On 11 April, Prof Frances McGinnity presented the findings from our latest report titled 'Origin and integration: Housing and family among migrants in the 2016 Irish Census'. Read the full publication: https://www.esri.ie/publications/origin-and-integration-housing-and-family-among-migrants-in-the-2016-irish-census

1. .
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ORIGIN AND INTEGRATION: HOUSING
AND FAMILY AMONG MIGRANTS IN THE
2016 IRISH CENSUS
DATE
Monday April 11th 2022
AUTHORS
Frances McGinnity
Ivan Privalko
Helen Russell
Sarah Curristan
Amy Stapleton
James Laurence

2. .
Introduction
• Rapid migration to Ireland, peaking in the early 2000s, led to increase in the
number of adults born outside Ireland. How well are they faring?
• Housing is a key component of integration, as adequate housing provides
safety and shelter, allows people to work, participate in education and in
society more broadly.
• Migrants, like other individuals, are embedded in families, and the structure
and nature of migrants’ families have implications for the integration of
migrants and their children.
• Using Census 2016 microdata, this report compares the housing and family
situation of people born in Ireland with that of first-generation migrants,
examining what this means for their integration.

3. .
Introduction
• Similar to much integration research, we compare housing and family situation
of migrant groups (born abroad) to that of Irish-born
• This is a typical benchmark, though useful to remember that e.g. home
ownership is high in Ireland and overcrowding is low, by international
standards
• We use information on all residents in Ireland in April 2016, so great potential
to distinguish more migrant groups than before (11 migrant groups)
• Complements the Monitoring Report on Integration series by presenting much
more detailed information on housing and family situation, for a much broader
range of groups

4. .
4 11 April 2022
Housing and Family Outcomes
Housing Tenure
Homelessness*
Overcrowding
Household
composition
‘Mixed unions’ (migrant-
Irish-born partnerships)
Number of children
Note: Homelessness – using published census 2016 data.

5. .
Context: Immigration to Ireland 2000-2019
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Thousands
UK EU 15 Excl. Irl, UK* EU 15-28** Non-EU
Census 2016
Source: CSO, ‘Population and migration estimates’, up to end April of reference year.

6. .
Context: Households by tenure, Ireland –
1960-2016
4/11/2022
Source: Corrigan, 2019, using Census data reports.

7. .
Data and Methods – Census 2016
• All usually resident in Ireland on night of 24
April 2016 (no tourists, visitors)
• Coverage – full population - includes communal
accommodation, homeless
• Individuals for housing analysis: best info on
families for Head of household
• Migrant= born outside Rep. of Ireland
• Models to explore to what extent differences
linked to origin country, age, gender, family
structure, time in Ireland, location, ethnicity etc

8. .
Migrant Groups (Census 2016)
MENA (Middle
East and North
Africa)
Other Europe
UK (inc NI)
EU-East
(Other)
EU-West
Nth America
/Oceania
South Asia
Central/South
America
Poland
East Asia
Africa
(exc Nth Africa)
Based on international classifications of migrants - eg UN - and adapting
them for Ireland

9. .
Size of migrant groups (Census 2016)
4/11/2022
Region/country of birth Frequency Percentage
Ireland 3,781,881 82.7
UK, including NI 269,766 5.9
Poland 114,333 2.5
Other West EEA 62,666 1.4
Other East EEA 115,402 2.5
Other Europe 25,780 0.6
North America plus Oceania 41,308 0.9
Central and South America 23,807 0.5
MENA 17,989 0.4
Sub-Saharan and Other Africa 42,846 0.9
South Asia 44,315 1.0
East Asia 35,593 0.8
Total 4,575,686 100
Source: Census 2016. Excludes a small number of cases for whom individual country of birth was not
recorded.

10. .
Housing Tenure by Country of birth
(individuals)
Source: Census microdata 2016. N=4,386,883. All respondents living in
private households, who are usually resident in the household.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Ireland
Elsewhere
UK and NI
Poland
Other West EEA
Other East EEA
Other Europe
North America plus…
Central and South…
MENA
Sub-Saharan and…
South Asia
East Asia
Own Home Private Rental Local Authority / Approved Housing Bodies

11. .
Factors associated with private renting (vs.
owner occupier)
• Age group – and many migrants are young
adults
• Location – urban; not being employed
• For migrants: recent arrivals, poor language
skills, no Irish partner.
• Even after accounting for differences, private
renting still much higher among many migrant
groups, especially East Europeans
4/11/2022

12. .
Proportion of individuals living in overcrowded accommodation* by
country of birth (individuals)
Source: Census 2016 microdata. N = 4,292,293.
Note: *Overcrowding is recognised as occurring when the number of people in the household exceeds the number of
rooms. Overcrowding pertains to individuals in private households only.
0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 40.00 45.00
Ireland
Elsewhere
UK inc NI
Poland
Other West EEA
Other East EEA
Other Europe
North America plus Oceania
Central and South America
MENA
Subsaharan and Other African
South Asia
East Asia

13. .
Factors linked to overcrowding
• Country of origin
• Non-employment/low skilled employment
• Ethnicity – esp. Irish Traveller, also Black, Asian
• Poor English language skills
• Family structure (married/cohabiting couples
with children)
• Urban location; renting (private or LA)
• Accounting for these factors – much reduces
Irish/migrant difference
4/11/2022

14. .
Household composition (HoH aged 20-54)
Source: Census microdata 2016. N = 1,001,581 households. All
household heads are usually resident in Ireland.
Ireland
UK inc NI
Poland
Other West EEA
Other East EEA
Other Europe
North America plus Oc
Central and South Ame
MENA
Subsaharan and other
South Asia
East Asia
All migrants
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
One person HH Couple no child Couple & child Lone parent Other Unrelated

15. .
Factors linked to lone parenthood
• Generally, most migrant HoHs less likely to be
in lone parent households than Irish-born
• UK born and Sub-Saharan important
exceptions – more likely to be lone parents
• Lone parenthood associated with lower
education, non-employment, renting
• Note: only observe those living in household
and parents or children may be living abroad
4/11/2022

16. .
Mixed unions (Household heads 20-54)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
All Migrants
Poland
South Asia
Other East EEA
East Asia
Other Europe
MENA
Central and South Ame
Subsaharan and other
Other West EEA
North America plus Oc
UK and NI
Both partners born abroad One partner born in Ireland No partner

17. .
Some Policy Implications
• Across the Western world, migrants tend to rent. In
Ireland, challenges in private rented sector
disproportionately affect migrants
• Protection from rising rents, adequate standards are very
important
• Making housing a priority in next Migrant Integration
Strategy – an urgent action
• For disadvantaged/low income migrants (& other
disadvantaged groups) – increase provision of local
authority housing so not competing for rented property
• For migrants who can afford it, reduce some barriers to
accessing mortgage credit
4/11/2022

18. .
Limitations & Further research
• Could definitely explore mixed unions in more
depth, including ‘intra-ethnic partnerships’
• Do outcomes differ for men and women?
• We do not have detailed information on income
• No ‘second generation’ (GUI data here)
• We only observe people in the household in April
2016 – no family abroad, or ‘histories’
• Can’t identify refugees and this is important
4/11/2022

19. .
Key Messages
• Migrants face greater challenges in the Irish housing market than
Irish-born
• Migrants concentrated in the private rented sector and at higher risk
of overcrowding
• Non-Irish nationals more at risk of homelessness
• Greater similarities in family indicators like lone parenthood and
number of children – though pronounced migrant group differences
here
• Mixed unions vary across groups – 70 of UK/American migrant groups
partnered with Irish, for Polish 3 per cent, South Asia 4 per cent.

20. .
Thanks for listening! Comments welcome
Want to read more:
https://www.esri.ie/publications/origin-and-integration-housing-
and-family-among-migrants-in-the-2016-irish-census
Research programme publications:
https://www.esri.ie/current-research/integration-and-equality-
research-programme
Coming soon... Wages and working conditions of non-Irish nationals