Global Migration Phenomenon

• Why migration matters?
• Increase of migration flows from 2007 to 2016: 20% increase of migration, number of refugees doubled

  
• More remittances than ever before
• Challenges of integration exacerbated
• Growing xenophobia and anti-immigrants sentiments
• Migration is top on the political agenda
• Immigrants


  • More entrepreneurial than natives, Disproportionately contribute to innovation (USA)
• Plan


  • Concepts
  • History
  • Contemporary migration phenomenon

  
• Migration = History of Mankind
• History of migration: Origin of Mankind in Rift Valley in Africa, Greek colonisation, Roman expansion, Vikings, The silk road, Arab-Muslim expansion, Slave trade, 1820-1920 - 55 million European leave Europe
• Contemporary versions of historic trends?
• The Migrant Manifesto by Musa Okwonga, Migrants' Rights Network
• SDU: Salute to the European Youth, Sverige Demokratisk Ungdom
• Video unavailable any more: "Europe belongs to Us"
• 272 million migrants, fifth most populous country in the world
• Increase of migrants from 1965-1990 (45 million), annual growth of 2.1%, current annual growth of 2.9%
• Every 30th person is a migrant
• Distribution by gender and age: 48% women, 52% men, 31 million children (13 million refugees, 936,000 asylum seekers, 17 million IDPs)
• 18.8% of migrants are due to environmental reasons
• How to count the migrants: irregular migrants, returnees
• Countries with high percentage of immigration: Qatar 87%, UAE 88.4%, Singapore 41%, Luxembourg 40%, Switzerland 23%
• Countries with low percentage of immigration: Turkey 1.9% before refugee crisis, 6% today, Japan 1.8%, Romania 1.9%, India 0.4%
• Top emigration countries: India, Mexico, China, Russia, Syria
• Global migration system


  • Emergence of new centers and new peripheries, Sustainability of the global migration system
• The core of attractive countries - polycentric structure: US, EU, Persian Gulf
• 28 countries have three-quarters of all migrants, 10 countries have more than half of all migrants
• Top 5 immigration countries: US 49.8 million, Saudi Arabia 12.2 million, Germany 12.2 million, Russia 11.7 million, UK 8.8 million

  
• Deoccidentalisation - migration more widely distributed among more countries, top 10 countries have a smaller share of migrants than in 2000, periphery extremely diversified
• Traditional migration axes: South-North, East-West, New axes: South-South, North-North, North-South
• Majority of migration is within, not between major areas, 82% of immigration in Africa is from Africa, 76% of immigration in Asia is from Asia
• Migrant labor around the globe earns $20 trillion, vast majority spent/invested in the countries where migrants work
• Remittances are one of the most important contributions to poverty reduction and development, $689 billion in 2019, top sending countries US, UAE, Saudi Arabia, top receiving countries India, China, Mexico
• Historical periods of migration: Structural history - Longue durée, Conjunctural history - Medium length duration, History of events - Unique, contingent event
• Trends: From arrows to spaghetti, Globalisation of capitals, goods, symbols, migrants
• Feminization of migration, women as autonomous migrant actors, gender selective jobs in services, health care, entertainment, right of family reunion
• Policy options for irregular migrants: Tolerate, Disregard, Regularize, Expel
• Radicalization of some migrants, foreign terrorist fighters
• Conclusions: Migration is a constantly and influential feature of human history, supports the growth of world economy, contributes to the evolution of states and societies, enriches many cultures and civilisations