Ethnic Origin and Residential Attainment of Immigrants in European Countries

Abstract

Segregated ethnic neighborhoods are prevalent in most contemporary European cities. Whereas patterns of segregation have been studied extensively in America, research on immigrants’ segregation and residential location in Europe is relatively new. The present research utilizes data from the European Social Survey to examine patterns of locational attainment among immigrants across 13 European countries and the extent to which they are influenced by immigrants’ tenure in the host country, socio–economic characteristics, preferences for residential location, exposure to discrimination, and ethnic and cultural origin. The analysis reveals that residential attainment varies considerably across ethnic and cultural groups: immigrants from Asia or Africa as well as Muslims are less likely to reside in neighborhoods which are perceived to be inhabited mostly by Europeans. Although the effects of generation, ethnic origin, and Muslim religion on residential location are quite uniform across countries, some meaningful cross–national differences in patterns and levels of immigrants’ residential segregation are observed and discussed. Net of other effects, differential residential preferences and perception of discrimination are found to influence perceived ethnic composition of immigrants’ neighborhoods.