April 27: A new report from the World Bank has shown that many countries are becoming increasingly dependent on migration to attain their long-term development potential as the population around the world is growing at an unprecedented rate.
The World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees and Societies identifies this trend as a unique opportunity to make migration work better for economies and people.
According to the report, rich and increasingly middle-income countries, which in the past were the main sources of migrant workers, are facing issues of shrinking populations and intensifying global competition for workers and talent. At the same time, very low-income countries are expected to experience rapid population growth, which will put pressure on them to create more jobs for their young population. According to a study conducted by the World Bank, there is a danger that a good immigration policy of a developed country may lead to a shortage of labor force due to emigration and migration in underdeveloped countries. The report notes that the share of working-age adults in many countries will decline sharply over the next decade.
World Bank Senior Managing Director Axel van Trotsenberg said, “Migration can be a powerful force for prosperity and development. If managed well, it benefits all sources and destinations of workers.”
Apart from demographic change, the factors of migration are also changing, which is making cross-border movement more diverse and complex. Now the identification of source and destination countries has spread to all income levels. Many countries like Mexico, Nigeria, the UK are both sending and receiving immigrants. The report also mentions that the number of refugees has almost tripled in the last decade. The report mentions that climate change threatens to promote further migration. Until now, climate-induced migration has been limited only within countries, but 40 percent of the world's populations (3.4 billion people) live in areas with high impacts of climate change.
Current approaches not only fail to maximize the potential development benefits of migration, but also cause great suffering to the people in crisis. The report states, “About 2.5 percent of the world's population, i.e. 104 million people (including 37 million refugees) are now outside their countries. The largest share of these people (43 percent) is found to be in developing countries.”
According to Indermeet Gill, World Bank Group Chief Economist and Vice President of Development Economics, the report offers a simple and powerful framework to help shape migration and refugee policy. He said, “This tells us that such policies can be made unilaterally by the destination country and if they are made multilaterally by the countries of destination, transit and origin, it can be considered as a multinational responsibility.”
The report emphasized that countries of origin should make labor migration a clear part of their development strategies. The report points out that they should reduce remittance costs, facilitate the transfer of knowledge from their diaspora, and build skills that are in high demand globally. By doing so, their citizens will get good jobs when they go to other countries and the adverse effects of brain drain can be minimized, their citizens who are abroad can be protected and they can be supported when they return. The report also emphasized the need for better management of migration.
