European Migrants Contributed GBP 20 B to UK Finances in 2000-2011

Trafalgar Square in London, Britain, 15 October 2014. Photo by EPA/BGNES

European migrants made a net contribution of GBP 20 B to UK public finances between 2000 and 2011, according to economists at University College London.

According to a study of the UCL, the Fiscal Impact of Immigration to the UK, published in the Economic Journal, migrants from the original 15 EU countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain, contributed 64% – GBP15 B more in taxes than they received in welfare – while east European migrants contributed 12%, equivalent to GBP 5 B more.

According to the study, as cited by the BBC News, arrivals from the European Economic Area made a fiscal contribution of GBP 4.4 B between 1995 and 2011, while non-EEA immigrants had made a negative net contribution of GBP 118 B, and British people had made a negative net contribution of GBP 591 B.

According to economists at the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (Cream) at University College London, immigrants who arrived since 2000 were 43% less likely than British people to receive state benefits or tax credits, and 7% less likely to live in social housing.

UCL's Prof Christian Dustmann, co-author of the study, said: “A key concern of the public debate on migration is whether immigrants contribute their fair share to the tax and welfare systems. Our new analysis draws a positive picture of the overall fiscal contribution made by recent immigrant cohorts, particularly of immigrants arriving from the EU.”

Dustmann said that the educational qualifications of new migrants to Britain, especially from western and southern Europe, was now extraordinarily high and higher than any other EU country, according to reports of The Guardian.

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