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Magyar bevándorlók az Egyesült Királyságban: demográfiai, földrajzi és szociológiai körkép

Author
Affiliation

Chris Moreh

Northumbria University

Abstract
This paper examines Hungarian migration to the United Kingdom following EU accession. Migration from Hungary has generally been low both before and after accession, but trends have recently started to change. Based on the available statistical data, the first part of the paper explores the volume, key demographics and geographical distribution of this migration. The author estimates the current number of first generation Hungarian migrants in the United Kingdom to be at around 86,000, more than one third of whom reside in London. Hungarian migrants are also shown to be young, balanced in terms of gender, and mobile – with more than half of the migrants registering for National Insurance Numbers re-migrating in less than two years. To give a human face to the phenomenon, the second part of the paper analyses narrative interviews collected during a 2013 ethnographic fieldwork in London, highlighting the role of economic decline, policy miscalculations, language competence and the online migration industry in shaping the motivations, aims and accommodation of migrants. The data analysed in the paper also suggests that migration from Hungary is likely to intensify in the years to come, and that the freedoms and rights conferred by EU membership are allowing a highly complex configuration of migration patterns and modalities, urging a reconsideration of the dialectic between temporality and settlement.

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Citation

BibTeX citation:
@article{moreh2014,
  author = {Moreh, Chris},
  title = {Magyar Bevándorlók Az {Egyesült} {Királyságban:} Demográfiai,
    Földrajzi És Szociológiai Körkép},
  journal = {Demográfia},
  volume = {57},
  number = {4},
  pages = {137–172},
  date = {2014},
  langid = {en},
  abstract = {This paper examines Hungarian migration to the United
    Kingdom following EU accession. Migration from Hungary has generally
    been low both before and after accession, but trends have recently
    started to change. Based on the available statistical data, the
    first part of the paper explores the volume, key demographics and
    geographical distribution of this migration. The author estimates
    the current number of first generation Hungarian migrants in the
    United Kingdom to be at around 86,000, more than one third of whom
    reside in London. Hungarian migrants are also shown to be young,
    balanced in terms of gender, and mobile – with more than half of the
    migrants registering for National Insurance Numbers re-migrating in
    less than two years. To give a human face to the phenomenon, the
    second part of the paper analyses narrative interviews collected
    during a 2013 ethnographic fieldwork in London, highlighting the
    role of economic decline, policy miscalculations, language
    competence and the online migration industry in shaping the
    motivations, aims and accommodation of migrants. The data analysed
    in the paper also suggests that migration from Hungary is likely to
    intensify in the years to come, and that the freedoms and rights
    conferred by EU membership are allowing a highly complex
    configuration of migration patterns and modalities, urging a
    reconsideration of the dialectic between temporality and
    settlement.}
}
For attribution, please cite this work as:
Moreh, Chris. 2014. “Magyar Bevándorlók Az Egyesült Királyságban: Demográfiai, Földrajzi És Szociológiai Körkép.” Demográfia 57 (4): 137–72.