Demographic Margins from the Demographic Proportions of the EU: Re-weighted Analysis and Implications for Asylum-seeking Policymakers

We re-weight the sample data to match the demographic margins from the population of each country. We provide unweighted results and results based on an alternative set of weights which are similar to the main weighted estimates for all analyses. Details about the sample, design and statistical analysis are in Methods and Supplementary Information, Section A. All analyses, unless otherwise noted, were pre-specified in a preregistered analysis plan submitted at https://osf.io/jd8n3/ before the start of the survey.

Hangartner says that gathering data on public perceptions can inform policies by showing that most people do not have the extreme negative views reflected by certain European anti-asylum policies. “Those you hear in the political arena are sometimes the loudest voices and are not representative necessarily of their constituencies,” he says.

In both years, participants were less likely to favour Muslims over Christians and more likely to favor women over men. Being a Muslim, lack of language skills in the host country and moving for economic opportunities were some of the least preferred characteristics.

“There is an inherent bias in the manner in which people who are not used to otherness perceive other groups,” says Michelle Pace, who studies forced migration at Roskilde University in Denmark.

In February 2022, the EU activated its temporary protection scheme for Ukrainian refugees to live, work and attend school without being approved for asylum. Critics asked why the same rights hadn’t been granted to refugees from other countries, such as those in Africa and the Middle East.

Pace says that it’s also an issue when studies “talk about asylum seekers and refugees but they’re not talking with them”. She says this reminds her of an important gap in the data that’s 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609-