This chapter presents and interprets the results obtained from the statistical analyses of the 2000 Families Survey data to shed light upon the poverty impact of international migration for migrants and their descendants. It starts by summarising the key tendencies emerging from the descriptive analyses of the entire sample and the sub-sample of the settlers spread across multiple European destinations. It then outlines the probit results obtained through the comparisons drawn between the settlers, returnees and stayers spanning three family generations. This is followed by a presentation of the results arising from the probit estimations performed with the sub-sample of settlers. The chapter concludes by explaining the narrative behind the statistical findings.

Descriptive statistics

Key descriptive statistics obtained for the entire sample of eligible respondents (N = 5,960) and the sub-group of settlers, excluding the fourth generation (N = 2,327), have already been presented in Tables 4.2 and 4.3, respectively (see Chapter Four). Tables 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 break down the results further by individual migration status, country of residence and position in the family genealogy. The socio-economic and demographic profiles of the settlers, the returnees and the stayers spanning three generations are depicted in Tables 5.1 and 5.3; therefore, they will not be repeated here. In what follows, only the descriptive tendencies concerning their poverty status will be summarised before turning to test their statistical significance. Across the entire sample, 39 per cent of the respondents turned out to be monetarily impoverished. The propensity for monetary poverty proved to be the highest for the settlers in Europe (that is, 53 per cent) and lowest for the returnees (that is, 26 per cent), despite both displaying similar degrees of migrant ancestry. This tendency remains true for all settlers across all European destinations without an exception. With 67 per cent, the settlers in Austria were found to experience monetary poverty to the greatest extent. The lowest level of poverty was observed among those living in France, yet the figure still stays considerably above the average at 46 per cent. France is followed by Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark in ascending order. Across all generations, the settlers exhibit the highest levels of monetary poverty as compared with their returnee and stayer counterparts.