Migration and the world Economy

Globalization is synonymous to the phenomenon of acceleration. For the past 25 years rapid changes have affected political, economic and social developments.
Acceleration is seen in vast technological changes, media revolution, global economic integration and massive changes in production systems and labor markets. All these rapid increases in transnational flow of capital, trade and technology have marked its effects on international migration as well.
Global economic restructuring has led not only to disruption in less developed or developing economies, it has also been a factor in unemployment, wage decline or job insecurity in dominant market economies.
Contemporary views on migration depart from the earlier premise of the push-pull theory on migration. According to this theory, people moved either because social and economic forces in the place of destination impelled them to do so, or because they were attracted to places of destination by one or more social and economic factors there.
Observers of migration flows have long seen the vast changing nature of migration. What used to be purely economic reasons for migrating no longer hold in many cases. Globalization of communication technology has affected extensively the original impetus of individuals to migrate. Linkages between receiving and sending countries are readily established. Networks connect migrants and non-migrants, where news and information are shared. This sustains the flow of migration. Studying networks particularly those linked with families and households sheds an understanding in the development and encouragement in additional migration.
Migration is not a new thing. People have always left their homes in search of better economic opportunities, both within and outside of their own homeland. But economic globalization has put a new spin on global migration, causing global uprootedness and human displacement on an unprecedented scale. Because economic globalization exacerbates the inequalities between nations, migration for many becomes not a choice, but an economic necessity.
Labor migration has steadily increased over the past decades. Yet, not all migration is international - and some of the biggest challenges come from domestic migrant workers moving from the countryside to cities. The following fact sheet explores how migration affects not only the global economy - but also issues ranging from social cohesion to security policy.
As of 2004, roughly one in every 35 people is an international migrant. If they all lived in the same place, it would be the world's fifth-largest country (International Organization for Migration).
Between 1970 and 1995, the largest point of origin for migrants was Mexico - with a net outflow of 6 million people. Behind Mexico came Bangladesh (4.1 million), Afghanistan (4.1 million) and the Philippines (2.9 million). (Financial Times)
In 1990, there were an estimated 120 million international migrants. By 2000, there were an estimated 150-180 million. (United Nations)
As of 2002, Western industrialized countries absorbed about 40% of the world's migrants. (United Nations)
Between 1991 and 2001, the number of migrants arriving in the United States rose by 28%, compared with a 20.3% increase for Britain. In contrast, the number of people moving to Germany and Japan fell by 19.5% and 28.6%, respectively. (OECD)
As of 2002, migrants sent at least $88 billion in remittances to developing countries. That is over 50% more than the $57 billion those countries received in development aid. (United Nations)
If rich nations opened 3% of their labor markets to temporary migrants - who then had to return home - it would generate $200 billion annually in wages. (New York Times Magazine)
The potential youth drain for the 10 new EU countries is estimated to be between 3% and 5% of all people who have achieved a university-level education - and more than 10% of the sending countries' students. (European Union)
As of 2000, net migration into the EU was highest in Italy (181,000) followed by the United Kingdom (140,000) and Germany (105,000). (European Union)
Between 2000 and 2010, 200 million Chinese migrants from the agricultural hinterland will move to towns and cities. (United Nations)
As of 2003, rural China has an estimated 150 million surplus farm workers whose migration to cities would help rationalize the supply of labor, feeding the manufacturing boom. (Wall Street Journal)
As migration from the countryside continues, China will have to produce 280 million new jobs in urban areas over the next decade just to maintain the rate of unemployment achieved in 1995. (National Times)
As of 2004, in some parts of India, 75% of households include a migrant. (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
As of 2003, New Delhi's population increases by at least 500,000 people a year - half of them migrants looking for work. (Far Eastern Economic Review)
As of 2003, the number of Indian migrants overseas accounts for less than 1% of India's total workforce. (Jawaharlal Nehru University) Women make up about 47.5% of all international