More than half of people in developed nations think their country has too many immigrants

Ipsos surveyed around 18,000 people across 24 countries

Migrants arrive on the Italian coast (Reuters)

Just under half of the population in 24 developed nations feel that immigration is causing their country to change negatively, according to a new global survey.

The results of the Ispos survey, carried out in 24 nations – including Great Britain, France, the United State and Russia – make for dispiriting reading.

Overall, half of all the 17,533 citizens interviewed for the poll thought there were too many migrants in their country.

The latest figures examining worldwide migration were released by the United Nations in 2013 and noted since the 1990s migration has soared from an estimated 150 million, to around 230 million.

At the top is Turkey, which estimates its ‘informal’ immigration population (mostly refugees fleeing persecution in neighbouring Iraq or Syria, although there are a significant number of Afghans also in the country) of between 150,000 to one million.

Again, Turkey comes out top. The UK places eighth, with more than half of those surveyed believing that immigration was negatively affecting the country.

The results come as Polish migrants in the UK strike against British attitudes blaming them for the poor economy, with 48 per cent of Britons’ surveyed thinking that migrants negatively affect their chances of employment.

The UK’s population is second, behind only Turkey, in believing that immigration is seriously affecting public services.

UK-based studies examining the economic impact on Britain have all offered widely different interpretations, depending on their methodology, but most agree that the net impact of migration is small (around one per cent of the UK’s GDP).

Finally, overall just one in three (21 per cent) of those surveyed felt that migrants brought a positive change to their country.

You can see a full break down of the results and methodolgy on the Ipsos website here.