Living in the EU : asylum and migration

Abstract

Migration from third countries plays an important role in shaping demography in Member States. In addition to the free movement-based internal population flows, Europe has received large numbers of immigrants from outside Europe for many decades. In this context, recent asylum flows to the European Union might contribute to the mitigation of important demographic challenges, depending on the official recognition of asylum-seekers as refugees, their integration into host societies and their own professional qualifications and experience.