Understanding Migration’s Effects: Inhabitants’ Perspectives on Socio-Economic Development in Deep Peripheries of the EU

Abstract

This article examines how the circumstance of being located in a left-behind regionof the EU’s eastern deep periphery shapes people’s perceptions of migration flows (emigration,immigration and internal migration), and how inhabitants are affected. We have used semi-structuredinterviews with local-government representatives and inhabitants of a sending region – the county(powiat) of Łuków in eastern Poland. We illustrate how long-term depopulation mainly due to migrationoutflows is able to encourage perceptions of the situation in the region that are described mainlyin negative terms, especially when it comes to social capital and the lack of prospects for young people.The results also highlight the importance of place-based migration policies being introduced to overcomethe negative effects of depopulation.