UK Towns with More Immigrants More Economically Prosperous According to Study

Study Finds British Towns with Most Immigrants Fare Better Economically

A study commissioned by anti-racism charity Hope Not Hate has shown that British towns with the most immigrants and highest levels of diversity are generally more economically prosperous than areas with little immigration.

An analysis of local authorities in England and Wales showed a link”between rising prosperity and rising diversity” – with diverse areas doing better “almost regardless of which metric you use”.

The study concluded that “growing diversity is an inevitable part of increasing prosperity – and, potentially, a contributor to it”.

The study looked into indicators such as economic growth, reductions in deprivation, employment and house prices in 285 council areas outside of big cities between 2011 and 2019.

These factors were compared against metrics such as proportion of people born outside of the UK, proportion of people whose parents were born outside the UK and the local level of non-white British ethnic heritage.

The Results

The results showed that the 50 places with the highest rises in GDP saw non-UK born communities grow at more than twice the pace of the 50 authorities with the lowest GDP rises.

Other findings included:

• 50 towns with highest increase in property values saw number of births to non-UK born mothers increased at three times the pace of the 50 council areas with the smallest property price increases
• The 50 local authorities with the greatest increase in employment saw an average of a 2.2% increase in their non-British populations in comparison to the 50 with the smallest rises that saw a 0.8% increase
• Areas where deprivation eased had twice as rapid an increase in non-UK born populations than areas where deprivation had intensified
• Communities with above-average level of population transience saw the median salary rise by £3,379 in comparison to £3,307 in those with below-average transience

Recommendations propsed

The report recommended that the government should acknowledge the relationship between growth and diversity in the UK. It stressed that the Home Office should update its immigration rules to “support the process by which communities get more diverse”.

Hope Not Hate also called for targeted funding for areas “ensure that economic growth is accompanied by investment in infrastructure” in order to accommodate population rises.

The report recommended the end to the government’s “hostile environment”, which was implemented in 2012.

Chris Clarke, who was author of the study, told the Independent:

“This research suggests that migration and ethnic diversity are inextricably linked to economic growth in our towns and regions, just as much as in big cities.

“Diverse communities are an inherent and inevitable part of ‘levelling up’, and must be understood as a positive if it’s to be a successful policy.

“A commitment to building solidarity and cohesion must run through the ‘levelling up’ agenda like a stick of rock – with the rhetoric and mindset of ‘hostile environment’ being firmly consigned to the past.”

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Rochdale, a town with greatest per capita proportion of asylum seekers in England. [Image credit: Guardian]

Hope not Hate, an anti-racism charity, commissioned the study [Image credit: Hope Not Hate]