From the first days of the neighbourhood's formation, Govanhill has always been a popular settlement area for people coming to Glasgow and Scotland. The population has regularly changed and diversified as migrants have chosen to live in the area. Migration started with people from the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland; from England (workers from Shropshire to carry new techniques at the iron works); from Ireland (particularly County Donegal); Italians; Jewish people fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe; people from the Punjab and other parts of the Indian sub-continent; Glasgow's new communities of former asylum seekers and refugees and – most recently – migrants benefiting from Enlargement of the European Union originating from Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic (2004) and Romania and Bulgaria (2007). The area has long been Scotland's most culturally diverse neighbourhood. Of the 15,000 people living in the neighbourhood, approximately 40% are from ethnic minority communities (2012), with Roma people from Eastern Europe making up 3,000–3,500 of the local population. This diversity is reflected in the local shops, the languages spoken in the street and in the people found locally. A social survey carried out by Govanhill Housing Association identified 52 nationalities and 32 languages spoken within just 13 tenement blocks within the area.