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International study: Migrants identify with democracy to a similarly high degree as people without a migratory background / experience with democracy strengthens democratic beliefs / anti-democratic minorities are present in all ethnic groups
Migrants in Europe stand by the basic values of democracy. This was shown by the new study conducted by a research team led by Professor Marc Helbling, sociologist at the University of Mannheim focusing on Migration and Integration and Executive Board member of the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES). Together with Dr. Fabian Gülzau (Expert Council on Integration and Migration, SVR) and Dr. Sandra Morgenstern (University of Mannheim, MZES), Helbling analyzed data from the European Social Survey (ESS) and the SVR’s German Integration Barometer. “Our results show: immigrants support the core democratic principles to a similarly high degree as people without a migratory background,” Helbling emphasizes.
High support for democratic basic values all over Europe
The results of the study show that both migrants from democratic countries of origin and those from authoritarian countries are highly supportive of core democratic norms, such as free elections, equal rights, minority protection, and independent courts. On the ESS scale from 0 to 10, the mean level of support for these values throughout Europe is at 8.56 for migrants. For non-migrants, the level of support is at 8.48. For Germany in particular, the Integration Barometer data with a scale from 0 to 3 show very similar values, more specifically 2.67 and 2.66. “These, in all cases, very high mean values hardly differ between the individual groups of people,” Helbling explains.
Experience with democracy in country of origin has a positive effect
The research team found a small but statistically significant difference between immigrants from highly authoritarian countries, such as Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, or Iran, on the one hand and migrants from more democratic countries, such as India, Turkey, or Romania, on the other. “People who have lived in a very authoritarian system for many years tend to develop slightly weaker democratic attitudes. Conversely, people who have lived in more democratic countries for a long time show a bit more support for democracy. However, the difference is really small,” Helbling explains. “In principle, democratic basic beliefs are shared across cultural and national borders and, as a rule, solidified with increasing democratic life experience,” the social scientist sums up.
Problematic minorities within all groups
Despite the overall high level of support for democracy, there is a small minority among immigrants who reject it. According to the researchers, the share of this group accounts for a medium single-digit percentage. This value is almost exactly the same as the one for people without a migratory background, Helbling emphasizes: “Our analyses show that anti-democratic attitudes are not specifically a migration-related phenomenon. There are critical minorities within all population groups.”
Scientific background
The study is based on two extensive datasets: The European Social Survey (ESS, Wave 10) includes detailed survey data from tens of thousands of people, including more than 2,000 first-generation migrants, from 30 European countries. The Integration Barometer (Wave 4) of the German Expert Council on Integration and Migration (SVR) is based on surveys with around 15,000 participants in Germany, of which approximately 7,000 are people with a migratory background and around 4,000 are first-generation migrants. Both surveys measure core dimensions of liberal democratic values.
The freely accessible study “Liberal democratic values among immigrants in Europe: Socialisation and adaptation processes” was published in the European Journal of Political Research in October 2025. It is the starting point for the “Democratic Values Among Migrants from Authoritarian Regimes” project at the MZES led by Helbling together with Dr. Korinna Lindemann and Dr. Sandra Morgenstern. This project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMBFSFJ). In addition to his work at the MZES and the University of Mannheim, Helbling is e.g. a member of the Expert Council on Integration and Migration (SVR) and of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Research Centre of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).
Link to the study:
Gülzau, Fabian, Marc Helbling, and Sandra Morgenstern. 2025. “Liberal Democratic Values among Immigrants in Europe: Socialisation and Adaptation Processes.” European Journal of Political Research: 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1475676525100285 (Open Access).
MZES project: “Democratic Values Among Migrants from Authoritarian Regimes”
Contact:
Professor Marc Helbling
Executive Board member and Project Director at the MZES
University of Mannheim
Phone: +49-621-181-3391
E-mail: marc.helbling@uni-mannheim.de
Nikolaus Hollermeier
Public Relations
Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES)
University of Mannheim
Phone: +49-621-181-2839
E-mail: kommunikation@mzes.uni-mannheim.de
www.mzes.uni-mannheim.de
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