Understanding where immigrants choose to live: the case of Southern Europe

Alexandra Tragaki, Harokopion University of Athens
Antonios Rovolis, Harokopion University of Athens

A number of common characteristics have been put forward to explain the unexpected and simultaneous transformation of Southern Europe into an appealing destination for new migratory flows. Moreover, and besides the common features, the examination of immigrants’ personal characteristics across Greece, Italy and Spain reveals some interesting differences. This paper presents and analyses the foreign presence in three Southern European countries: Greece, Italy and Spain. The analysis is based on regional data at NUTS III level. It sheds light on demographic, social and economic characteristics of immigrants and attempts to link those characteristics with their spatial distribution. This analysis is accompanied by the use of spatial statistics (maps, Moran’s I indicator, Local Indicator of Spatial Association) along with regression analysis so as to identify the expalanatory factors of the observed trends. Analysis will be completed with tests so as to detect spatial autocorrelation or spatial heterogeneity problems.