Population density

Here is my first post of many in my series defending immigration. These are designed to slowly become a resource to defend migrants, in print, speech or online.

If you want to contribute a post, or have something already written that I could crosspost or summarise then please let me know in the comments below.

First: Population Density

“We are the third most densely populated land in the world.”

It is often claimed that the UK cannot absorb any more immigrants because we already have one of the highest population densities in the world.

This claim is refuted below. The UK has a relatively high population density but it is not one of the highest in the world.

1. The UK is the 51st most densely populated country or dependency in the World. The top quartile, but nothing terrifying. In fact a quarter of the world’s population live in more cramp quarters than us.
2. However, that does include some small Islands, dependencies, city states etc. Which it could be argued are unfair to include (although, I’m sure the people living there would think otherwise). So if we take them out we end up with the below list , in descending order of population density.
   1. Bangladesh
   2. The Palestinian territories
   3. Taiwan
   4. South Korea
   5. Netherlands
   6. Lebanon
   7. India
   8. Rwanda
   9. Belgium
   10. Haiti
   11. Japan
   12. Israel
   13. Sri Lanka
   14. Philippines
   15. El Salvador
   16. Burundi
   17. Vietnam
   18. UK

   This puts the UK in 18th place. Again, this is above average but it is not something which appears to warrant the alarmism sometimes expressed.

3. Another tactic often employed is to refer to England only (for no particular reason that I can work out – I don’t judge all the US on New York, or all of Germany by Saxony). England has a population of 51 million and a land mass of 50,000 square miles and this gives a population density of a little over 1,000 per square mile. Excluding islands, city states, and dependencies, this still places us behind
   1. Bangladesh
   2. The Palestinian territories
   3. Taiwan
   4. South Korea
   5. The Netherlands
   6. England

   This puts England 6th on the world stage in terms of population density. Now it becomes a little clearer why people bemoaning immigration refer to England; it inflates their figures.

So population density does not appear to be a dreadfully important reason to reduce immigration.

“Aha!” say they, “if you only look at population density then you ignore the pressure migrants put on public services!”

“But you brought up population density in the first place,” says you “you’re shifting the goal posts…”

… we will have to get used to shifting goal posts. But the variety and fluidity of the arguments against migrants are one of the reasons I want these defences codified.

More posts to follow.

Filed under: Migration, Defending Migrants

I’m tired of arguing with people on the internet about immigration

Right people, I’m getting bored of arguing with people on the internet about Immigration.

Its not that I tire of arguing for immigrants and immigrants’ rights, I genuinely care. But I do get tired of the tedious and repetitive arguments, so I think I’m going to create a resource of arguments and rebuttals to save time in the future. Like Skeptical Science but with UK immigration not Climate Change.

I’ll start here, with an argument I had on James Graham‘s blog and I’ll probably note down arguments from else where. There’s more to be done here too.

Anyone with links to posts, comments or resources would be welcome.

After a few weeks or months, we’ll have all the ammunition needed to ctrl+c and ctrl+v our way to victory when ever the anti-migrant types show up – saving time, learning and improving our chances of bringing people on side.

Filed under: Blogging, Migration