This publication presents a comprehensive international comparison of the integration outcomes for immigrants and their children in OECD, EU and selected other countries. It is the fruit of a co‑operation between the European Commission (DG Migration and Home Affairs) and the OECD’s International Migration Division, as part of a regular monitoring of comparable indicators of integration across EU and OECD countries.

Since the publication of the last joint EU-OECD report Indicators of Immigrant Integration: Settling In in 2018, major events have impacted migration and migration policy: COVID‑19, the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which caused the greatest refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War. We have seen unprecedented solidarity with Ukrainian refugees, around 4 million of which are now living in the EU alone, under the umbrella of the EU Temporary Protection Directive.

This publication presents the largest data collection on characteristics and outcomes of immigrants and their children, covering all EU and OECD countries, across 83 indicators covering labour market, education, living conditions, and social integration. These countries are home to a large and increasing number of immigrants, 54 and 141 million foreign-born, respectively, an increase of 20% each over the past decade.

This chapter lays the foundation for this publication by providing an analytical framework for assessing integration outcomes. Since cross-country differences in such outcomes hinge upon the composition of their foreign-born populations, the chapter presents a classification of EU and OECD countries based on the size and category of entry of the migrant population as well as their experience with immigration. Exploring these country groupings further, it identifies common integration challenges as well as differences between countries in the same peer group. The chapter then charts progress in integration outcomes along key dimensions.

This chapter looks at the sizes of immigrant populations (Indicator 2.1) and the socio-demographic background characteristics of immigrants, which drive integration outcomes. They include age (see Chapter 6), gender (Indicator 2.2), differences in fertility (Indicator 2.3) geographical concentration (Indicator 2.4) and household and family structure (Indicators 2.5 and 2.6). In addition to such factors, which also apply to the native‑born, there are certain immigrant-specific determinants like category of entry (Indicator 2.7), duration of stay, and region of origin (Indicator 2.8). A grasp of how they differ from country to country and how immigrants fare relative to the native‑born is a prerequisite for understanding integration outcomes.

Immigrants’ skills and how they integrate into the labour market are fundamental to becoming part of the host country’s economic fabric. Skills and qualifications are indicators of immigrants’ ability to integrate in the host society. Employment is often considered to be the single most important indicator of integration. However, while employment is important per se, job quality is also a strong determinant shaping how immigrants find their place in society. This chapter looks at immigrants’ level of education (Indicator 3.1), their uptake of further training (3.2), host-country language proficiency (3.3) and examines their labour market outcomes (3.4 and 3.5). It presents indicators of labour market exclusion (Indicators 3.6 and 3.7) and consider the characteristics of immigrants’ jobs: types of contracts (Indicator 3.8), working hours (3.9 and 3.10) as well as the skill levels of jobs (3.11). It analyses if migrants are overqualified for their job (Indicator 3.12) and the incidence of self-employment (3.13).

This chapter presents a range of indicators on living conditions; namely, immigrants’ income, housing, and health. It looks first at disposable household income (Indicator 4.1) and the risk of poverty (Indicators 4.2 and 4.3). It then considers housing indicators: tenure (Indicator 4.4), the incidence of overcrowding (Indicator 4.5), general housing conditions (Indicator 4.6), housing costs (Indicator 4.7), as well as the characteristics of the area where immigrants live (Indicator 4.8). Finally, it analyses self-reported health (Indicator 4.9), health risk factors (Indicator 4.10) and the lack of medical treatment (Indicator 4.11).

Social integration is difficult to measure. The indicators presented here are first related to citizenship take‑up (Indicator 5.1), participation in elections (Indicator 5.2), and host-country degree of acceptance of immigration (Indicators 5.3 and 5.4). The chapter then looks at the participation in voluntary organisations (Indicator 5.5), the perceived incidence of discrimination against immigrants on the grounds of ethnicity, race or nationality (Indicator 5.6) and the level of trust in host-country institutions (Indicator 5.7). Finally, it explores a range of indicators related to public opinion on integration (Indicators 5.8, 5.9 and 5.10).

Elderly migrants are a growing group in most countries. Yet, as they reach the final stage of their lives, little is known about their integration challenges and outcomes. Those challenges are difficult to identify, as elderly migrants, reflecting long-standing migration flows, are often very different from other migrant cohorts. In most longstanding destinations, the aged immigrant population has been shaped by arrivals of low-educated “guest workers” and subsequent family migration. This chapter presents a first-time overview of select indicators for this group before the beginning of the COVID‑19 pandemic. It first describes the size and the age composition of the elderly population (Indicator 6.1). Then it looks at their living conditions, namely poverty (Indicator 6.2), housing conditions (6.3) and perceived health (6.4). The last indicator investigates their access to professional homecare (Indicator 6.5).

Youth with foreign-born parents who have been raised and educated in the host country face challenges that are different from those of migrants who arrived as adults. This chapter compares outcomes for native‑born children with foreign-born parents with native-born children with native‑born parents and immigrants who arrived as children. After considering some basic characteristics that help situate young people with foreign-born parents (Indicators 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3), this chapter presents their access to education (7.4 and 7.5), their educational outcomes (7.6 and 7.7), and how they feel treated in the education system (7.8 and 7.9). After summarising their levels of education (Indicator 7.10), it describes indicators on school to work transition (7.11 and 7.12), along with intergenerational educational mobility (7.13), labour market outcomes (7.14 and 7.15) and job characteristics (7.16 and 7.17). It then looks at indicators of living conditions (Indicators 7.18 and 7.19) and social integration (7.20 and 7.21).

This chapter considers the full set of “Zaragoza indicators” for third-country nationals (TCN) in the European Union and other European OECD countries, along with additional pertinent indicators. It compares their outcomes with those of nationals of the country of residence and other EU nationals. The chapter looks first at their size and composition (8.1) as well as duration of stay and origin (8.2). It then analyses outcomes in employment and activity (8.3), unemployment (8.4), self-employment (8.5), overqualification (8.6), educational attainment (8.7), income (8.8), poverty (8.9), housing tenure (8.10), health (8.11), long-term resident status (8.12), participation in voting (8.13), the acquisition of nationality (8.14), and perceived discrimination (8.15).