Topic 9.
11: Migration and Immigration
Key Terms
View the key terms for this topic.
Essential Question: What have been the causes and effects of changes to
migration within, and immigration to, Europe from the end of World War II to
the present?
We will fight until every woman can play the sport that she wants
to play, how she wants to play it.
—Hawa Doucouré, age 19, a soccer player protesting a French sporting
organization’s decision to forbid women from covering their hair while on the field
As Europe became richer and travel became easier, more people
began to immigrate to Europe and within Europe. These changes
have affected European religion, economics, and politics.
Immigration and Religion
A variety of factors affected Europe’s religious makeup in the 20th
century, which had traditionally been characterized as Judeo-
Christian. The Holocaust and repression in the Soviet Union led to
the death or emigration of millions of Jewish citizens from Europe
during and after World War II. At the same time, decolonization
after World War II brought many people from the former colonies
into Europe seeking better economic opportunities. For example,
immigrants came to the United Kingdom from India, Pakistan, and
the Caribbean and to France from North and West Africa. In the
1950s and 1960s, many European nations encouraged immigrants
to come to Europe as guest workers to meet a severe labor
shortage. Many of these newcomers practiced Hinduism,
Buddhism, and Islam.
Starting in the early 1970s, economic conditions caused
governments to discourage immigration. Yet from the 1980s
onward, economic, political, and ecological conditions in many
parts of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East led to an increase in
immigrants and refugees coming to Europe. In 2015, hundreds of
thousands of migrants, many from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq,
massed in Turkey, seeking permission to live in Europe. Some
migrations ended in tragedy. In 2018, the United Nations reported
that more than 2,000 migrants drowned that year while trying to
reach Europe.
Growth of the Muslim Population The minority religion that
grew the most with increased immigration to Europe was Islam.
Muslims (those who practice Islam) made up about 1 percent of the
population of many European countries in 1970, although France’s
Muslim population was 3.9 percent of the total. In 2016, the overall
Muslim population of Europe was about 5 percent, with France
having the highest proportion at 8.8 percent. Germany and the
United Kingdom each had slightly more than 6 percent.
THE MUSLIM POPULATION OF EUROPE, C. 2017
Source: World Factbook
Debates About Religion In spite of increased immigration,
Europe remained predominantly Christian, with about 75 percent
of the population identified as Christians in 2010. However, nearly
20 percent identified as “unaffiliated,” marking a growth in
Europe’s secularism. In 2018, an extensive survey of people in
Western Europe revealed that 64 percent of the population
identified as Christian, but only 18 percent said they went to
church at least once per month.
Europe’s secularism created a strong separation between
church and state. The rapid growth of Islam as a larger minority
religion caused debate and conflict about the role of religion in
social and political life. For example, Muslim girls are prohibited to
wear headscarves in public schools in France. (Islamic rules about
modesty apply to the clothing and behavior of men and women.
Many Muslims believe that women should cover their hair as a sign
of modesty.) One study in 1997 showed that a large majority of
Europeans agreed that immigrants who wished to be fully accepted
into society needed to give up any part of their religion or culture
that conflicted with European laws. In politics, some countries
allowed immigrants to vote and run for local office, while others
have made it increasingly difficult for them to become naturalized
citizens.
Immigrants as Targets
Because of the economic growth of the 1950s and 1960s, many
guest workers from southern Europe, Asia, and Africa immigrated
to Western and Central Europe. After the economic downturn of the
1970s, these workers and their families often became targets of
anti-immigrant agitation and extreme nationalist political parties.
In France, for example, the right-wing National Rally political party
(formerly known as the National Front) supports French
nationalism and controls on immigration. It has been accused of
encouraging xenophobia, or an intense fear or dislike of people
from other countries, and antisemitism. In 2020, a French court
fined the National Rally and jailed two of its leaders for defrauding
the party’s own candidates. The Freedom Party of Austria, founded
in 1956, also argued for stricter controls on immigration and has
warned against the “over-foreignization” of Austrian society. The
party has become increasingly anti-Muslim over the years.
A 2015 anti-Islam protest in Poland by the National Radical Camp (Source: Wikimedia
Commons)
