Chapter 1 - The Socio-Economic Framework The economic dynamics The natural demographic context
Chapter 2 - A General Overview of the Regional Migratory Balances in the European Union during the Four Last Decades The methodology The overall evolutions Pertinent scales and socio-economic explanations
Chapter 3 - The International Migrations The global tendencies of immigration in Europe The national specificities of immigration The asylum seekers Clandestine immigration Profile of the immigrants Where are they going to? The new forms of international migrations and the European Union
Chapter 4 - The Spatial Logistics of the Present-Day Mobility in Europe Migratory balances and metropolitan areas The early industrial areas Contrasting migratory balances in the rural areas Retirement migrations Cross-boundaries mobility
Chapter 5 - The Migratory Balances in the Central-European Countries
Chapter 6 - Conclusions The main trends What about the future?
The socio-economic framework : the evolution of migratory patterns must be considered in the framework of the economic evolution, but it is also evident that migrations are less related to interregional economic disparities now than a few decades ago. International migrations from outside the Western European countries now occur on a more individual basis than before, and surely no more organised by the Western European states and big companies, as during the Sixties. The migratory pattern also has to be examined in the framework of a stagnant demography.
A general overview of the regional migratory balances in the European Union during the four last decades: after short methodological considerations, this chapter describes the geographical pattern of the migratory balances, decade after decade. It emphasises the strong movements of the Sixties and the beginning of the Seventies, the weak migratory balances of the Eighties and a growing migratory trend during the Nineties. The pertinent explanations must be examined at different geographical scales.
International migrations : Immigration towards Europe is changing in nature : a rush from the Eastern part of Europe at the beginning of the Nineties, a growing part of the migrations from overseas, asylum seekers, clandestine immigration, but also temporary immigration of international executives in the main metropolitan areas. This chapter examines the new profiles of the migrants and the question of where they are going to.
The spatial logics of present-day mobility in Europe : what are the reasons for the new migratory flows to and from the main metropolitan areas ? What about the early manufacturing areas? Are rurbanisation processes superseding the rural exodus in all rural areas or not? What about the situation in the very peripherical regions, like Northern Scandinavia? What is the importance of the heliotropic migrations? Is cross-border migration growing?
The migratory balances in the Central-European countries : what were the consequences of the fall of the so-called socialist economies and the opening to the West on the migratory balances ? Aside from the attraction for the West, there are also movements from countries further East, using the Central-Eastern European countries as a step to the West. The economic and demographic situation of the old industrial areas is weakening; on the contrary the growth is strong in the capital regions, with an entirely new trend to periurbanisation, and the situation is better in the regions more open to the West.
Following a synthesis of the main new trends, the conclusive chapter introduces several hypotheses concerning possible evolutions in the near future.
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