Attitudes toward immigration in Europe: Cross-regional differences

Background: This article investigates how European public opinion has responded to short-term variations in regional immigration over the past decade (2010-2019). Methods: Combining data from the European Social Survey and the European Union Labour Force Survey and using multilevel modelling, we test how natives’ opinions over migration policy and the contribution of immigrants to society have changed with the net rate of international migrants in 183 EU regions from 21 countries. Results: We find that while European natives living in regions with a higher share of foreign-born populations are generally less anti-immigrant, a short-term increase in the number of immigrants within a given region is associated with more negative attitudes. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate the importance of temporal dynamics for attitudes to immigration. They also point to the relevance of regional variations in attitudes beside cross-country differences.