Migration and the economic crisis in the european union member states: Cluster analysis

Abstract

European Union (EU) is facing large migration flows, whose distribution and volatility in the observed period between 2006 and 2015 across the EU member states, among other factors, were affected by the financial and economic crisis. This paper examines how the homogeneity of the EU member states was changing with respect to economic performance and migration statistics indicators. Consequently, the non-hierarchical cluster analysis by using k-means method was conducted based on the average values of the selected variables in four time periods: the pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis periods. The fourth period is year 2015, the beginning of massive immigration in the EU area due to world migration crisis. Our results indicate relative stability of the number and structure of clusters of EU-28 member states in the selected time periods on the bases of observed variables. There are few exceptions, however, related to countries that were heavily influenced by the financial and economic crisis, and Germany which stood out with decreasing unemployment rates and increasing net migration values in the post-crisis period.