively small size of the total populations of Northern Ireland and Scotland (1.7 million and 5.1 million, respectively, in 2001) and because the census data on England and Wales are combined. The next census will be undertaken in 2011.
If the child is foreign-born, then the country of origin is the child’s country of origin. If the child is born in the United Kingdom, the country of origin is the mother’s country of birth if the mother is foreign-born. If the child and the child’s mother are not foreign-born or if the child is born in the United Kingdom and is living only with the father, then the country of origin is the father’s country of birth. Children in native-born families are children who have been born in the United Kingdom and who each have two parents who have also been born in the United Kingdom.
Some of these children will, of course, have ethnic minority and/or immigrant family backgrounds (third-generation and beyond).
The EU-12 are the EU member states admitted between May 2004 and January 2007: Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The EU-15 are the EU member states before 2004: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The 2001 census included questions about ownership or rental of accommodations among households. For the purposes of our analysis, family homeownership includes outright ownership, ownership with a mortgage or other loan, or part rental and part mortgage
For example, the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 established the National Asylum Support Service and provided for the dispersal of asylum seekers to various parts of the United Kingdom. It removed any remaining benefit entitlement from asylum seekers and created a new voucher system that stopped cash payments other than £10 per week. The Act also removed the obligation under the Children Act 1989 for local authorities to ensure that refugee and asylum-seeking children had adequate living standards.
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Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Jacky Tyrie and Jie Wang for background research and data analysis. The material in tables in which the source is shown as 2001 census commissioned tables has been provided by the Office for National Statistics and is © 2006 Crown copyright. Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. The Office for National Statistics bears no responsibility for the analysis or interpretations of the data. The author would also like to thank Eva Jespersen (UNICEF-IRC) for the opportunity to contribute to the comparative UNICEF research project from which the data presented in this paper is drawn and Donald Hernandez (Hunter College and Graduate Center, City University of New York) for his tireless efforts to ensure the robustness of the data and analysis. Any remaining errors or misinterpretations are the author’s alone.
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Crawley, H. Moving Beyond Ethnicity: The Socio-Economic Status and Living Conditions of Immigrant Children in the UK. Child Ind Res 3, 547–570 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-010-9071-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-010-9071-5