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).
Indicators of Immigrant Integration 2023
7. Integration of young people with foreign-born parents
Abstract
In Brief
The share of young people with foreign-born parents is increasing
Across the EU, 23% of young people between the age of 15 and 34, are either foreign-born themselves or have foreign-born parents. Native‑born with at least one foreign-born parent account for 10% EU-wide. The respective share in the OECD is 28%, of which half are native‑born with at least one foreign-born parent. Among children under the age of 15, the share is slightly higher in the EU (25%) and similar OECD-wide (28%).
The share of young people with one or two foreign-born parents among the population aged 15 to 34 years old increased over the last decade by 2.3 percentage points EU‑wide, and 2.6 points OECD‑wide.
There are more native‑born young people (15‑34) of mixed parentage than with two foreign-born parents in Australia, New Zealand, Israel and, save in German-speaking countries, in most EU countries. By contrast, children under 15 with two foreign-born parents outnumber those of mixed parentage in most longstanding immigrant destinations, most Southern Europe, Sweden, Norway and Canada.
Children of immigrants continue to face challenges in school but there are signs of catching up
Children in foreign-born households are less likely than those in native‑born households to attend Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in most countries, but their attendance rate has increased over the last decade almost everywhere, closing the gap with children of native‑born. In the EU, the benefit of preschool is almost a year of schooling for children of immigrants, much more than for their peers with native‑born parents (less than half a year).
More than half of pupils with foreign-born parents in the OECD and the EU go to schools in the highest quartile of shares of children who are also of foreign-born parentage. Concentrations of pupils with foreign-born parents increased over the last decade in almost all countries, especially in the United Kingdom, Italy and the Nordic countries.
In Latin America and Europe, children of immigrants have lower reading skills than their peers with native‑born parents. The reverse is true in most other non-European countries.
In the EU, 29% of native‑born pupils with foreign-born parents lack basic reading skills, against 38% of their peers with immigrant parents and 18% of those with native‑born parents.
Native‑born children of immigrants have improved their reading scores in both the OECD and the EU, while those of their peers with native‑born parents have stayed relatively stable, thereby closing part of the gap.
The gap in reading literacy between the two groups remains in most countries, regardless of schools’ socio-economic intake, except in Italy, France, Costa Rica, Spain and the United Kingdom, where the gap closes.
Considering only disadvantaged pupils, the share of top performers in reading is higher among native‑born children of immigrants than among their peers with native‑born parents in most countries, although not in non-European countries, the United Kingdom and France.
EU‑wide, young adults with immigrant parents are less likely than their peers of native‑born parentage to be highly educated (32% vs 40%) and more likely to be low-educated (21% vs.14%). The opposite is true in non‑EU countries. The shares of highly educated young adults with foreign-born parents have increased in the EU and OECD over the last decade.
In the EU, native‑born young people with at least one foreign-born parent are more likely to better their parents’ educational attainment than the offspring of native‑born parents.
The dropout rate in the EU is 11% among the native‑born with foreign-born parents – higher than their peers of native‑born parentage in most EU countries and at 8%, much higher than among their native‑born peers also in Japan. Rates are generally higher among boys. Dropout rates have fallen over the last eight years, irrespective of parents’ country of birth.
Native‑born with foreign-born parents are catching up in the labour market
Around 17% of native‑born young people with foreign-born parents, in both the OECD and the EU, are neither in employment, education or training (NEET). These rates are higher than among their peers of native‑born parentage in virtually all EU countries, though not everywhere outside the EU.
In most countries, native‑born young people of foreign-born parentage are less likely to be in employment than their peers of native‑born parentage, and more likely to be unemployed. Employment gaps are highest in Belgium and Spain. The gap is partially closed among those who are highly educated, but not in the United States and France among others.
Despite the COVID‑19 crisis, labour market outcomes were better for native‑born with foreign-born parents in 2021 than in 2012. Their employment rates were higher and unemployment lower, especially in the countries where poor outcomes are observed, thereby closing the gap with those with native‑born parentage. Unemployment rate, however, increased among native‑born with foreign-born parents in the United States.
Almost a quarter of highly educated youth with foreign-born parents aged 25 to 34 are formally overqualified for the jobs they hold in the EU. The young native‑born of foreign-born parentage are more likely to be overqualified for their job than their peers with native‑born parents in most longstanding European destinations, but generally not outside the EU.
The native‑born of foreign-born parentage are underrepresented in the public services in most countries, especially in the EU but not in Israel, the United Kingdom and Sweden.
Poorer living conditions and intersectional discrimination remain key challenges
In virtually all countries, children under 16 in immigrant households are more at risk of living in relative poverty than those in native‑born households. Their relative poverty rate is at least 50% higher in most countries.
More than one‑third of children in immigrant households live in overcrowded accommodation in the EU, against less than one in five in native‑born households. This difference disappears between children of foreign- and native‑born parents from the age of 25.
In the EU, more than one in five native‑born with foreign-born parents feel part of a group that is discriminated against based on ethnicity, nationality and race. Native‑born with foreign-born parents are more likely to feel this way than foreign-born adults, except for Israel, Austria and the United States. This might be due to better knowledge of their rights and greater awareness of discriminatory practices.
Perceived discrimination has increased between the periods 2010‑14 and 2016‑20. This development was driven by increased levels among groups at risk of intersectional discrimination including women, young people born to non-EU-born parents and individuals raised in a foreign language.
7.1. Youth aged 15 to 34 years with foreign-born parents
Indicator context
Young people with foreign-born parents are divided into four categories: a) native‑born with two foreign-born parents; b) native‑born with mixed parentage (one native‑ and one foreign-born parent); c) foreign-born who immigrated as children (arriving in the host country before the age of 15); d) foreign-born who immigrated as adults (at 15 years old or over, not a focus of this chapter). Native‑born with native‑born parents are thus those with two native‑born parents.
Across the EU, 23% of young people aged 15 to 34 are either foreign-born themselves or have foreign-born parents. The native‑born account for 10%, of whom 4% have foreign-born parents and 6% one native‑ and one foreign-born parent. A further 3% are childhood arrivals, while 10% came as adults. The share of young people with foreign-born parents is higher in OECD countries at 28%. Of those, 8% are native‑born of foreign-born parentage, 6% are of mixed parentage, 5% immigrated as children, and 10% arrived as adults. Young people (whether native‑ or foreign-born) with at least one foreign-born parent represent 22 million people in the EU and 60 million in the OECD – 42% live in the United States, 10% in Germany, 7% in both France and the United Kingdom, and 5% in Canada and Australia.
Countries that are home to the largest overall shares of foreign-born are also those which have the largest shares of young people with foreign-born parents. More than half of the young in Luxembourg, Australia and Switzerland are of such parentage, as are 45% in New Zealand and almost 40% in Sweden, Canada and Austria. The shares of native‑born with at least one foreign-born parent remains above 15% in other longstanding immigration countries. In a number of countries, this group outnumbers those who are foreign-born themselves, e.g. in Israel, France, the Netherlands and the United States. The youth of mixed parentage is more numerous than that with two foreign-born parents in Australia, New Zealand, Israel and in most EU countries, while the reverse is true in German-speaking countries, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. Young immigrants who arrived as adults outnumber twofold those who arrived as children in most EU countries and Australia, while numbers of child and adult arrivals are most similar in the United States and Canada.
In countries for which data are available, young people with foreign-born parents have increased as a share of all youth over the last decade by 2.3 percentage points EU‑wide, and 2.6 points OECD‑wide. In the EU, the rise was similar to that of foreign-born youth. By contrast, shares of young immigrants declined in the United States, Israel and all non‑EU European countries. Shares of the native‑born with at least one foreign-born parent climbed in most countries, with the steepest increases observed in the United States (by 3.4 percentage points), Spain (3.5 points) Finland (4 points) and Austria (6 points). By contrast, the shares of native‑born with at least one foreign-born parent fell slightly in Australia and France and dropped by 7 percentage points in Israel.
Main findings
EU‑wide, 23% of 15‑34 year-olds have at least one foreign-born parent. That share is 28% in the OECD, where half have at least one foreign-born parent and the other half are immigrants.
There are more native‑born youth of mixed parentage than with two foreign-born parents in Australia, New Zealand, Israel and, except in German-speaking countries, in EU countries.
The share of native‑born youth with foreign-born parents increased 2.3 percentage points EU‑wide and 2.6 points OECD‑wide, a rise similar to that of foreign-born youth in the EU.
Figure 7.1. Share of young people with foreign-born parents
Figure 7.2. How the youth population has evolved
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.2. Children under 15 years old with foreign-born parents
Indicator context
Children under 15 with foreign-born parents fall into three categories: a) native‑born with two foreign-born parents; b) native‑born with mixed parentage (one native‑ and one foreign-born parent); c) foreign-born.
One in four children (13.5 million) in the EU are either foreign-born themselves or have foreign-born parents: 12% had two foreign-born parents, 8% were of mixed parentage, and only 4% were foreign-born themselves. In the OECD, the proportion of children who are foreign-born or have foreign-born parents is higher, at 28%, due to the greater share (15%) of children with two immigrant parents. Of all 37 million children with foreign-born parents in the OECD, 43% reside in the United States, around 10% in both the United Kingdom and in Germany, and 8% in France.
In Luxembourg, nearly four in five (78%) children have foreign-born parents, by far the largest share in the EU and the OECD. Shares are also relatively high in Cyprus, Austria and Australia, at over two in five children. By contrast, in Central and Eastern European countries, where the immigrant population is much smaller and ageing, only one in five children has foreign-born parents, mostly of mixed parentage. Furthermore, children with two foreign-born parents are more numerous than those of mixed parentage in all longstanding immigrant destinations (save the Netherlands), most Southern European countries, Sweden, Norway and Canada. By contrast, young adults of foreign-born parentage in Europe are mostly of mixed parentage, except in German-speaking countries (see Indicator 7.1).
Over the last decade, the share of native‑born children of foreign-born parentage has grown significantly in all countries – with the exception of Greece and the Central and Eastern European countries. EU‑wide, the increase is 4 percentage points, twice as high as among 15‑34 year‑olds. The rise has been steepest in Norway (9 percentage points), Finland (10 points) and Cyprus (11 points). Denmark, Italy and Ireland have also experienced large increases, albeit to a lesser extent. By contrast, the proportion of foreign-born children has remained fairly unchanged EU‑wide, with less than one‑quarter of countries reporting significant increases. The most pronounced leaps, of around 5 percentage points, come in Luxembourg, as well as Sweden and Germany, which took in comparatively large arrivals of humanitarian migrants in 2015‑16. In contrast, Ireland, Spain and Greece are among the few countries recording drops in the proportion of foreign-born children.
Main findings
One in four children in the EU are either foreign-born or have foreign-born parents. Half have two foreign-born parents, one‑third are of mixed parentage, and one‑sixth are foreign-born themselves. In the OECD, the share of children with foreign-born parents is even higher, at 28%.
Unlike the young aged between 15 and 34 years old, children under 15 with two foreign-born parents outnumber those of mixed parentage in all longstanding immigrant destinations (save the Netherlands), most Southern European countries, and in Norway, Sweden and Canada.
The share of native‑born children with foreign-born parents has increased by 4 percentage points across the EU, while the share of foreign-born children has remained stable.
Figure 7.3. Children with foreign-born parents
Figure 7.4. How the share of children of immigrants has evolved
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.3. Regions of parental origin
Indicator context
Regions of origin in the OECD context are groups of countries of origin (see glossary for a detailed explanation of the grouping). Region of parental origin is the father’s region of birth for native‑born with two foreign-born parents (aged 15 to 34) and the country of birth for foreign-born who arrived as children (before the age of 15). Foreign-born offspring with EU‑born parentage are those who have at least one parent born in another country that is part of the European free mobility zone.
EU‑wide, 51% of the native‑born with two immigrant parents have a father born in Europe, followed by 26% with fathers of African origin, 18% of Asian, and 5% of Latin American. At country level, native‑born with fathers from Africa make up the largest group in France (65%), Portugal (55%) and Belgium (52%), while Asian parentage is most common in Denmark (45%). European origin is the largest group for all other EU countries, except Spain. As for the foreign-born who arrived in the EU as children, 52% come from non-European regions – especially Asia (21%), Latin America (16%) and Africa (14%). In the European Union, having a foreign-born parent from another EU country is much more common among native‑born with mixed parents (one native‑ and one foreign-born parent) than those with two foreign-born parents. While 48% of native‑born children of mixed parentage have one EU‑ or EFTA‑born parent, only 18% do among the native‑born offspring of two foreign-born parents.
In the United States, around nine in ten native‑born children with foreign-born parents have fathers from either Latin America (67%) or Asia (24%), followed by Africa and Europe (both 4%). The same is true of the foreign-born who arrived in the United States as children, with eight in ten originating from Latin America and Asia (54% and 26%, respectively), followed by 12% from Europe and 6% from Africa. In Canada and Australia, around 45% of the native‑born offspring of foreign-born parents have fathers born in Asia. With regard to broad regions of paternal origin, young people are most diverse in Canada and the Netherlands, and most homogeneous in Luxembourg where most native‑born with foreign-born parents have EU-born parentage.
Data for the EU are not comparable over time due to definitional changes in Germany. In the United States, the regions of birth of the foreign-born fathers of native‑born children have remained largely stable over the past decade. In Canada, by contrast, the share of native‑born of European parentage decreased between 2011 and 2016 by 8 percentage points, while that of all other regions of birth of the fathers has grown, particularly for Asia.
Main findings
EU‑wide, 65% of the native‑born offspring of two foreign-born parents have fathers born outside Europe, while 47% of the foreign-born who arrived as children came from non-European countries.
In the United States, two‑thirds of native‑born children with foreign-born parents have fathers from Latin America. In Australia and Canada, almost one in two native‑born offspring of foreign-born parents have fathers born in Asia.
Figure 7.5. Regions of birth of the father of young people with foreign-born parents
Figure 7.6. Regions of birth of the father of young people with foreign-born parents, by country
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.4. Early childhood education and care (ECEC)
Indicator context
Evidence shows that children, especially those who are disadvantaged, who attend early childhood education and care are more likely to succeed, first at school then as adults in the labour market. ECEC is even more important for the children of immigrants, who have weaker ties with the host-country language in early childhood.
Attendance rates in formal childcare and preschool services are defined as paid care services for children aged 2‑5 that are provided either through organised structures (e.g. nursery school and childcare centres) or through direct arrangements between parents and care providers, even if only for a few hours per week.
Across the EU, the vast majority (88%) of children in immigrant households attend some type of preschool education and care, while less than two‑thirds do so in the United States and Australia. In most countries, ECEC attendance among children in immigrant households is below that of their peers from native‑born households. This is especially true in Cyprus, the Netherlands and Italy. There is however no significant difference in access to ECEC between children in native‑ and foreign-born households in the German-speaking countries, Spain or the United States.
While ECEC attendance has increased over the last decade in two‑thirds of countries, it has risen for children in immigrant households in almost all countries, narrowing or even closing the gap with native‑born households. In the EU (especially Spain) and Norway, the increase is over 2.5 times greater than ECEC attendance for children in native‑born households. ECEC attendance has even dropped in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Belgium and the United States, while growing in immigrant households.
The opportunity to attend ECEC depends on the provision of preschool services (lower outside Europe) and their cost (usually higher outside Europe). Gender norms in countries of origin may also restrict parents’ use of ECEC – if mothers, for example, bear the full burden of child rearing, they participate less in the labour market. ECEC attendance in the EU is 3 percentage points lower in households where all members are non‑EU born than among households where they are all EU-born. This under-representation in ECEC is particularly troublesome because children who attend preschool have higher PISA reading scores at 15 years old, even after accounting for socio-economic background. The benefit of preschool after that account is almost a year of schooling in the EU (37 points) for children of immigrants, who benefit much more from ECEC than their peers with native‑born parents (15 points only). The benefit is greatest in Germany and Italy, at almost 1.5 school years, as well as in Austria and Portugal (1 year) – more than for children with native‑born parents. Preschool generally yields less pronounced advantages for foreign- and native‑born offspring in Australia, North America and the Netherlands (around 10 points for both).
Main findings
Although the vast majority of children in immigrant households attend ECEC in Europe, in most countries, their attendance rates are below those in native‑born households.
Although ECEC attendance has increased over the last decade in half of countries, it has risen in virtually all countries among children in immigrant households, closing a large part of the gap.
The benefit of preschool in the EU is almost a year of schooling at 15 for children of immigrants, much more than for their peers with native‑born parents (less than half a year). Preschool yields less pronounced advantages for either group in the Netherlands or outside Europe.
Figure 7.7. Early childhood education attendance rates by parents’ or guardians’ place of birth
Figure 7.8. How attendance rates in early childhood education have evolved
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.5. Concentrations in schools of pupils with foreign-born parents
Indicator context
High concentrations of pupils of foreign-born parentage in schools may adversely impact those pupils’ learning progress if coupled with concentration of socio-economic disadvantage.
This section considers shares of pupils either foreign-born or with at least one foreign-born parent who attend the quartile of schools with the heaviest concentrations of such children.
Both EU- and OECD‑wide, over half of 15‑year‑old pupils with at least one foreign-born parent go to the quartile of schools with the highest shares of pupils who also have one or more foreign-born parents. School concentrations of the children of the foreign-born are particularly high in countries where immigrant populations are small. In Türkiye and most Central European, Latin American and Asian OECD countries, at least 60% of the children of immigrants attend schools with the greatest concentrations of such children. This proportion exceeds 70% in Japan, Poland and Korea. Children of immigrants are much less concentrated in the same schools in countries with large shares of people with foreign-born parents, such as in the settlement countries or longstanding European destinations. Less than 40% of pupils of foreign-born parentage attend the most concentrated schools in Luxembourg, Ireland, Switzerland and New Zealand. However, concentrations remain above the OECD average in the United Kingdom, the United States and the Baltic countries.
Except in the Baltic countries (bar Estonia), Mexico and Israel, the share of pupils with at least one foreign-born parent increased OECD- and EU‑wide between 2009 and 2018. In many countries, rises were almost twice as high in the most concentrated schools as in other schools. Overall, shares increased the most in the United Kingdom, Italy and the Nordic countries. Indeed, in 2018 there were higher concentrations than in 2009 of the children of the foreign-born in schools in most countries – though not in countries where populations of foreign-born parentage are more dispersed, as in Luxembourg and New Zealand. Concentrations have actually eased over the last decade in Greece and not significantly increased in the Netherlands, Switzerland or Canada. Among countries where shares of pupils with foreign-born parents have dropped, falls have been greatest in the most concentrated schools, which points to declines in concentrations of pupils with foreign-born parents.
Main findings
More than half of pupils with foreign-born parents in the OECD and the EU go to schools with the highest shares of children who are also of foreign-born parentage. Concentrations of such children in schools are actually higher in countries with small immigrant populations.
Concentrations of pupils with foreign-born parents have increased over the last decade in most countries, especially in the United Kingdom, Italy and the Nordic countries.
Figure 7.9. Concentrations of children of immigrants in schools
Figure 7.10. How concentrations of children of immigrants in schools has evolved
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.6. Reading literacy
Indicator context
The ability to read has broad implications for life chances.
Reading literacy scores in the language of the country of residence are drawn from OECD PISA tests of students at age 15. A 40 PISA score point gap is equivalent to roughly a year of school.
In virtually all European and Latin American countries, the native‑born with foreign-born parents lag behind their peers of native‑born parentage in literacy. EU‑wide, the gap in reading scores reaches 34 points – almost a school year – and exceeds a year e.g. in all Nordic countries and longstanding European destinations (save the United Kingdom). In most non-European countries outside Latin America, by contrast, native‑born children of immigrants outperform their peers with native‑born parents. When it comes to foreign-born 15‑year‑olds, they lag behind both former groups virtually everywhere.
Over the last decade, the reading scores of native‑born children of immigrants have improved in two‑thirds of countries. EU‑wide, they have improved by 8 points, whereas those of their peers of native‑born parentage have been relatively stable in both the EU and the OECD. In the United States, New Zealand and Canada, for example, where native‑born pupils with foreign-born parents have improved their reading scores by at least 13 points, they now outperform their peers of native‑born parentage. In certain EU countries, by contrast, their scores fall more steeply than those of their peers with native‑born parents – by over 35 points in Finland, the Netherlands and Greece.
Immigrant families’ often less privileged socio-economic backgrounds impair their children’s’ literacy. Across the OECD, pupils considered most deprived by the PISA index of Economic, Social, and Cultural Status (ESCS, based on the pupil’s family background) lag more than two years behind their privileged peers, irrespective of their parents’ origin. Outside the EU, native‑born pupils of foreign-born parentage and underprivileged ESCS score better in reading than socio-economic peers with native‑born parents. At the EU-level and in the United Kingdom, their results are similar. While the native‑born pupils of foreign-born parentage and privileged ESCS also perform better than their peers with native‑born parents in non-European countries and Luxembourg, they do not in Europe, where the children of immigrants still lag behind. After controlling for ESCS, the reading gap between the native‑born of foreign- and native‑born parentage vanishes in Spain and the United Kingdom and, though still at 19 points (half a year of schooling), halves in the EU. Native‑born pupils of foreign-born parentage who speak a foreign language at home particularly struggle in reading. Outside Europe, they lag half a year behind their peers who speak the host-country language at home. In the EU, they are up to one year behind.
Main findings
In Latin America and Europe, children of native‑born parents outperform their native‑born peers with immigrant parents in reading. The reverse is true in most other non-European countries.
The native‑born children of immigrants have improved their reading scores in both the OECD and the EU, while those of their peers with native‑born parents have stayed relatively stable.
After controlling for socio-economic status, the gap in reading performance between the native‑born with native‑ and foreign-born parents halves in the EU, though it is still half a year – mainly because privileged pupils with foreign-born parents continue to lag behind their peers.
Figure 7.11. Mean PISA reading score
Figure 7.12. How mean PISA reading scores have evolved
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.7. Pupils who lack basic reading skills at the age of 15
Indicator context
Poor basic reading proficiency hinders young people with immigrant parents in their labour market integration and understanding of the host society.
Pupils who lack basic reading skills at 15 years old (i.e. low-school performers) score no higher than Level 1 (or 407 points) in PISA assessments of reading proficiency. The share of resilient students is the percentage of pupils the most deprived by the PISA index of ESCS (see Indicator 7.6), but whose reading scores are in the top quartile of pupils.
EU‑wide, 29% of the native‑born children of immigrant parentage lack basic reading skills at 15 – a higher share than among their peers of native‑born parentage (18%), but far lower than among those who are foreign-born (38%). In the settlement countries and Türkiye, by contrast, the native‑born with foreign-born parents are slightly less likely to perform poorly at school than 15‑year‑olds with native‑born parents – the opposite of all Latin American and European countries (except for Hungary). In Mexico and one‑third of European countries, the disparity is over 15 percentage points, especially in Nordic and longstanding immigration countries. OECD- and EU‑wide, the share of native‑born immigrant offspring who perform poorly at schools has dropped slightly (by about 1 percentage point) over the last decade, while it has risen among the native‑born with native‑born parents.
Pupils in the lowest ESCS quartile are more likely to lack basic reading skills at 15, although some achieve reading scores from the top quartile. That share of resilient students among the native‑born with immigrant parents in the EU is 10%, slightly below those of native‑born parentage. Underprivileged children of immigrants outperform their peers with native‑born parents in non-European countries, the United Kingdom and France. However, they lag behind in other European countries, with differences of up to 10 percentage points in the Nordic countries, Estonia and Luxembourg. The share of resilient students among native‑born children of immigrant has risen by around 4 percentage points in both the OECD and EU over the last decade.
In addition to children’s ESCS, the children of immigrants often lag behind their peers with native‑born parents because many of them study in schools that serve disadvantaged areas (approximated by the schools’ ESCS, i.e. average ESCS of pupils in each school). In most countries, however, the gap in reading literacy between native‑born pupils of foreign- and native‑born born parentage persists in schools regardless of ESCS. Most of the gap closes, however, in Italy, France, Costa Rica, Spain and the United Kingdom, after considering schools’ ESCS.
Main findings
In the EU, 29% of native‑born pupils with foreign-born parents lack basic reading skills, against 38% of their foreign-born peers and 18% of those with native‑born parents. Native‑born children of immigrants are also more likely to perform poorly in Latin America, but less likely to do so in other non-European countries.
The share of top performers in reading among disadvantaged pupils is higher among the children of native‑born than among their native‑born peers with immigrant parents in most countries, although not in non-European countries, the United Kingdom and France.
The gap in reading literacy between native‑born pupils with foreign- and native‑born parents remains in most countries after considering schools’ socio-economic intake. However, the gap closes in Italy, France, Costa Rica, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Figure 7.13. Low reading performance
Figure 7.14. How shares of low reading performance have evolved
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.8. Sense of belonging and well-being at school
Indicator context
The lack of a welcoming school environment can harm well-being at school among pupils with foreign-born parents. Their chances of thriving in the education system, key to their integration, are thus affected.
Well-being at school is estimated as the share of pupils who feel awkward and out of place (i.e. not belonging) at school and the share of pupils/or who have been bullied – i.e. who report at least “a few times a month” that other pupils “left me out of things on purpose”; “made fun of me”; “threatened me”; “took away or destroyed things that belonged to me”; “hit or pushed me around”; or “spread nasty rumours about me”.
At 22%, native‑born pupils with foreign-born parents across the OECD and EU are as likely as their peers with native‑born parents to experience bullying at school. However, native‑born children of immigrants report being bullied more frequently than do those of native‑born parentage in over two‑thirds of European countries, with shares in excess of 30% in most Central European and Baltic countries, as well as in Italy and Türkiye. By contrast, pupils with native‑born parents are more likely to feel bullied e.g. in Oceanian OECD countries, the United States and the United Kingdom. In the vast majority of countries, immigrant pupils are more likely to report being bullied at school than the native‑born, irrespective of parental origin. The incidence is 27% OECD- and EU‑wide. In Portugal and Germany, rates are almost twice as high for immigrant children than for their native‑born peers.
Shares of pupils who feel awkward and out of place at school bring out similar trends. The sense of not belonging at school is generally more widespread among the offspring of immigrants than of native‑born in two‑thirds of countries, especially in Türkiye, Mexico and Southern Europe. The reverse prevails in some of the settlement countries and parts of Central Europe in particular. Again, foreign-born pupils who arrived as children are even more likely than native‑born children of foreign- and native‑born parents to feel awkward and out of place at school in virtually all countries.
A school’s average ESCS makeup (see Indicator 7.7) influences pupils’ well-being. In schools that serve deprived areas, where the children of immigrants are overrepresented in Europe, being bullied at school tends to be widespread among pupils. However, those who are native‑born with native‑born parents are more likely to be affected in such schools in more than two‑thirds of countries. Such bullying lessens in most countries, as ECSC rises. While in most countries children of immigrants are being less bullied in deprived schools than their peers with native‑born parents, the reverse is the case in privileged schools e.g. in most European longstanding destinations with predominantly non‑EU migrants, Italy, Costa Rica, Norway and the United States.
Main findings
Native‑born pupils of foreign-born parentage report both a weaker sense of belonging and lower well-being at school than their peers with native‑born parents in most European countries. The opposite is true in the settlement countries, however.
Immigrant offspring are less prone to bullying than children of native‑born parentage in schools serving underprivileged areas, but more so in socio-economically privileged establishments.
Figure 7.15. Pupils who experience bullying
Figure 7.16. Pupils who feel awkward and out of place at school
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.9. Perception of global and intercultural issues at school
Indicator context
Acceptance of and respect for people from different cultural backgrounds foster social cohesion and the development of more inclusive societies.
This section considers the share of pupils who agree that immigrants should be treated as fully equal members of society. It also draws on pupils’ self-reported respect for people from other cultural backgrounds, of their ability to overcome difficulties when interacting with them, and of the perceived discriminating attitudes of their teachers towards other cultural groups, defined as at least one of the following: having misconceptions, saying negative things, blaming, having lower expectations.
EU-wide, half of native‑born pupils with native‑born parents agree that immigrants should be treated as fully equal members of society. Accordingly, about 60% of children, regardless of parental origin, believe that they can overcome difficulties when interacting with people from different cultural groups in both the EU and the OECD. In all countries, at least 65% of pupils, regardless of parental origin, also report treating people from other cultures with respect. Among native‑born pupils of native‑born parentage, shares are smaller in many Central European countries, Italy, Austria and Türkiye. By contrast, these shares are highest in non-EU OECD countries, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. There is a high correlation between the views of children of native‑born and those of children of immigrants in most countries, when it comes to treating people from other cultures with respect and overcoming difficulties when interacting with them. However, views are much less similar between children of native‑ and foreign-born when it comes to agreeing on the equal treatment of immigrants. Pupils with foreign-born parents are more likely to support that idea than those with native‑born parents – by over 10 percentage points, both OECD and EU-wide.
Self-reported respect for people from other cultures, regardless of parental origin, is at least 8 percentage points more widespread among women than men in the EU and the OECD. Additionally, both EU- and OECD‑wide, pupils with native‑born parents rated as most affluent by the PISA ESCS (see Indicator 7.6) are around 10 percentage points more likely to report showing respect for people from other cultural backgrounds than their most socio-economically deprived counterparts. For pupils with foreign-born parents, the gap is slightly narrower, but still amounts to 6 percentage points.
EU- and OECD-wide, one‑third of native‑born children of immigrants think “most” of their teachers have some discriminating attitudes towards other cultural groups, against one‑quarter of their peers with native‑born parents. Shares among children of immigrants are highest – over two in five – in Türkiye, Greece and Lithuania, while they are lowest in non-European countries, Portugal, Hungary and the United Kingdom. Children of immigrants perceive the discriminating attitudes of their teachers stronger in schools with a larger share of foreign-born students. The attitude most often mentioned in this respect is that teachers have lower academic expectations for students of different cultural groups.
Main findings
There is a very high correlation between the views of children of native‑ and foreign-born parents in most countries. More than 60% of both groups in all countries think they treat people from other cultures with respect and overcome difficulties when interacting with them.
EU- and OECD-wide, one‑third of native‑born children of immigrants think most of their teachers have some discriminating attitudes towards other cultural groups, in particular that they have lower academic expectations.
Figure 7.17. Pupils who agree that immigrants should be treated as equal members of society
Figure 7.18. Pupils who claim to treat people with respect regardless of their cultural background
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.10. Young adults’ educational attainment
Indicator context
In contrast to foreign-born who arrived as adults, where educational attainment is a contextual indicator, the educational attainment levels of youth with foreign-born parents who arrived as children or are native‑born show the success of the education system in providing children of immigrants with the levels of educational attainment needed to succeed in the labour market and society at large.
The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) divides educational attainment into three levels: i) low, no higher than lower-secondary (ISCED Level 0‑2); ii) medium, upper-secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary (ISCED Levels 3‑4); iii) high, tertiary education (ISCED Levels 5‑8). Youth is referred to here as persons aged 25 to 34.
EU‑wide, native‑born young adults of foreign-born parentage aged 25 to 34 are less likely than their peers of native‑born parentage – at 32% versus 40% – to be highly educated, and more likely – at 21% versus 14% – to be low-educated. Overall, in countries characterised by poorly educated migrant populations, young native‑born with foreign-born parents also tend to show lower educational attainment than their peers of native‑born parentage. Gaps are widest in longstanding European destinations (bar France) and the Nordic countries. When it comes to young native‑born of non‑EU parentage in the EU, they are even larger. By contrast, the native‑born with foreign-born parents are more likely to be highly educated than the offspring of the native‑born in non‑EU countries. Differences are widest in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, although not as pronounced as the differences between highly educated immigrant and native‑born adults in those countries. In the United States, the offspring of native‑ and foreign-born parentage show similar educational attainment, while immigrant adults are less likely to have high levels of education than the native‑born.
Over the last decade, the share of the highly educated among the youth has increased by around 8 points in the EU and OECD among immigrants who arrived as children, and by about 4 points among young native‑born with foreign-born parents. The positive trend among young native‑born people of foreign-born parentage has been particularly pronounced in Australia (+20 percentage points) and Denmark (27 points). The only countries which registered a decline in the share of highly educated among the native‑born youth with foreign-born parentage were Canada and Finland.
Women, regardless of parental origin, are more likely than men to be highly educated in all countries. The only exception is the United Kingdom, where native‑born women with foreign-born parents lag slightly behind their male peers. Overall, gender differences in education are less pronounced between men and women with foreign-born parents, especially in the Nordic and settlement countries.
Main findings
EU‑wide, young native‑born with foreign-born parents are less likely than those of native‑born parentage to be highly educated – 32% versus 40%. The opposite is true in non‑EU countries.
The shares of both highly educated young native‑born with foreign-born parents and immigrants who arrived as children increased over the last decade in all countries, bar Canada and Finland.
Young women, regardless of parental origin, are more likely than men to be highly educated in all EU and OECD countries, but gender differences in education tend to be less pronounced between men and women with foreign-born parents.
Figure 7.19. Low- and highly educated, by parental origin
Figure 7.20. How the rates of highly educated have evolved, by parental origin
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.11. Dropout
Indicator context
Young people who leave school prematurely lack the credentials for successful labour market entry and are prone to long-term social and economic disadvantage.
The dropout rate is the share of early school leavers, i.e. young people aged 15 to 24 who are neither in education nor training, and have gone no further than lower-secondary school.
The dropout rate among native‑born of foreign-born parentage is 11% in the EU, compared with 8% for their peers with native‑born parents, making them more likely to leave school early in most EU countries. By contrast, they are as likely as their peers with native‑born parents to drop out in e.g. the United States and the United Kingdom, and only around half as likely in the settlement countries. The widest differences in dropout rates between pupils of foreign- and native‑born parentage come in German-speaking countries, Portugal, Italy, Denmark and Finland – at least 4 percentage points. In Japan, rates for children of immigrants aged 15 to 18 (8%) are five times those of their peers with native‑born parents. Dropping out tends to be even more likely for immigrants arrived as children. Their dropout rate in the EU is 17%, 9 percentage points higher than among the native‑born with native‑born parents.
Dropout is more of a concern for pupils from poor socio-economic backgrounds, who are overrepresented in many European countries. Because they tend to be more disadvantaged, native‑born youth of non‑EU parentage are more likely to drop out than those with EU-born parents in all European countries, bar the Netherlands. Differences between the native‑born of non‑EU and native‑born parentage are on average 4 percentage points. Leaving school at an early stage is also more common among young men than women, whatever their parentage. While gender gaps in dropout rates are similar among the native‑born of foreign- and native‑born parentage in the United States, rates in the EU are 6 percentage points higher among native‑born boys of foreign-born parentage than girls, and 4 points higher among boys with native‑born parents. Although there are no data on the reasons why the native‑born of foreign-born parentage drop out, the 2016 EU Labour Force Survey included some information on early school-leaver immigrants arrived as children. EU‑wide, 31% dropped out because studies failed to meet their needs or interests (especially in France), 19% because they wished to start working (especially in Spain), 13% reported doing so due to the difficulty of studies and 11% for family reasons. The cost of studying was not a significant reason. Immigrant youth were less likely than the native‑born to report to have dropped out for health reasons or the level of difficulty, but more likely because the studies failed to meet their needs or interests.
There has been a decline of around 3 percentage points in native‑born pupils leaving school early in the last eight years in the EU, whatever their parents’ country of birth. Gaps between their dropout rates and those of their peers with native‑born parents declined in half of EU and OECD countries where data are available, particularly France and Austria. By contrast, they widened in the United Kingdom.
Main findings
The dropout rate in the EU is 11% among native‑born with foreign-born parents, higher than their peers of native‑born parentage in most European countries and Japan, but not elsewhere.
Dropout rates are higher among boys, even more so among the native‑born of foreign-born parentage. Immigrants arrived as children who drop out in the EU do so chiefly out of lack of interest, and the desire to start working.
Dropout rates have fallen over the last eight years in most countries.
Figure 7.21. Drop-out rates
Figure 7.22. How the drop-out rates have evolved
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.12. Not in employment, education or training
Indicator context
The transition from school to work can be particularly challenging for young people with foreign-born parents, as they tend to have fewer social networks and poorer knowledge of the local labour market and must also fight discrimination. They are thus at greater risk of being neither in employment, formal education nor training (NEET), which can have long-term negative implications for their career trajectories.
This indicator shows the proportions of young adults who are NEET.
In both the OECD and the EU, around 17% of native‑born young people with foreign-born parents are NEET. Native‑born with foreign-born parents are more likely to find themselves NEET than their peers with native‑born parents in most countries – by up to 10 percentage points in France and Belgium. In contrast, the NEET rates of the native‑born with foreign- and native‑born parents are similar e.g. in the United States and the United Kingdom, and slightly lower among immigrant offspring in the settlement countries. By contrast, with the exception of the Southern European countries and Hungary, the native‑born youth with foreign-born parents are more likely than their peers of native‑born parentage to find themselves NEET in all EU countries. Immigrants who arrived as children face similar issues as the native‑born with foreign-born parents. The NEET rates of both groups are broadly similar in around two‑thirds of countries with available data.
Despite the wholesale increase observed at the peak of the COVID‑19 pandemic, NEET rates dropped by 3 percentage points among the native‑born with foreign-born parents between 2012 and 2020, both OECD- and EU‑wide. In the United States, they dropped similarly, while they increased over the same period, in Switzerland and Luxembourg.
Some population groups are more likely to be NEET than others. Young women are more at risk than young men in most countries, both EU- and OECD-wide. In all countries where overall NEET rates are higher among the young native‑born of foreign-born parentage, both men and women are more likely to find themselves in a NEET situation than their peers with native‑born parents. The low-educated are also cause for concern. In Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and many EU countries, NEET rates among low-educated youth are at least twice those of the highly educated, with the native‑born of foreign-born parentage overrepresented among the poorly educated in Europe. However, even among the highly educated, the native‑born of foreign-born parentage are more likely to find themselves in a NEET situation than their peers with native‑born parents in all countries, bar Greece, Switzerland and Israel.
Main findings
Among native‑born young people with foreign-born parents, one in six is NEET in both the OECD and the EU. Their NEET rates are higher than those of their peers of native‑born parentage in most EU countries, though not everywhere outside the EU.
NEET rates have dropped over the last decade, regardless of the parental origin.
Young women and the poorest educated are more likely to be NEET. However, even the highly educated with foreign-born parents show higher NEET rates than those with native‑born parents.
Figure 7.23. NEET rates
Figure 7.24. How NEET rates have evolved
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.13. Intergenerational educational mobility
Indicator context
Young people with foreign-born parents are often strongly motivated to attain higher education. Upward educational mobility allows them to catch up with their peers of native‑born parentage and to thrive economically and socially later in life.
This indicator, which is only available for European countries and for young people with at least one foreign-born parent, considers the share of young people who exceed their parents’ educational attainment, both medium-educated (ISCED Levels 3‑4) and low-educated (ISCED Levels 0‑2).
Across the EU, most native‑born young people with at least one foreign-born parent (54%) exceed their parents’ levels of educational attainment. The share of those who do is higher than among their peers of native‑born parentage (47%) as well as among immigrants who arrived as children in the host country (44%). Native‑born young people with at least one foreign-born parent outperform their peers of native‑born parentage e.g. in the longstanding immigrant destinations (save Austria and Switzerland) where immigrant adults are strongly overrepresented among the low-educated, as well as in the Baltic countries. They outstrip the native‑born young with native‑born parents by the widest margins in Germany, with 23 percentage points, and Sweden with 17. In the Southern European countries, Croatia and the Czech Republic, by contrast, intergenerational education betterment is more common among the native‑born with native‑born parents than for their peers of mixed or foreign-born parentage.
Over the past eight years, intergenerational education mobility has increased in most countries, more strongly among the native‑born of mixed or foreign-born parentage than among those whose parents are native‑born. There was no progress for the native‑born with at least one foreign-born parent, however, in most Central European countries, France Italy, Spain and Switzerland.
Several factors – such as the educational system, support structures, the educational aspirations of parents and their children, gender and age – affect the intergenerational transmission of disadvantages. In virtually all countries, women experience stronger intergenerational progress than men. This is even stronger for native‑born female youth with foreign-born parentage who outperform – in terms of intergenerational progress – their peers with native‑born parents, while this is not the case for men. Intergenerational betterment is partly driven by the overrepresentation of foreign-born parents in the lower educational strata. If only the educational progress of children with low-educated parents is considered, differences remain in most countries but disappear in France and Belgium.
Main findings
Native‑born young people with at least one foreign-born parent are more likely to better their parents’ educational attainment than the native‑born offspring of native‑born parents – 54% versus 47%.
Young native‑born women with foreign-born parentage outperform – in terms of intergenerational progress – their peers with native‑born parents, while this is not the case for men.
Over the past eight years, intergenerational mobility has increased in most countries among native‑born young people with at least one foreign-born parent. There was no progress for native‑born with at least one foreign-born parent, however, in most Central European countries, France Italy, Spain and Switzerland.
Figure 7.25. Youth with higher educational attainment than their parents
Figure 7.26. How educational mobility has evolved
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.14. Employment
Indicator context
The youth employment rate is the share of 15‑34 year-olds not in education who, during a given reference week, worked at least one hour, or who had a job but were absent from work (ILO definition). See Indicator 3.4 for further details.
Only slightly more than two‑thirds of native‑born youth with foreign-born parents are in employment – 68% in the OECD and 67% in the EU. Among the native‑born of native‑born parentage, the rate is at around three‑quarters. As for immigrants who came as children, around 72% are in work in the OECD and EU. In most countries, the native‑born of foreign-born parentage are less likely than their peers with native‑born parents to be employed. Exceptions are the settlement countries, Greece, Cyprus, Slovenia and Hungary. Employment gaps between the native‑born of native‑ and foreign-born parentage are at least 20 percentage points in European destinations with many non‑EU immigrants, such as Belgium and Spain. As for immigrants who arrived as children, they have similar or slightly higher employment rates than the native‑born with foreign-born parents in the vast majority of countries.
Despite a short overall fall in employment after the pandemic-related economic crisis in 2020 in both the OECD and EU, rates were higher than in 2012 after the 2007‑08 Recession. Over the last eight years, except for Switzerland and Luxembourg and the settlement countries, the overall rise in employment benefitted the native‑born with foreign-born parents at least twice as much as their peers with native‑born parents in most EU countries with available data.
Lower employment rates among young people with foreign-born parents are partly due to their lower levels of education in most countries (see Indicator 3.1). However, being highly educated does not close the employment gap with the native‑born of native‑born parentage in the United States or France, and only partially in other European countries (bar Switzerland). Gaps between young, highly educated, foreign-born offspring and their peers with native‑born parents are still narrower than between highly educated foreign- and native‑born working-age adults in most countries – the opposite to what is observed among the low-educated. In the EU, employment rates are particularly low among native‑born youth with parents born outside the EU, whereas those of EU parentage have similar outcomes to those of native‑born parentage. In virtually all countries, young native‑born men are more likely to be employed than young women. In e.g. Finland, Luxembourg, Norway and Israel, however, native‑born men with foreign-born parents lag behind their female peers, while both genders’ employment rates are similar in Spain, Canada, Switzerland and Sweden.
Main findings
In most countries, native‑born young people of foreign-born parentage are less likely to be employed than their peers of native‑born parentage and immigrants who arrived as children.
Employment rates are higher than a decade ago in most countries, thereby closing the gap with those with native‑born parentage.
In most countries, employment rates of native‑born youth with foreign-born parents are lower than those with native‑born parentage, regardless of education level.
Figure 7.27. Employment rates, by parental origin
Figure 7.28. How employment rates have evolved, by parental origin
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.15. Unemployment
Indicator context
An unemployed person is one without, but available for, work and who has been seeking work during a given reference week (ILO definition). The unemployment rate is the share of unemployed in the labour force aged 15‑34 and not in education (the sum of employed and unemployed individuals). See Indicator 3.5. for further details.
In most countries, unemployment rates for young native‑born with foreign-born parents are higher not only than those of their peers with native‑born parents but also than those of young foreign-born arrived as children. EU‑wide, a full 17% of the native‑born of foreign-born parentage are unemployed, against 10% of their peers with native‑born parents and 12% for foreign-born arrived as children. Differences in unemployment rates between the two groups are widest in longstanding European destinations with large shares of non‑EU migrants (especially France, Belgium and Austria), as well as in the Czech Republic, Spain, Italy and Finland. Among other countries, in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States, the native‑born with foreign-born parents even lag behind immigrants who arrived as children.
Even though youth unemployment rates have risen in most countries in the early phase of the COVID‑19 pandemic, they are nevertheless lower in most countries than at the beginning of the past decade. What is more, in the EU, the fall was steeper among the native‑born with foreign-born parents than their peers with native‑born parents. In the United States, by contrast, the unemployment rate of the native‑born with native‑born parents returned to the post 2007‑08 economic downturn level, while remaining higher among the native‑born with foreign-born parents. In Norway and Finland, unemployment rose in both groups.
Higher shares of young people of foreign-born parentage are in the 15‑24 age group, who have less work experience and lower degrees. Therefore, in most countries, the unemployment rates of 15‑24 year-olds are more than twice as high as those of their peers between 25 and 34. However, the native‑born with foreign-born parents continue to be more likely to be unemployed than their peers of native‑born parentage. This holds true at all levels of education, with higher rates of at least 3 percentage points in both the EU and the OECD. Among native‑born youth with both foreign-born parents, those of non‑EU origin are more likely to be jobless than their peers with at least one EU parent. Young men are also more prone to unemployment than young women in virtually all countries. While gender gaps in unemployment rates are usually small among the native‑born with native‑born parents, they are wider among those with foreign-born parents, especially in Latvia, Germany, Finland and Spain. The exceptions are Luxembourg and Switzerland, where native‑born women with foreign-born parents are more likely to be unemployed than their male peers.
Main findings
The native‑born with foreign-born parents are more likely to be unemployed than their peers with native‑born parents in most countries, especially in longstanding European destinations. EU‑wide, a full 17% of the native‑born of foreign-born parentage are unemployed, against 10% of their peers with native‑born parents and 12% for foreign-born youth.
Young men are generally more likely to be unemployed than young women, and such gender gaps tend to be wider among native‑born with foreign-born parents.
Youth unemployment dropped between 2012 and 2020, despite the COVID‑19 pandemic. The same is not, however, true of the native‑born with foreign-born parents in the United States.
Figure 7.29. Unemployment rates, by parental origin
Figure 7.30. How unemployment rates have evolved, by parental origin
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.16. Overqualification
Indicator context
Being overqualified on a first job after graduation can threaten long-term career prospects and waste potential. Young people with foreign-born parents often face specific obstacles in finding jobs at their skill level, due to discrimination, insufficient networks, and poor knowledge of the labour market.
Overqualification rate is the share of the highly educated (see 0) who work in a job rated low- or medium-skilled by the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO Levels 4‑9). See Indicator 3.12 for further details.
Almost a quarter of the highly educated native‑born with foreign-born parents aged 25 to 34 are formally overqualified for the jobs they hold in the EU. In the United Kingdom and non-European countries where overqualification is more widespread overall, native‑born youth of foreign-born parentage and childhood-arrival immigrants are less or as likely to be overqualified as their peers with native‑born parents. By contrast, rates are higher among the young of foreign-born parentage in most other European destinations, except for the Netherlands and Sweden. In France and Austria, overqualification among the native‑born with foreign-born parents is over 6 percentage points higher than among their peers with native‑born parentage. In Germany, Belgium and Switzerland, childhood-arrival immigrants are the most overqualified, with rates at least 3 points higher than those of the native‑born of native‑born parentage.
Overqualification dropped between 2012 and 2020 in most countries, regardless of parental origin. The decline was steeper at 5 percentage points among native‑born with foreign-born parents in the EU, while the native‑born with native‑born parentage saw only a marginal improvement. In particular, this group saw only little change in overqualification in the Netherlands or Germany in the last eight years, while overqualification declined by more than 10 percentage points among foreign-born offspring in these countries.
Finding a suitable job that matches the degree obtained is easier for the socio-economically advantaged with wider social networks, among whom the native‑born children of foreign-born are underrepresented, particularly if those immigrants are of non-EU parentage. In France, 29% of young people of non‑EU parentage are overqualified, 6 points more than those of EU parentage. The gender impact on overqualification varies by country. In Switzerland, Canada and the United States, overqualification is more of an issue among men, regardless of parental origin, but impinges more on women in Australia. In France and Belgium, only native‑born young men with foreign-born parents are more likely to be overqualified than their female peers.
Main findings
The highly educated young native‑born of foreign-born parentage are more likely to be overqualified than their peers with native‑born parents in most longstanding European destinations, but not in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden or outside the EU.
Overqualification has dropped over the last eight years among native‑born youth with foreign-born parentage in most countries with available data, while the trend was more mixed for their peers with native‑born parents.
Overqualification is a much more acute issue for the native‑born of non‑EU parentage.
Figure 7.31. Overqualification rates, by parental origin
Figure 7.32. How overqualification rates have evolved, by parental origin
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.17. Employment in the public service sector
Indicator context
The full participation of immigrants and their children in the public sector increases their visibility in everyday life. It influences perceptions in society and acts as a role model for the private sector. Greater diversity in public sector staff can also help strengthen understanding for the needs of young people of foreign-born parentage and acknowledgement that they are part of society.
This indicator shows the share of public service employees (encompassing public administration, healthcare, the social services, and education) among the youth population (15‑34) in employment.
Although they usually have host-country nationality, the native‑born offspring of foreign-born parents are underrepresented in the public service sector in most countries. Just 1 in 6 is employed in the public service in the EU against 1 in 4 of their peers with native‑born parents. And, proportionately, public employee immigrants who arrived as children outnumber those born in the country to foreign-born parents. The largest shortfalls vis-à-vis youth with native‑born parents are in longstanding European destinations (bar the United Kingdom) where many foreign-born parents are non‑EU born. In Austria, native‑born with foreign-born parents are only half as likely to be employed in the public services as their peers of native‑born parentage. Gaps are also large in Germany, where, just as in Austria, a still significant share of foreign-born offspring does not have the respective country’s nationality and therefore may not be able to access all segments of the public sector.
There are only few differences by parental origin in non‑European countries. The only countries where foreign-born offspring are overrepresented in the public services are Israel, the United Kingdom and Sweden, where at least one‑third are employed in this sector. There is an even higher share in Sweden among native‑born with non-EU born parents. The United Kingdom and Sweden have had equal opportunity policies in place in the public service for two decades, with also almost 40% of childhood-arrival immigrants in Sweden being public service employees.
In seven countries in ten, the share of native‑born young adults of foreign-born parentage working in the public services has risen over the last eight years. The largest increases – at least 6 percentage points in the United Kingdom, Finland and Germany – were steeper than among their peers with native‑born parents. Conversely, young adults of foreign-born parentage are for example less likely to work in the public service sector than eight years ago in Austria, the Netherlands and France. The fall is weaker among their peers of native‑born parentage.
Main findings
The native‑born of foreign-born parentage are underrepresented in the public services in most countries, especially in the EU. Only in Israel, the United Kingdom and Sweden are they not.
In most countries, the share of native‑born public service sector workers of foreign-born parentage rose in most countries between 2012 and 2020 – especially in the United Kingdom, Finland and Germany, though not in Austria, the Netherlands or France, where it dropped.
Figure 7.33. Shares working in the public service sector, by parental origin
Figure 7.34. How shares of those working in the public service sector have evolved, by parental origin
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.18. Relative child and youth poverty
Indicator context
Growing up below the relative poverty line can have adverse (long-term) impacts on children’s well-being, education and health. Young people with migrant parents are at a higher risk, as their parents have lower income on average and might not always be aware of existing financial support.
The relative poverty rate (or at-risk-of-poverty rate) is the proportion of under‑16s and 16‑34 year‑olds living below the country’s poverty threshold. The Eurostat definition of the poverty threshold used here is 60% of the median equivalised disposable income in each country. See Indicator 4.2 for further details.
The overall share of children under 16 in immigrant households living in relative poverty is 32% in the EU. In virtually all countries, including Canada and the United States, immigrant offspring under 16 are more at risk of living in relative poverty than children in native‑born households – at least twice as likely in about half of all countries. Disparities are particularly wide in Spain, most of the Nordic countries, and longstanding destinations with predominantly non‑EU migrants (bar Germany, where the poverty rate is relatively low). In the United States and Spain, more than half of children in immigrant households are poor. It is in Latvia and the Czech Republic where relative child poverty levels are lowest and of similar levels in both groups. What is more, children living in non‑EU immigrant households are 10 percentage points more likely to live in relative poverty than those in households of EU-born.
The relative poverty rates of young people reveal a similar overall picture. In the EU, the share of native‑born 16‑34 year-olds with foreign-born parents living in relative poverty is 24% and 30% in the United States, more than among their peers with native‑born parents. However, these poverty differences are less pronounced than those among the under‑16s – half of the size, or even less, in half of countries – and very narrow, at 3 percentage points, in Switzerland and Sweden.
Between 2009 and 2019, the share of children under 16 in immigrant households living in relative poverty fell slightly in the EU and in the United States, by 1 and 2 percentage points, respectively. The decline among their peers in native‑born households was even less. Poverty rates among children in immigrant households dropped in three out of five countries (and in three out of four countries in native‑born households). Falls in child poverty rates in immigrant households were steepest in Germany, at 24 points, Greece, Iceland and Finland (around 20 points). In these countries, rates barely dropped or slightly increased, however, among their peers in native‑born households. By contrast, countries that saw the steepest climbs in the poverty rates of children in immigrant households simultaneously recorded slight drops in native‑born households. These countries (e.g. Netherlands, Sweden and Spain) now report the widest gaps in relative child poverty between the foreign- and native‑born.
Main findings
Poverty rates of children living in immigrant households in EU and OECD countries are higher than among their peers in native‑born households – at least twice as high in half of all countries.
Over the last decade, child poverty rates in immigrant households declined in slightly in three out of five countries (and in three‑quarters of countries in native‑born households).
Native‑born 16‑34 year‑olds with foreign-born parents are also more likely to be poor than their peers of native‑born parentage, though these poverty gaps are less pronounced than those that affect under‑16s in most countries – half of the size, or even less, in half of countries.
Figure 7.35. Relative child poverty rates
Figure 7.36. How relative child poverty rates have evolved
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.19. Overcrowded housing
Indicator context
Growing up in overcrowded accommodation may impact children’s and young people’s school performance, well-being and health, and can cause lifelong harm. As immigrants are more likely to reside in urban areas, work in low-paid jobs and, on average, live in larger households, their children are at a higher risk of living in overcrowded housing.
A dwelling is considered to be overcrowded if the number of rooms is less than the sum of one living room for the household, plus one room for each single person or the couple responsible for the dwelling, plus one room for every two additional adults, plus one room for every two children. See Indicator 4.5 for further details.
More than one‑third of children under 16 in immigrant households live in overcrowded accommodation in the EU, compared to one‑fifth of their peers in native‑born households. Overcrowding rates are much higher for children in immigrant than in native‑born households in all countries with the exception of Malta. In the vast majority of countries, rates are at least twice as high as for children in native‑born households. A closer look reveals that disparities in overcrowding in the EU are partly driven by children whose parents were born outside the EU. Such children tend to be overrepresented among those living in poverty (see Indicator 7.18). The high overcrowding rates are partly driven by the overconcentration of immigrants in urban areas, where the incidence of overcrowding is more pronounced.
A similar pattern emerges among the young (16‑34 year‑olds) who live in overcrowded conditions. However, the overcrowding gap between native‑born young people with immigrant- and native‑born parentage is narrower than for children in almost every country. The reason can be ascribed in part to the fact that, on graduating, young people are more likely to move into their own households, where they are no longer compelled to share the same living conditions as their parents. Indeed, if only young adults aged 25 to 34 are considered, differences in the incidence of overcrowding between native‑born young people of foreign- and native‑born parentage fade almost completely in the EU.
People living in overcrowded dwellings have no room where they can be alone and concentrate. The vast majority of 15‑year‑old pupils OECD- and EU‑wide state that they have a quiet place to study. But, in three countries in four, the native‑born with foreign-born parents are less likely than their peers of native‑born parentage to have such a space. The largest gaps between the two groups are observed in Iceland and among countries in Europe and America with higher shares of pupils of foreign-born parentage from disadvantaged backgrounds: in the Southern European countries, France, Germany, Costa Rica, Mexico and the United States, for example.
Main findings
More than one‑third of children in immigrant households live in overcrowded accommodation in the EU, against one‑fifth in native‑born households.
Native‑born pupils with foreign-born parents are less likely than their peers with native‑born parents to have a quiet place to study at home in most countries, especially in Iceland, the Southern European countries, France, Germany, Costa Rica, Mexico and the United States.
Figure 7.37. Child housing overcrowding rates
Figure 7.38. Young people with a quiet place to study
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.20. Voter participation
Indicator context
Voter turnout is an indicator of civic engagement. Although the native‑born of foreign- and native‑born parentage grow up in the same society, the obstacles faced by foreign-born parents (e.g. little awareness of voting rights or host-country politics) may indirectly impinge on their children.
This indicator refers to the share of 18‑34 year-olds with the nationality of the country of residence who report that they cast a ballot in the most recent national parliamentary election in the country.
EU‑wide, the self-reported turnout of native‑born youth with two foreign-born parents is 58% – lower than their peers of native‑born parentage (66%). Differences between the two groups are widest in European destinations with high shares of non‑EU migrant parents. Turnout among the native‑born with one foreign-born parent is also lower, at 65%. In the United States and Canada, there is only little difference in turnout between native‑born with native‑ and foreign-born parents. Whereas the latter are even slightly more likely to vote than their peers of native‑born parentage in the United Kingdom and Israel. The lowest turnout among young voters with foreign-born parents was in France, Switzerland and Slovenia, where gaps with their peers of native‑born parentage were wide. Indeed, in Switzerland and Slovenia, native‑born offspring voters were almost twice as likely as their peers of foreign-born parentage to vote in the last national election. Across the EU, foreign-born young people who arrived before the age of 15 report slightly higher participation (61%) than the native‑born of foreign-born parentage, although they continue to lag behind voters of native‑born parentage by 6 percentage points. Of all groups, the naturalised foreign-born youth who arrived after the age of 15 remain least likely, at 45%, to cast their vote at the ballot box.
Between 2002‑10 and 2012‑20, self-reported voter participation in the EU declined slightly among the young of foreign- and native‑born parentage and those who arrived before 15. While gaps between voters of foreign- and native‑born parentage widened particularly in Sweden (by 15 percentage points), Slovenia and Switzerland, they narrowed in Estonia and the United States. In New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Israel, differences also decreased thanks to higher self-reported turnout among youth of native‑born parentage (bar New Zealand).
While there is no gender difference in voter turnout between the young of native‑born parentage and the foreign-born who arrived before they were 15, young women with one or two foreign-born parents are less likely by 3 to 4 percentage points to participate in national elections than their male peers in the EU. What is more, while the young born in the EU who arrived before they were 15 are more likely to cast a vote than their non‑EU migrant counterparts (66% versus 59% EU-wide), non-EU migrants arrived after the age of 15 are more likely to vote (49%) than their EU-born counterparts (32%).
Main findings
In the EU, electoral turnout is higher among young people of native‑born parentage (66%) than their peers with two foreign-born parents (58%). The same is true, albeit to a lesser extent, in Northern America, though not in the United Kingdom and Israel.
Between 2002 and 2020, gaps between young people of foreign- and native‑born parentage have widened significantly in Sweden, Slovenia and Switzerland (by 10 to 15 percentage points), while vanishing almost entirely in Estonia.
Young women with one or both foreign-born parent(s) are less likely to vote than their male peers.
Figure 7.39. Self-reported participation in most recent election, by parental origin
Figure 7.40. How self-reported participation in the most recent election has evolved, by parental origin
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.
7.21. Perceived discrimination
Indicator context
Discrimination is a key factor behind the persistent disadvantages faced by young people of foreign-born parentage and is a threat to social cohesion.
This indicator refers in Europe to the share of people with foreign-born parents who consider themselves members of a group that is discriminated against on the grounds of ethnicity, nationality or race. In New Zealand, the indicator builds on personal experience; since the beginning of COVID‑19 in Canada. In the United States it draws on reported discrimination in the workplace.
Across the EU, more than one in five native‑born young people of foreign-born parentage feel as a member of a group that is discriminated against on the grounds of ethnicity, nationality, or race. In Canada and New Zealand, around one in four report to have experienced discrimination on grounds of ethnicity, culture, race, or colour (since the onset of the COVID‑19 pandemic in Canada). Around one native‑born of foreign-born parents in thirteen experience discrimination in the workplace in the United States. While over 30% report instances of discrimination in the Netherlands and France, less than 10% do so in Slovenia and Ireland. Except in Israel, Austria and the United States, perceived discrimination is more widespread among the native‑born with foreign-born parents than among the foreign-born adults – possibly due to better knowledge of individual rights and greater awareness of discriminatory practices.
Comparisons between the periods 2010‑14 and 2016‑20 across European countries show a considerable increase, of 5 percentage points, in perceived discrimination. This increase is entirely driven by young native‑born with foreign-born parents from non‑EU countries, whereas their peers with EU‑born parents perceive a decline. In addition, reports of discrimination have almost doubled among non-native speakers who are native‑born with foreign-born parents, while not changing among those who are native speakers. A rise in perceived discrimination was also observed among groups at risk of intersectional discrimination, such as women or low-educated young native‑born with foreign-born parents.
While young women with foreign-born parents were slightly more likely to report discrimination than their male peers in the EU in 2010‑14, this drastically changed in 2016‑20. By then, they were 11 percentage points more likely than their male peers. In the EU, there is an even greater disparity in the evolution of perceptions of discrimination between native‑born of non‑EU and EU‑born parents, with the former being three times more likely to feel discriminated (while 50% more likely in 2010‑14). Furthermore, around 30% of native‑born with foreign-born parents whose first language at home is a foreign language say they belong to a group that is discriminated against – twice the share in 2010‑14. When the first language at home is that of the country of residence, only 20% do. Perceptions of discrimination are also more common among the native‑born with foreign-born parents who are neither in education nor in training (NEET). The highly educated and citizens of the country of residence are also more likely to report discrimination.
Main findings
In the EU, more than one in five native‑born young people with foreign-born parents feel part of a group that is discriminated against on the grounds of ethnicity, nationality and race.
Except for Israel, Austria and the United States, native‑born young people of foreign-born parentage are more likely to feel discriminated against than foreign-born adults.
Perceived discrimination increased between the periods 2010‑14 and 2016‑20 – driven by increased levels among women, people born to non‑EU-born parents and those raised in a foreign language.
Figure 7.41. Self-reported discrimination, by parental origin
Figure 7.42. Self-reported discrimination of native-born youth with foreign-born parents who say they belong to a discriminated group
Notes and sources are to be found in the respective StatLinks.