Hello, my name is Chloe and I'm a geography field studies tutor.

This lesson is called Impacts of Migration on the UK's population and it forms part of the places and people in the UK unit of work.

We're going to be looking at lots of different forms of migration and the characteristics of migrants themselves, as well as looking at policies and how that has shaped the migration story of the UK.

Let's begin.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to assess the impact that migration has had on the UK's population.

First of all, we're going to look at some of our key terms. So let's start with immigration.

This is the act of moving into a new host location.

Emigration is the act of moving out of a source location so somebody can be an immigrant and an emigrant at the same time.

An asylum seeker is someone who seeks permanent or temporary protection in another country from the persecution or danger they experience in their home country.

And a refugee is someone who has successfully sought asylum in another country and is hence forth protected by international law.

This lesson is in two sections.

We're first going to look at changes to the UK population, and then we're going to look at the impacts of international migration policies.

But let's start there with the changes to the UK population.

So in these changes we're going to be looking at population size, age structure, and distribution.

And when we come to look at policies, we'll be looking at examples in the UK and the EU as well as the impacts of those policies as well.

Let's start with population size and how that has changed because of migration.

So if we look at this graph, we can see how international migration in the UK has changed over time.

The line graph shows the amount of immigration and emigration over a 60 year period.

As Sofia says, since 1983, more people are entering the UK than emigrating from it.

We can see that the blue line dips below the green line at that point.

So immigration is much more than emigration, so more people are entering the UK than leaving it.

We can also see something else and that's that the amount of emigration has stayed relatively steady compared to the amount of immigration.

Yes, there has been a spike in most recent years, but actually compared to immigration, emigration is fairly stable.

Immigration on the other hand has seen exponential growth, increasing at an increasing rate.

This means that net migration, the difference between emigration and immigration has gone up.

So if we look at data from 2024 in that year, 479,000 people left the UK, emigration.

In that same year, 1,207,000 people came to the UK.

That's our immigration.

This means there's a net gain from migration of 728,000 people.

That's in a single year.

Our first check for understanding why is it important to consider numbers of emigrants as well as immigrants? Is it A, it means that we can calculate net migration and know the contribution migration makes to the population? Is it B, emigrants do not tend to return to the UK once they have left? Or is it C, immigrants are more likely to be families and younger people? Pause the video here and have a think about those three options and then come back to me with the right answer.

Well, hopefully you recognise that it is A, it's all about how we can calculate net migration.

If we know the numbers of people coming in and the number of people coming out, we know what our net gain is or our net loss.

Now let's look at age structure.

So most national and international migrants are young adults, so people age roughly 18 to 30.

And if we look at the reasons why international migrants come to the UK, you can see that it's reflected in that age group.

You can see the two largest sections of our pie chart here is the reason is to work or the reason is to study, and that would be much more felt in that 18 to 30 age category than in any others.

Younger international migrants are more likely to settle in the UK financially and socially and then have children.

So this increases the UK birth rate.

International migrants are more likely to have children than non-migrants.

So for women born outside the UK, the fertility rate is 2.

03 children, so that's an average of 2.

03 children per woman.

When we compare that to women born in the UK, the fertility rate is 1.

54, so much, much lower.

So international migrants are having the children where people who come from the UK are less likely to.

Where younger people are more mobile, there are subsequent impacts.

So for the source area, those impacts are felt quite strongly that there's an ageing population.

If the younger people are moving, it's leaving the older people behind.

It's also likely that there's going to be more school closures.

If there's no young people around and people aren't tending to have children in that area, then it means that the schools might not be needed.

There's also going to be lower local tax generation, so if there's fewer working people in the area, it's not gonna be an area that's gonna be generating a lot of local tax.

There are also impacts that are going to affect the host area.

First of all, studentification.

This is where an area starts to take on more and more services that service the needs and wants of students above other people.

There be a shortage of midwives and teachers, the kind of people whose jobs rely on there being children.

It's not just about young people moving.

So older people who have retired may undertake national migration as they move from urban areas to rural ones, and we call this counter urbanisation.

Now let's look at an example of that.

So residents on the Isle of White, which is almost all rural, tend to be older.

Look at the population pyramid.

You can see that the largest bands tend to be in the older age groups.

When we compare that with an area just across the water, Portsmouth, the residents there tend to be much younger.

It's a city with a university, and we can see that reflected in the population pyramid as well.

A huge spike in numbers in the early twenties.

Rural areas tend to be more peaceful, they tend to be cleaner, they tend to be safer or at least perceived to be safer, and they tend to be more space there.

You can see why people might want to move there.

Some rural areas in the south of the UK are also warmer, which can help some elderly people manage certain health conditions.

However, the clustering of older people in rural areas can put pressure on care and health services there.

The demand for housing can raise prices and then make them unaffordable for younger people, further causing those younger people to move out of rural areas and into the cities.

Let's check our understanding again.

So true or false, all types of immigrants are likely to contribute to the UK birth rate.

Have a really good close think about that statement and then come back to me and tell me if it's true or false.

Okay, let's have a look.

Yes, it's false, but why? Look back at that statement carefully.

Pause the video again and have a think about it.

Well done if you recognise that though both national and international migrants tend to be quite young, the increase in birth rate tends to be due to women who were born outside the UK having children.

Now let's look at the distribution of the population and how that has changed over time.

Both national and international migrants tend to be attracted to urban areas.

There's more exciting things to do there.

For example, entertainment in the evenings, they're definitely more likely to find work, and there's going to be a greater variety of jobs on offer there too.

There's likely to be more like-minded people, people in their age group with similar aspirations, and they're more likely to have places of learning like universities.

So it's perfect for young people who are trying to further their studies and qualifications.

As well as wishing to be with like-minded people, many international migrants may wish to join friends and family who have already migrated, or they might want to join people who they don't know, but who have the same shared experiences as them.

Settling in the UK may be much easier if you join a community of people who share your language, understand your beliefs, and enjoy the same food as you.

This leads to an uneven distribution pattern of migrants.

In the UK, international migration resulted in certain towns and cities having significant numbers of people of particular nationalities.

Here's some examples of that.

So example, 5.

4% of the population of Boston, in Lincolnshire identify as Polish compared to 1.

4% of the UK population as a whole.

You can see there's a much stronger distribution of Polish people in Boston.

Likewise, 23% of the population of Bradford in West Yorkshire identify as Pakistani compared to 2.

7% of the UK population.

A much higher percentage of people in that area are likely to be Pakistani than in others.

And then if we come into London, we see that 7% of the population of Peckham were born in Nigeria compared to 0.

4% of the UK population.

Again, a very strong uneven distribution.

A final check for understanding in this section.

Complete the sentences with the missing words.

Do pause the video here so you can have a read through the paragraph and then come back to me with those three missing words.

Right, let's see what kind of answers you got.

So international migrants tend not to occupy the UK in an even distribution pattern.

Migrants with the same shared experience, or you might have written something similar that means that may wish to live near each other.

Understanding each other's food, beliefs, and language can aid settling in the UK.

Well done if you've got those three words.

Now let's look at our first practise task of this lesson.

Jacob has made a number of assumptions in this description of migration in and to the UK.

First of all, highlight any assumptions that you can see and then rewrite the descriptions so that it's more accurate.

So let's look at what Jacob has said.

The only people moving nationally are young people.

They only move to cities to study.

They never have children after studying because they stay in the city to work.

Pause the video so you can have a reread of what Jacob has said, highlight those assumptions and then correct it with a more accurate description.

Okay, let's start with that first task, which is to highlight the assumptions.

So here we have Jacob's speech again, he says, the only people moving nationally are young people.

No, of course that's not always the case.

There are lots of people that are moving within the UK.

They only move to cities to study, yeah, that's a problem as well.

There's other reasons why people migrate.

They never have children after studying.

Oh dear, yes, we know that that might be incorrect as well, so we are going to need to correct that in the second task.

Now we are going to rewrite that description, so here's something that your answer might include.

You may have different wording, but this is the kind of thing you're going to be looking for.

Young people move both nationally and internationally.

They tend to move more to urban than rural areas as they seek employment opportunities, opportunities to study, and the exciting lifestyle that urban areas can provide.

National migrants are less likely to have children than international migrants once they have settled in their new area.

Well done if you've got those kind of ideas, maybe with different words, but do read through again and check that you've made a correction on everything that Jacob has got wrong.

Now we'll move on to the second part of today's lesson, and that's about the impacts of international migration policies.

We're going to be looking at quite a few of those.

We're gonna start with the examples from the UK and the EU.

Of course, there are lots of examples if we look worldwide, but we're just gonna be focusing on our home area.

We're gonna start our examples with 1948.

That's not to say that migration didn't happen in and out of the UK before then, but a really significant migration happened in that year.

It's after the second World War and the UK government encouraged migration from commonwealth countries to fill skills shortages in certain areas of employment.

Migration came largely from the Caribbean, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

By 1971, 1 million people had migrated.

Coming forward in time, we're now going to 1995.

As a member of the European Union or the EU, the UK allowed the free movement of migrants between member countries.

Many Europeans came to the UK to work.

In 2004, a new group of countries called the Accession 8 countries joined the EU.

And this opened up huge opportunities for Eastern Europeans such as Poles, Estonians, and Latvians to come to the UK and many did.

In 2005, a new part of the migration story was born in the UK, and that is the life in the UK citizenship test.

This was introduced to the process of granting citizenship to migrants.

Now, of course, granting citizenship was in existence long before this test came in, but the test was a new development.

It meant people who wanted to become citizens of the UK had to prove that they had an idea about UK history and culture.

From 2005 to 2024, 3.

4 million people born outside the UK became UK citizens.

The test certainly did not put people off wanting to become citizens of the UK.

Let's check our understanding of those key points in UK history.

What was the main reason for an increase in Eastern European migrants to the UK in 2004? Was it A, they filled a skills shortage in certain areas of employment.

B, the UK joined the EU and there was free movement to people.

C, eight Eastern European countries joined the EU.

Or D, these migrants wish to take part in the life in the UK citizenship test.

Pause the video so you can have a think about those four options and then come back to me.

Well, hopefully you recognise that the answer is C.

Yes, eight Eastern European countries, also known as the Accession 8 joined the EU, including Poland, Latvia, and Estonia.

Those people also came to the UK.

Now we're looking at the events of 2015.

Many people called this era the European migrant crisis, and in fact, many people say that era is still happening today.

Ongoing and rising conflict in Syria, Kosovo, and Afghanistan meant the UK and Europe received very high levels of asylum applications.

1.

3 million people sought asylum in the EU in 2015.

In 2020, the UK left the EU and some European migrants returned to their home countries, and this resulted in shortages in some employment sectors, particularly in farming.

So what are the migration policies that the UK has today? Well, we have a points-based system, and this was introduced in 2021 to encourage highly skilled and experienced workers to come to the UK.

You can see some of the actual points and characteristics listed on the clipboard there.

The idea is that a migrant needs to achieve a certain number of points before they are eligible for migration.

The UK continues to welcome asylum applications from those facing persecution, and refugee status is granted to some of those.

Right, a check for understanding on that idea.

True or false, immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees are all terms for the same thing.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done if you recognise that that is false.

They are different things.

Now try and explain why they're different.

Yes, there are key differences between these three terms. All asylum seekers are immigrants, but not all immigrants are asylum seekers.

That's a really important distinction to make.

Some people seeking asylum may be granted refugee status, while others may not.

It's really important that we understand the difference between those three terms. We've looked at examples of policies.

Now we're going to think about the impacts those policies have had.

The UK has used migration policies as a way of trying to fill gaps in certain employment sectors.

You can see some examples here.

The UK has a shortage of people with particular skills and experience in things like farm labouring, medicine, dentistry, engineering, construction, IT, and digital technicians, and there are many more areas where the UK really struggles sometimes to fill those jobs.

The wide range of nationalities that come to the UK to work and to seek asylum has created an extremely diverse population, especially in UK cities.

How does that diversity express itself in everyday life? Have a think about that.

Cultural diversity can express itself in the fashions that we see and wear, in the languages that we use, in the foods that we eat, the festivals and religious activities within our communities, and the arts and music that we see, here, and make.

All of those are good representations of our cultural histories.

Checking for understanding now, which of these opportunities have not come about through international migration to the UK? A variety of different places of worship in towns and cities, UK music artists drawing on inspiration from multiple international influences, Animals and bird life from all over the world in UK zoos, and a wide variety of international foods in our supermarkets.

Which of those is not something that has come about through international migration? Pause the video and then I'll tell you the right answer in a moment.

Yes, hopefully you recognise that it's C.

Yes, animals and bird life from all over the world in UK zoos that has nothing to do with international migration, but all the others definitely have come about because of an increase in cultural diversity.

Let's look at our final practise task of today.

Here's Alex, let's see what he's saying.

The UK joining the EU was, in my opinion, the policy that created the greatest cultural diversity in the UK.

Not only did the UK receive migrants whose ancestry was Spanish, French, or German, et cetera.

It also meant that the UK received Europeans whose ancestry was Asian or African or Arabic too.

When the UK became part of the EU, the EU was already culturally diverse itself.

Interesting ideas there.

So to what extent do you agree with Alex? You can either write a statement that supports and importantly extends Alex's points or write a statement that challenges Alex's points.

So something that contradicts his point of view.

Have another read of what Alex has said and do have a really good think about this.

You're going to need to pause the video, perhaps have a chat with somebody nearby as well to see what their opinions are.

Then come back to me and I'll show you an example of the kind of thing you could have written.

So let's start with a statement that supports and extends Alex's points.

Here's an example.

In my opinion, Alex is correct.

When the UK was part of the EU, it not only received migrants with a rich cultural diversity as part of the free movement of people, but also through asylum applications.

In 2015, the European migrant crisis meant that migrants were fleeing into the EU from other regions and this meant that the UK also received asylum seekers from those areas, which increased our cultural diversity.

Now let's look at the other side of things.

We want a statement that is gonna challenge Alex's point, so here's something that your answer might include if you chose this option.

In my opinion, Alex is incorrect, as I believe the policy that created the greatest diversity in the UK was the migration of people from commonwealth countries following the Second World War.

These migrants came from all over the world and changed everything about the UK, bringing so much more than just skills that were needed at the time.

Now, let's summarise our learning from that lesson.

National migration within and international migration into the UK have changed the country in numerous ways.

The UK population has increased, the age structures of regions have altered, and migrants have created uneven distribution patterns across the country.

The UK and the EU have engaged in a number of policies that have had an impact on migration and subsequently on the cultural diversity it now has.

Well done for all of your hard work in that lesson.

It's difficult to produce a lesson like this because often I'm having to talk about migrants as one big anonymous group.

Of course, that is not the case.

Each individual migrant has their own story, their own unique perspectives, and their own reasons for coming to the UK.

Now it's your chance to go and speak to people who consider themselves to be international migrants.

Listen to what they have to say, I'm sure you might be humbled by some of the stories you're going to hear.

The UK migration story is an extraordinary one because it's made up of extraordinary individuals.