The number of Hungarians living in London increased to 100,000

Origo.hu reports that since the European Union was joined by Eastern European countries, the number of Hungarian people in London got doubled. Apart from Eastern Europe, most of the job seekers go to Britain from south of the Euro-zone. They leave their countries because of the better labour conditions and more opportunities that are available in the United Kingdom.

Since the Union’s expansion in 2004 the number of foreign, EU nationals living in the United Kingdom became twice as much as it was: by now over 3 million EU nationals live there. According to the Migration Observatory’s research, referred to by origo, the top 6 nations sending people to the UK are Poland, Romania, Spain, Italy, Hungary and Portugal.

It is also reported that from those 6 countries only 1.04 million people arrived to the UK in 2011, whereas in 2015 1.59 million were living there, making up 79% of the increased migration (since 2011). Furthermore, the report includes that the number of Polish people living in the UK rose to 818 thousand from 615 thousand, and the number of Romanians to 227 thousand from 87 thousand.

Also, 137 thousand Spanish people lived there by 2015, while previously, in 2011, 63 thousand did. The number of Italians also increased: it was 126 thousand before, but it rose to 176 thousand. So did the number of Hungarians: it was 96 thousand last year and became 50 thousand in 2011. About the Portuguese people, it turned out that earlier 96 thousand lived there, by 2015 that number became 140 thousand.

According to the Migration Observatory’s research, it is not the social benefits why people decide to move to the UK. The poor working conditions and lower wages in the jobseekers’ home countries are the factors that make them leave their homes. For instance, the unemployment rate in Spain is still over 20%, but even in Portugal and Italy it is over 10%, whereas in the UK it is slightly over 5%.