There are few topics more geographical than migration; it involves movement through space and over time, whilst influencing the social, economic and environmental landscape on both a small-scale and global scale. As contemporary scholarship moves to concerns about migrants themselves rather than impacts on the communities in which they settle (Innes, 2008), our study builds on this through investigating the reasons for this phenomenon. Over the last fifteen years international migrant numbers have risen rapidly (United Nations, 2015), particularly true in the case of Malta with migrants forming 3% of the total population; 40% of these that are British expatriates. In light of this, our investigation focusing on a case study of expatriates seeks to understand the factors that influence migration decisions, and the reasons why expatriates choose to stay in Malta. The research focused on a qualitative methodological approach of semi-structured interviews/questionnaires, a focus group and in-depth conversations. Through the hourglass notion of research (Donnelly and Trochim, 2006) such data collection revealed family ties, warm weather and the relaxed lifestyle to be among the predominant factors in expatriate’s movements. Tangible factors such as driving on the same side of the road, whilst influential, were found to not be the deciding factors in migration movements.
Oliver, BillyWalsworth, EllieParkin, HarryAnderson, JacobReardon, Katharine
Supervisors: Gold, J
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Year: 2017
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