Immigrant Residential Segregation in Europe: A Comparative Study of Spatial Segregation Patterns in Urban Areas across 30 Countries

TL;DR

This study provides a comprehensive comparison of immigrant-native residential segregation across 717 European urban areas, revealing how demographic, economic, and policy factors influence spatial segregation patterns.

Contribution

It offers the first large-scale, harmonized analysis of spatial segregation in Europe, identifying key structural factors associated with segregation patterns across countries.

Findings

Segregation is higher in Western and Northern Europe.

Urban core and suburban dynamics heavily influence segregation.

Economic and demographic factors are systematically linked to segregation.

Abstract

Immigrant residential segregation can profoundly shape access to opportunities, immigrant integration, and inter-group relations. Yet we lack systematic evidence on how segregation varies across Europe, and what structural factors are associated with these patterns. This study addresses the gap by focusing on two questions: (i) how does immigrant-native segregation vary across urban areas in Europe, and (ii) which urban area- and country-level characteristics are consistently linked to segregation? Using harmonised 1x1 km grid-level data from the 2021/22 census, we calculate spatially weighted Dissimilarity Indices for all 717 Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) across 30 European countries. We combine these measures with rich data on demographics, the economy, housing, immigrant populations, and policy. To identify robust correlates of segregation, we apply a Specification Curve Analysis across 16,164 regression models. Segregation is higher in Western and Northern Europe compared to most of Eastern and Southern Europe. Moreover, we show that segregation is heavily driven by macro-spatial dynamics between diverse urban cores and relatively homogeneous suburban areas. At the urban area level, segregation is systematically linked to the demographic composition and spatial distribution of the local population, economic conditions, housing market characteristics, as well as the composition of the immigrant population. At the national level, established immigrant destinations are more segregated, while migration and integration policies are not consistently linked to segregation. These findings offer the most comprehensive comparative assessment of immigrant segregation across Europe to date, revealing how structural conditions relate to spatial integration.