India to Qatar International Migration Case Study

• Qatar's population


  2.8 million
• How much of the population is born outside of Qatar?

  88%
• What is the biggest immigrant group come from?

  India - 22% of Qatar's population at 700,000
• India's push factors


  - 20% of India's population is living in poverty

  - Several natural disasters like Earthquakes due to locational factors.

  - Food shortages due to the high population in India of 1.4 billion.

  - Poor healthcare where only 1/1000 people are doctors.

  - High pollution levels - declared third most polluted.

  - Government corruption.
• Qatar's economic pull factors

  - Higher salaries

  - Better standard of living

  - Better education and health facilities where 2.5/1000 people are doctors.

  - Attractive environment

  - Largest GDP in the world 236 billion USD.

  - Immigrants from India can bring back to their family remittances.
• What was a major catalyst for migration in Qatar in the recent years?

  - FIFA awarding Qatar the World Cup in 2022. This led to a major programme of infrastructure and stadium construction.

  - These are typically voluntary economic migrants that work in Qatar for a temporary period of time, largely in service jobs and construction.
• Impacts on India


  NEGATIVES:

  - When migrants leave India to work and live in Qatar they lose labour and productivity causing a brain drain.

  - 50% of the migrants come from the Kerala State.

  - As many husbands are away, women are left more isolated in India and can face increased financial hardship.

  
  

  POSITIVES:

  - Qatar is the 5th biggest source of remittances back to India.

  - In 2017 over $4 billion in remittances were sent back to India.

  - 4% of India's GDP came from remittances.

  - Families use remittances to invest in homes, businesses, and education, improving nutrition and contributing to the Indian economy. Return migrants often invest in businesses, using migration to Qatar as a step towards prosperity.
• Problems with India to Qatar migration

  - Up until 2020, Qatar operated labour laws called the "Kafala System". These included laws that required some workers to obtain employers' permission to change jobs and exit permits to leave the country. It is argued that these laws supported labour abuses including servitude and holding workers without their consent.

  - 6,500 migrants have died since Qatar was named World Cup host. Causes of death include: asphyxia, blunt trauma and hanging. The most common was "natural death"; heart or respiratory failure due to working in intense heat.
• The total flight duration from India to Doha, Qatar is 3 hours, 50 minutes.