A recent study of ECAS shows that EU migrants in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom contribute more than they benefit from their host countries.

The European Citizen Action Service (ECAS), an international non-profit organization based in Brussels, conducted the study in the period 2007-2013.

According to ECAS's findings the net fiscal impact of EU migrants in the four countries is positive, meaning that these people contribute more in taxes than they benefit from their host countries' social security systems.

The study was carried out by a research team of economists, headed by Lachezar Bogdanov, Board member of Open Society Institute – Sofia and Managing partner of Industry Watch.

The research is under the initiative of ECAS in support of the free movement of people, one of the four freedoms of the European Union (EU), and an important factor in the proper functioning of the single market.

This is one of the seven strategies of the Right to Move campaign, through which ECAS wants to make EU institutions take seven concrete steps, which are to ensure that freedom of movement is respected and applied equally in the whole of the EU.

The four countries subject of the study have recently been the most active and persistent supporters of limiting this fundamental right, claiming that freedom of movement is having a negative effect on their social security systems.

Using official data and statistics from Eurostat and national institutions, ECAS shows that the majority of the people migrate in search of employment rather than seeking recourse to social benefits.

The people of working age are the first to migrate. The most active age group – between 20 and 44 years old, make up half or more than half of all EU migrants in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.

The employment coefficient among migrants for the whole of the EU is higher than the average for the EU – 68 % against 64 %. EU migrants also have a better education that the average for the citizens of their host countries. The share of children among EU migrants is lower than that of their host countries.

Precisely due to this age and demographic structure, EU migrants are less of a burden to the health and pension systems of their host countries. In other words, EU migrants are younger, healthier, work more, and in the end benefit less than the local population.

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