Migration to the United Kingdom
Understanding Society interviews people who have migrated to the UK.
We have been tracking migrant lives since Wave 1 of the Study in 2009.
Which countries have migrants come from?
Migrants by continent
Our migrant participants have moved to the UK from all over the world, with the largest number coming from Asia.
Europe
North America
Australia
Asia
Africa
Migrants by Country
Understanding Society has captured 14916 people who have migrated to the UK for work.
Ghana
Kenya
Nigeria
South Africa
Uganda
Cyprus
France
Italy
Germany
Poland
Republic of Ireland
Spain
Turkey
USA
Canada
Jamaica
Australia
New Zealand
Bangladesh
China/Hong Kong
India
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Countries with more than 50 migrants to the UK are shown above
Employment areas
Many employment sectors benefit from workers who have migrated to the UK.
People moving into the country are employed in all levels of jobs – from senior management, to entry-level roles.
Migrant dataset
Constructing a migration and life dataset using Understanding Society.
The Migration and Life dataset is designed to work as an extension of the dataset on time-invariant characteristics (xavedat). It includes all born-abroad respondents who took part in Understanding Society, regardless of which wave they entered and/or left it. The dataset pools data on migration from all waves of the survey, focusing on important aspects and data milestones of migrants’ lives and migration-related experiences.
To create the dataset, download the do. files from the GitHub repository. You can also find a user guide in this repository. The chart below shows where researchers can find information from migrant sample members in the Migration and Life dataset.
This dataset was created by Marion Lieutaud, as part of an Understanding Society Fellowship. For any questions about the code, please contact Marion Lieutaud.
This chart shows where researchers can find information from migrant sample members
Key: variable labels
- pidp - migrants' personal identifier (total sample of migrants)
- mindirect- direct/indirect migration to the uk
- mreturned - ever returned to country of birth for 1+ year
- mlived - ever lived abroad for 1+ year since moving to uk
- mintent - current migration intentions (answered at least once)
- mintwhen - when expects to migrate (if intends to migrate)
- intendukc - intending uk citizenship
- indeflv - indefinite leave to remain in uk
- age2uk - age at 1st migration to uk
- age2uk16 - 16+ when first migrated to uk
- j1ukjob - 1st job in uk
- j1cojob - where was 1st job, if not in uk
The cross wave personal identifier pidp is the same in each wave and can be used to link information about a person in different waves. Other variables ask about the participants move to the UK (mindirect) and whether they have ever returned to their country of birth (mreturned). Migrant participants are asked whether they plan to stay in the UK or move somewhere else (mintent) and whether they are planning to take UK citizenship (intendukc). The employment history of people who have migrated can track their first job ever (j1cojob) and their first job in the UK (j1ukjob).
Source: Understanding Society (ISER), waves 1-11 (2009-2020).