Global Patterns of Migration

1.     The number of international migrants globally in 2019: 272 million (3.5% of the world’s population)

• 52 per cent of international migrants were male; 48 per cent were female.

 • 74 per cent of all international migrants were of working age (20–64 years).

2.     India continued to be the largest country of origin of international migrants

 • India had the largest number of migrants living abroad (17.5 million), followed by Mexico and China (11.8 million and 10.7 million respectively).

3.     The top destination country remained the United States (50.7 million international migrants).

4.     The number of migrant workers declined slightly in high income countries while increasing elsewhere

• Between 2013 and 2017, high-income countries experienced a slight drop in migrant workers (from 112.3 million to 111.2 million). Upper middle-income countries observed the biggest increase (from 17.5 million to 30.5 million).

• Globally, male migrant workers outnumbered female migrant workers by 28 million in 2017. There were 96 million male migrant workers(58%) and 68 million female migrant workers(42%).

5.     International remittances increased to USD 689 billion in 2018

• The top 3 remittance recipients were India (USD 78.6 billion), China (USD 67.4 billion) and Mexico (USD 35.7 billion).

 • The United States remained the top remittance-sending country (USD 68.0 billion) followed by the United Arab Emirates (USD 44.4 billion) and Saudi Arabia (USD 36.1 billion). 6.The global refugee population was 25.9 million in 2018

 • 20.4 million refugees were under the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and 5.5 million were refugees under the mandate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Near East.

 • 52 per cent of the global refugee population was under 18 years of age.

6.     The number of internally displaced persons due to violence and conflict reached 41.3 million • This was the highest number on record since the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre began monitoring in 1998.

 • The Syrian Arab Republic had the highest number of people displaced (6.1 million) followed by Colombia (5.8 million) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (3.1 million). The number of stateless persons globally in 2018 was 3.9 million

 • Bangladesh had the largest number of stateless persons (around 906,000). It was followed by Côte d’Ivoire (692,000) and Myanmar (620,000).

• While most international migrants born in Africa, Asia and Europe reside within their regions of birth, the majority of migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean and Northern America reside outside their regions of birth. In Oceania, the number of intraregional migrants and those residing outside the region remained about the same in 2019.

 • More than half of all international migrants (141 million) lived in Europe and Northern America. Migration has been a key determinant of population change in several countries

 • Intraregional migration has been an important contributor to population change in some African countries such as Equatorial Guinea.

• Labour migration has contributed to significantpopulation changes especially in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States. With the exceptions of Oman and Saudi Arabia, migrants made up the majority of the populations in GCC countries.

7.Displacement remained a major feature in some regions

• The Syrian Arab Republic and Turkey were the origin and host of the largest number of refugees globally, 6.7 million and 3.7 million, respectively.

 Canada became the largest refugee resettlement country, resettling more refugees than the United States in 2018.

 • The Philippines had the largest number of new disaster displacements in 2018 (3.8 million).

• Around 4 million Venezuelans had left their country by mid-2019. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was the largest source country of asylum seekers in 2018 (over 340,000).

International Migrants from 1970-2019

Year	Migrant as a Percentage of the World Population
1970	2.3%
1975	2.2%
1980	2.3%
1985	2.3%
1990	2.9%
1995	2.8%
2000	2.8%
2005	2.9%
2010	3.2%
2015	3.4%
2019	3.5%

Conclusion: The number of the international migrants are increasing.

Consequences or Effects of Migration

1.     Social Consequence of Migration:

 

 

Social Aspect	Place of Origin	Place of Destination
1.     Infrastructure	Less focus will be given in the development of infrastructure. The developed infrastructure will be used less.	There will be lack of infrastructure.
2.     Security	There will be mixed feeling about security because there are less people which ultimately leads to the less chance of crime.	There will be less feeling of security because of the existence of crime.
3.     Education	Quality education will be less easy to achieve because no one focuses on the development of infrastructure for education. Existence of large physical distance of students to school. Difficulty in finding teachers, poor internet connection and lack of study materials.	Quality education will be hard to achieve de to the crowding of the people but there is the presence of: qualified and experienced teachers, staff; good internet connection; large number of schools; sufficient study materials.
4.     Health	Shortage of health facilities, no medical personnel	Abundant health facilities, qualified medical personnel but crowding of people.
5.     Psychology	There will be brain drain which means people will migrate for further generation.	It will receive more people due to brain drain in the place of origin.
6.     Lifestyle	There will be change in the lifestyle of those people who has return from the migration.	The migrate people will observe a great change in the lifestyle.
7.     Culture	There will be assimilation of culture.	There will be assimilation of culture.
8.     Mental health	The family whose member has migrated will miss their member.	The migrated person will miss his/her family.
9.     Breaking/Unification of family	The person who has migrated will observe the breaking of family.	There will be family reunification.

 

 

2.     Economic Consequences of Migration:

Economic Aspect	Place of Origin	Place of Destination
1.     Labor	There will be shortage of labor and occupation like agriculture will be based upon women, old and child.	There will be more labor force especially semi-skilled  and also causes unemployment.
2.     Raw Material	Most of the raw materials won’t be utilized due to the lack of the labor force.	Most of the raw material will be utilized due to the presence of more labor force.
3.     Flow of Money	It will gain money through remittances.	The money flow will procced towards another place in the form of remittances.
4.     Economic Growth	There will be economic growth due to  the remittances.	There will be huge economic growth due to the mass production.
5.     Living Standard	The living standard of the family whose member has migrated will increase.	There are 2 faces: a.      Since, unemployment increases living standard decreases b.     Since, growth of the economy increases, the tendency of living standard also increase.
6.     Mode of Production (World System Theory)	The destruction of the traditional mode of production.	The flourishment and empowerment of capitalist mode of production.

 

3.     Demographic Consequences of Migration

Aspects	Place of Origin	Place of Destination
1.     Size of Population	There will be huge number of absentees in the population.	There will be increase in the population due to the new migrant.
2.     Disbalance in Gender	Internal Migration: Girls will migrate to another place because of marriage. International Migration: Men will go to abroad especially for employment.	Internal Migration: It will achieve women migrant due to the marriage. International Migrant: It will achieve men migrant.
3.     Age	People of age group 15-29 will leave the place of origin in both internal and international migration.	It will achieve people of age group 15-29.
4.     Marital Status	I will lose single married and never married people in internal and international migration.	It will achieve single married and never married people in internal and international migration.
5.     Place of Residence	Place of origin is rural areas as most of the people migrate from this place.	Place of destination is urban areas most of the people migrate to this place.

 

Some important Terminologies about Migration

Absentee: According to the census of 2011:Any member of a household who has been abroad for six or more months prior to the time of enumeration. Migrants are counted at the destination and, hence, are all living within the country whereas absentees, although enumerated at the place of origin, denote only external migrants. The census deals with immigrants as a separate category.

Asylum seeker – An individual who is seeking international protection. In countries with individualized procedures, an asylum seeker is someone whose claim has not yet been finally decided on by the country in which he or she has submitted it. Not every asylum seeker will ultimately be recognized as a refugee, but every recognized refugee is initially an asylum seeker.

Place of destination – In the migration context, a place that is the destination for a person or a group of persons, irrespective of whether they migrate regularly or irregularly. Place where the people live after recent migration.

Place of origin – In the migration context, a place of nationality or of former habitual residence of a person or group of persons who have migrated abroad, irrespective of whether they migrate regularly or irregularly. Immediate place of living. Place where migrant was born and nurtured in his/her early existence.

Country of transit – In the migration context, the country through which a person or a group of persons pass on any journey to the country of destination or from the country of destination to the country of origin or of habitual residence.

 

Displacement – The movement of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters.

Emigration – From the perspective of the country of departure, the act of moving from one’s country of nationality or usual residence to another country, so that the country of destination effectively becomes his or her new country of usual residence.

Emigrant: From the perspective of country of origin, a person who has migrated from his/her country of nationality or usual residence to another country so that the country of destination effectively becomes his/her new country of usual residence.

Expulsion – A formal act or conduct attributable to a State by which a non-national is compelled to leave the territory of that State.

Immigrant – From the perspective of the country of arrival, a person who moves into a country other than that of his or her nationality or usual residence, so that the country of destination effectively becomes his or her new country of usual residence.

Immigration – From the perspective of the country of arrival, the act of moving into a country other than one’s country of nationality or usual residence, so that the country of destination effectively becomes his or her new country of usual residence.

Refugee (1951 Convention) – A person who, owing to a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.

Remittances (migrant) – Private international monetary transfers that migrants make, individually or collectively. Remittances are primarily sent to people in countries of origin with whom migrants maintain close links, although, in some cases, they are also sent to relatives in other countries   of destination. 

 Adobted from: https://www.iom.int/key-migration-terms

 

Migrants and their Characteristcs

Migrant

Person who moves away from his/her usual place of residence whether within a country or across an international border temporarily or permanently due to variety of reasons. This term includes a number of well defined categories of people such as migrant workers, smuggled migrants, international students.

Characteristics of Migrant:

a.Social Characteristics

1. Sometimes migrants are not accepted by the society easily.

2. Migrants have high quality of cultural assimilation.

3. They bring their own culture, tradition, language and festival.

4. It is mostly sure that migrants face: Difficulty, Dirty, Danger and Discrimination.

5. Most of the migrants migrate in the hope of better education,health and better infrastructure.

b.Economic Characteristics

1. Most of the migrants are driven by economic reasons. (Todaro)

2. Most of the migrants are labor migrants having semi-skilled.

3. Labor migrants face unequal treatment.

4. Labor migrants have to work for long hours with low wages.

5. Most of the migrants have better living standard.

6. Most of the migrants tend to do any job at place of destination.

7. Most of the migrants are brain-drained to migrate for better job in the place of destination.

c.Demographic Characteristics

1. Females migrants are more engaged in internal migration due to marriage. (Ravenstein)

2. Male migrants are more engaged in international migration for job. (Ravenstein)

3. Most of the migrants are from age group 20-35. (Lee)

4. Most of the migrants are never married and married.

5. Most of the migrants are rural born. (Ravenstein)

d.Physical Characteristics

1. Most of the migrants are from short distance. (Ravenstein)

2. Most of the migrants are healthy.

3. Migrants follow step-migration.

4. Only few migrants want to return back their home.

5. Migrants are intermediate between the characteristics of the population of place of origin and place of destination.

6. Migrants migrate due to the response of pull and push factors.