Global migration
Patterns of global migration
Migration -- this is the movement of people from one place to another with the intention of settling, permanently or temporally, at a new location.
International migration -- this is the movement of people across national borders.
It is believed that there are 270 million people living outside their country (3.3% of the world's population) of birth in 2013 and it is believed that over 750 million people migrate within their own country.
Reasons for migration
Refugee -- this is someone that has been forced to move from their home country or usual domicile due to having a genuine fear of deaths or persucaution.
Economic migrants -- this is someone that permantly or temporally moves from one country, region or place to another to improve their life (usaully through getting better jobs).
Assylum seeker -- a person who seeks entry to another country by claiming to be a refugee.
Spatial patterns of migration
Migration in most countries has led to an increase in urban populations.
Migration within the EU
Italy (gained 1.18 million people through migration in 2013) and Germany (gained 466,000 people through migration in 2013) are the largest hosts of migrants within the EU (this includes migrants from outside the EU).
In 2020 Romania and Poland both had the largest net migration loss within the EU as citizens moved to find better jobs.
Long term migrant -- this is someone that moves for longer then a year.
Short term migrant -- this is someone that moves for more than 3 months, but less then a year.
Migration to and from the UK
Poland and India are the countries of orgins to the largest number of migrants in the UK.
Austrialia and the USA are the largest hosts of expats from the UK.
Reasons why people come to the UK
Education (over 255,000 people were granted student visas in 2020).
Family (over 150,000 people were granted family based visas in 2020).
Jobs (over 140,000 people were granted visas for work in 2020).
Reasons why people leave the UK
Jobs
Retirement
Family
Inter-regional migration
Inter-regional migration -- the movement of people from one region of the world to another.
Refugees
Most refugees come from Africa and the Middle East.
Inter-regional migration for refugees can be very dangerous, it is believed that 6 refugees died a day during the 2018 migrant crisis.
Routes into Europe
Across the Med from Libya to Italy.
West Africa to Southern Spain.
Turkey to Greece.
2015 migrant crisis
More then 1 million migrants and refugees attempted to enter the EU; this created many divisons within the EU and brought it close to breaking point.
Many countries made refugee pledges (the UK announced it would take 500 Syrian refugees), but these pledges were soon overun (the UK ended up taking more than 2,000).
The UN called it the worst refugee crisis since WW2.
Many migrants drowened in the Med and to avoid this they attempted to cross the Greek-Turkish border.
Driven by the Syrian civil war and growining instability around the world.
In an attempt to deal with the migrant crisis Hungary built a fence along its border with Serbia (a common route for those who arrived in Greece).
Lee Migration Model
This is a model that is used for all migrants and it considers more then just the push-pull factors. In the middle of the model are 'intervening factors'.
Intervening factor -- these are factors that make it harder for migrants to move and include the cost of moving and physical barriers such as oceans.
Intra-regional migration
EU
The EU has high intra-regional migration because of the Schegan area (27 member states including EU member states and smaller non-EU european countries) and freedom of movement wihtin the rest of the EU.
In 2018 1.4 million EU citizens lived outside of their country of origin.
Spain, Estonia and Latvia have the largest migrant populations with migrants making up more than 16% of their populations.
Reasons for an increase in intra-EU migration
EU expansion
The EU let in member states in rounds these occured in 2004, 2007 and 2013 (14 members have joined since 2004).
Schegan area
Enables freedom of movement within the EU.
All new EU member states must join Schegan.
Polish migration into the UK
There are almost 700,000 people within the UK of Polish connections.
Polish migration grew rapidly when it joined the EU.
Reasons for Polish migration
Brittian did not impose miration rules on the A8 countries (including Poland).
Many people speak English.
UK had a labour shortage that needed filling.
Polish workers could earn 5 times as much in the UK as in Poland.
Unemployment was very high in 2004 in PLAND (1/5 of Poles were unemployed).
Type of work Poles did
97% of Poles worked full time.
Many men worked in seccondary industry jobs while women worked in restraunts and hotels as nanies and cleaners.
A survey of businesses that employed Poles showed that 61% of business hired them for their superiod work ethic and only 16% because they could be paid less.
Demographics and location
Most Poles went to live in Polish communities in the UK, but when work couldn't be found in those they moved out.
40% of Poles live in London
Demographics
1/3 of new Polish migrants are graduates.
80% are younger than 34.
The average age of a Polish migrant is 28.
Only 10% of migrants have brought dependents.
58% of them are male.
Pros and cons
For source country
Pros
It is estimated that £4 billion are sent back as migrant remitances.(this accounts to 0.6% of Polish GDP).
Cons
Nearly half of businesses in Poland say they lack the skilled labour to grow.
Poland's divorce rate has doubled in the last 7 years. This was driven by:
Many migrants left their family at home and it has strained relationships.
Social remitances have led to a liberalistion of views on divorce.
Host country
Pros
Polish migrants have been key in filling labour gaps.
Businesses have profited from Poles buying into consumer culture.
Tesco's now sells 100 Polish food goods.
Many small Polish businesses have started up.
Although estimates vary it is believed that Poles have contributed severall billion to the UK economy.
Many people support a multi-cultural Britian and believe that Polish migration has helped this.
Cons
It has been argued that Polish migration has contributed to stagant UK wage growth.
Since 2007 UK wages when adjusted for inlation have not risen and Poland joined the EU in 2004.
Many have accused migrants of comming over to profit off lucratice welfare state schemes.
This helped feed political instability and Brexit.
Changes to patterns
Migration dropped by 40% after the 2008 crash.
A mixture of a weak pound leading to a higher cost of living and increasing wages in Poland is making life in Poland more tasteful.
Growth in the Polish economy is creating more job opportunities for Poles.
EU countries are lifting migration limits on A8 countries.
People have achieved their goals of wealth creation.
Citites like Gdansk are running workshops to encrouge people to move back.
It is estimated that in 5 years 60% of Poles in the UK will remain permantly.
Development, stability and ties
Remittences
Remittences -- this is the flow of money and/or ideas (social remitences) from a host country back to the source country of the migrants.
Remittences compete with international aid as the largest inflows of money into devleoping countries.
28.8% of Nepal's GDP comes from remittences and their HDI is 0.54 and remittences are linked to an 11% drop in poverty.
21.1% of Haiti's GDP comes from remitences and their HDI is 0.471.
EDCs are the largest receivers of migrants remittances due to their growing populations and improving skills of their population.
India and China are the largest recivers of migrant remittences.
It is not only EDCs/LIDCs that recive migrant remitences, globally France is the 5th largest reciver of migrant remittences maoinly driven by high skilled workers in other EU nations.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Can drive economic growth as families in the home country have a higher disposable income, this is magnified in the very poorest communities (commonly inrural areas) as their income has increased by a greater percentage.
Can drive economic growth as remittences can act as another form of credit instead of bank loans and this can help remove credit contrainsts on the poorest people.
Cons
Remittences can undermine long term economic gorwth as they are commonly spent on foriegn and not local goods.
Money is not spent or saved productivly meaning that it is not contributing as much as it could be to the economy.
Can lead to an increase in exchange rates which could lead to an increase in the cost of exports (making them less competitive).
They can bind a nations economic growth to the success of another.
Remittences are a driver of migration as people move so that they can send money home (look at Qatar).
Globally migrant remittences are valued at $413 billion a year and international aid spending is $135 billion, however aid spending is more targeted to developing countries.
It is very expensive sending money back meaning that much of the money poeple are earning is not helping them or their family.
To send money to Africa 12% of it is taken as fees.
To send money to Venuzula 90% of it is taken as fees.
Costs can be reduced by
Reducing regulation on small level remittences.
Abolish execlusive partnerships with post offices.
Enable non-profit organistions to set up remittence services.
How can global migration casue inequalities, conflict and injustice
How global migratation causes inequalities
Unequal flow of money out a of country means that money is being moved away from the host country.
Countries of orgin loose many young, skilled workers which could lead to brain drain.
Migrant remittences can increase inquality in a country as not everyone can afford to send people to other countries to work.
How global migration causes conflcit
Social conflict can be created as people being to feel like they are losing their connection to place as demographics change. -- BREXIT and Trump/populaism
If immigrant populations are focused on one area than this can lead to unequal pressure on local services such as education and health.
Can create conflict on international borders such as the Greek-Turkish border where it is not rae for their to be flair ups of voilence.
How global migration causes injustices
Many migrants are victems of human rights abuses such as forced labour.
Many assylum seekers are held in detnetion centres and are not allowed to work and only being sustained on the very basic level.
There is inequality in the routes migrants take with south to north and south to south migration being dominant.
South to north migration has been a key driver of brain drains in developing countries.
Unequal access to technology is preventing the effective work of civillian relief organistions. These inequalities stem from a lack of investment in technology and control of technology by dicatorships.
Moria refugee camp -- example of inequality
Located in Greece (Lesbos) it is one of the key sights into Europe in regards to inter-regional travel.
Built to house 3,000 people, but holds 13,000 people.
Many of these people live in tents pitched around the hillside with no running water or electricity.
How can global migration support stability, economic growth and development
How can global migration support stability
Migrant remittences can help support stability in the migrants home country.
New migrants return home with new ideas and values (commonly more progressive views) can contribute to peace building and conflcit resolution.
In countries where there is an aging population, youthful migration is important to maintaing a balanced age/population structure.
How can global migration support economic growth
The GDP and tax base of the host country will increase.
Migrants act as consumers in the areas where they move and this helps to stimulate local economic growth as more people are spending money.
Migrants can fill skill/labour shortages.
Migrant remittences can supplement household income, stimulating spending and increasing investment into the local community (this can create a multiplier effect).
How can global migration support development
In 2018 the world bank estimated that $689 billion of were sent as migrant remittences.
UN 'migration and development' programmes work with partner countries along side families, local government and the public and private sector to provide bottom up development.
Migrants can create networks which can ease the flow of skills, financial resources, values and ideas back into home countries.
Skills and knowledge acquired by returning migrants can be of benefitto contries of origin.
Many children of migrants will be educated in the host country and may return with different ideas and values.
Young migrants and female migrants
Bilateral corridors
Bilateral corridors -- these are the routes taken by migrants.
There are a growing number of bilateral corridors as migrants move between more countries. This increase in the number of corridors is because:
Globalistation and time space compression mean that people can move to more places.
The success of older generatations in moving to a country will increase the chances of the next generation doing so.
Increased communication and technology is expanding people's knowledge of the options.
Young migration
Reasons for the increase in young migration.
Jobs
Higher wages
Chances to send money home
10% of migrant workers, in 2019, were younger then 24.
Young migration into all the gulf states has grown as their is a demand for labour that citizens of the countries are not willing to do.
UAE
In 2000 there were 2.45 million young migrants in the UAE, in 2013 there were 7.83 million.
Many young migrants are low skilled with only 3.6% of them employed in health and 2.6% employed in education.
Female migration
Reasons for the increase in female migration.
Greater levels of freedom of movement for women indeveloping countries.
Desire for family reunifaction.
Improved status of women.
Improved global governence of migration.
Increase in the number of skilled/educated women increasing the number of women who may migrate in search of better pay/less gender discrimination.
Increase in the number of refugees.
Men were not allowed to flee Ukraine while women and children were.
Improvements in government policy.
Key facts
Female migrants send home more remitences then men.
More than 40% of all migrants are women (in 2013, in developed countries 52% of migrants were female and in developing countries 46% of migrants were female).
Problems faced by female migrants
Migrant women have a higher level of labour force partcipitation then non-migrant women (72% to 64%).
50% of refugees and girls, however, only 4% of UN inter-agency appeals were target at women and girls.
1 in 5 displaced women face sexual voilence.
In some countries female migrants still face restrictions to work.
South to south migration
South to south migration -- this is the movement of people between two countries in the economic global south.
South to South v South to North
South to south migration makes up around 50% of all migration.
South to north migration makes up around 35% of all migration.
Reasons for south to south migration
Labour migrants.
Many countries in the global south have growing economies that employ lots of migrant workers (such as Qatar).
Refugees
People will flee conflict to nearby countries who countries with similar cultures.
One of the biggest desitinations for both Palistian and Syrian refugees has been Lebanon.
Reasons for the increase in south to south migration
Weaker barriers to migration between global south countries (partly driven by an increase in concern about migration in developed economies).
Economies such as China's and Qatar's (88% of the population are economic migrants) have exploped and required migrant workers to help support the economy.
Social media has increased the awarness of opporuntunies in global south countries.
It is cheaper to migrate to countries that are neaby, these are typically other global south countries.
Examples
Burkina Fasso to Ivory Coast
West African intra-regional migration.
Burkina Fasso
Landlocked, young population and poor (GDP per capitia of $634).
Ivory Coast
Coastal, major exporter of cocoa and slightly richer (GDP per capitia of $1529).
People from Burkina Fasso move to the Ivory Coast in search of better paying farming jobs, doing so enables them to send remittences back.
Migration is boosted by a shared culture, language and currency.
Myanmar to Thailand
Around 1.9 to 3 million Burmese live in Thailand.
Myanmar
GDP per capitia of $1408 with 26% of the population living below the poverty line.
Thailand
GDP per capitia of $7808.
Migration is mainly driven by economic reasons including Thailand's $9 a day minimum wage.
Many migrants are refugees escapting forced labour in Myanmar.
Increased by freedom of movement between ASEAN members.
Rise of refugees
There are around 89 million forcibly displaced people around the world and 27.1 million refugees.
Syrian refugee crisis
Caused by the break out of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
5.6 million Syrian's were made refugees and 6.2 million people became IDPs.
Around 12 million people needed humanitarian assistence.
Most refugees fled to the nierbouring countries of Turkey and Lebanon, many more used these countries as a stepping stone to enter Europe causing the 2015 migrant crisis.
Reasons for refugees
Conflict.
Political persacusion.
Economic hardship leading to forced labour and slvery.
Natural disasters.
Migration policies
Open doors
Open doors -- this is where a country allows anyone to enter the country and the country will encrouge immigration.
Pros
Increases imigration into the country.
Cons
Migrants may be low skilled.
Increases strain on public services (this can create political tensions).
Quotas
Quotas -- this is where a govenrment restricts the number of people that can enter a country to a certian number this can restrict everyone or certian groups.
Pros
Limits the total number of migrants.
Cons
Migrants let in may not be skilled.
Limits the total number of migrants.
May prevent refugees entering the county.
Skills test
Skill test -- this is where migrants trying to entering the country must fit a set of pre-set targets and hitting enough of these targets gives people enough 'points' to enter.
Pros
Limits the total number of migrants.
Ensures migrants entering the country are migrants that the country wants.
Cons
Limits immigration.
May prevent some refugees entering the county.
Encrouging immigration and emmigration
Pakistan -- encrouging emigration
Country profile
GDP per capitia of $1,285.
HDI of 0.56.
Population of 75 million and population denisity of 281/km2.
Remittences sent to Pakistan are worth over $7.147bn.
Emmigration is encoruged through:
The Pakistan National Emmigration Policy which works with the ILO to support migrants.
Ratification of treaties.
Promoting Pakistani migrants.
Encrouging female migration.
Setting up social support networks.
Helping train Pakistani youths.
Canada -- encrouging immigration
Country profile
GDP per capitia of $46,190.
HDI of 0.922.
Population of 37.4 million and a population denisity of 4/km2.
Canada took in over 25,000 Syrian refugees in 2015.
They use a points based migration system to encrouge skilled migrants such as doctors and engineers (areas where there are labour shortages).