Multiculturalism Policies in Contemporary Democracies

The MCP project provides an index for each of three types of minorities: one index relating to immigrant groups,; one relating to historic national minorities; and one relating to indigenous peoples.  The index for immigrant minorities is now available on annual basis, with scores for each MCP policy in each country from 1960 to 2020.

Mapping the Index: The findings of our Multiculturalism Policy Index reveal a number of interesting developments. For example, despite the perception of a backlash and retreat from immigrant multiculturalism, the evidence suggests that multiculturalism policies have persisted, and in many cases, continue to expand. The two maps below show the strength of immigration multiculturalism policies in twenty-one countries in 1980 and 2020, revealing a clear trend towards stronger MCPs over that 40 year period. The two graphs below show that this trend is related to the size of the foreign-born population: in general, those countries with the largest growth in the size of immigrant minorities from 1980 to 2020 are also those countries which have strengthened their MCPs. See these trends in greater detail in the graphs and maps for five decades: 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, 2020.