Magazine / Society / Mobility / Article | 07/05/2008

Rather stay at home?

Even if most Europeans are generally in favour of mobility, the fear of losing touch with their private surroundings prevents Europeans from getting up and going.

Europeans are positive about mobility in theory, but less so in practice, Eurofound reports. 62 per cent think that mobility is 'a good thing'.

However, only 4 per cent of EU citizens have ever moved to another country in the EU and less than 3 per cent to another country outside the EU. Only 3.1 per cent indicate that they might move to another EU country in the next five years.

Photo: photocase

The main factors inciting Europeans to move across their country's border are the chance to discover a new environment, followed by expectations of better working conditions and a higher household income. The report casts doubts, however, as to whether it will be possible to do anything about the factors that keep 95 per cent of Europeans from taking that step - most consider the risk of losing their social network and support from friends and family as the main drawback.

Citzens of the ten new member states have much less experience of moving to another country than those from the 15 old ones - only 1 per cent of EU-10 citizens have moved abroad, as opposed to 3 per cent from the EU-15. In future, the report says, Central and Eastern Europeans will remain more sedentary than EU-15 citizens. Only 3 per cent of new Europeans plan to move, while the figure for the EU-15 is 5 per cent. Fears of a mass migration from Eastern Europe, which have been spurred in some EU-15 countries, are thus dismissed.

Further articles on the subject » Social Policy / Employment, » Migration, » Labour market / Services, » Europe
More from the press review on the subject » Social Policy / Employment, » Migration, » Labour market / Services, » Europe