Migration

Migration

1. Increasing Complexity of Migration

   • Case Study: China (EDC)
     • Top migrant sources TO China (2024): Vietnam, South Korea, Brazil, Philippines, Indonesia
     • Top migrant destinations FROM China (2024): USA, South Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia
     • Changes over time
       • Pre-1949
         • Gold rushes cause migration out of China to try and get rich else where
         • "Great white wall" policies in USA, CA, NZ, AUS - reduces possible migraiton to them, therefore less leave China
         • Southeast Asian colonial governments wanted more workers, increasing intra-regional migration
       • 1949
         • Communist China starts with an isolationist policy, few allow out; few allowed in
       • 1979
         • Isolationism ends allowing people in and out again
       • 2012
         • Visas become harder to gain, reducing migration in
     • Devlopment due to migration
       • Economic
         • high skilled workers creating a large techonology sector
       • Political stability
         • Migrants spread realistic views of how it is to live in China, creating passive advertisement for their way of life
       • Social equality
         • increasing diversity, increasing who people interact with
         • Those who can afford to leave do, meanign those who remain are poorer and therefore foten live in worse conditions
     • Interdependance
       • Economic
         • One Belt, One Road inishitive
           • China funds projects in other countries so that they can increase in infrastructure so they can all trade with China more
             • Often will send workers (migrants) to help with the projects
               • ex. Angola has 0ver 10000 Chinese workers in them
             • economic connections between them forge
       • Political
         • Gaining economic power over countries allows China to exert political power over them
       • Social
         • ~492000 forign student in China in 2018, allowing them to get educated and the poeple to see other cultures
           • Deal with people in lower income countries (mostly in Africa) to bring scholarships to people, allowing for low income families to get their children good educations
       • Environmental
         • Emmigration from China to Australia as China has a pollution problem, therefore richer people will move out of China to somewhere where the air is better
   • Changes in the 21st century
     • South-South migration is about equal to South-North migration (Even surpassed now)
     • Wars increase refugees from that country (Ukraine, Isreal/Palastine)
     • More women are leaving so they can go to places they can work
     • More young people leaving to look for work
     • Increasing industrilisation in places where there wasnt before (eg. china, or Myanmar) cause more migration in those regions to those countries
     • New bilateral corridors
       • EG. Inida-USA, Syria-Turkey
     • Changing governments leads to changing of the rules
       • Uk leaving the EU
       • Donald Trump in the US (see the case study for more)

2. Patterns of Migration

   • Current Migration Patterns
     • Influence of development on them
       • $702 billion is the value of all remittances sent
         • Suggests migration could happen between lower income to higher income so workers can support their families in their home country
       • Human Development Index (HDI)
         • Often people come from lower HDI countries and go to higher HDI countries
           • Could suggest people go from less developed countries so that they can get a better life in a more developed country
     • 88.1% of the UAE's population is migrants
     • The US-Mexico boarder has the most immigation across it of any corridoor
     • Europe had 86.7 million migrants (from non European countries) in 2020
     • Asia had 85.6 million migrants (from non Asian countries) in 2020
     • The US has the largest number of migrants in it
     • ~1/3 of migrants come from only 10 countries and around 50% of all will settle in just 10
     • 48% are women
     • South-South migration rose to around 105 millio
     • India has the most migrants origonating from it
   • Issues caused by migration
     • Inequalities
       • Vulnerability to violations of human rights
       • Asylum seekers may not be allowed to work and so have to survive on the little the government gives them
       • Refugees suffer often in the journey to a new country and then may be turned away and have to do it again
     • Conflicts
       • "Social conflict" between migrants and host country citizens
         • could be due to how far intergated they are
       • Higher populations in one area could cause pressures for services
       • Boarder conflict between Migrants, Officers, and Traffickers
     • Injustices
       • Home country can loose their younger workforce
       • Brain drain (smartest people leaving)
       • Remittances causes that family to be better off than everyone else
       • Only letting in certain people (eg. young people) and lead to suffering in home country (eg. aging and non working population
   • Benefits through migration
     • Stability
       • Remittances can give economic stability to home families, and therefore the country as well
       • Returning migrants can bring back ideas of democracy and peaceful change
       • Can balance ageing populations in host countries' workforce
     • (economic) Growth
       • More workers = higher GDP and more tax for the host country
       • New economic opportunites as migrants want a feeling of their home country
       • Fill gaps in workforce
       • Remittances can stimulate economic growth in home country
         • Funds for investment
     • Development
       • Skills and knowlage brought back
       • Bi-lateral development as migrants can make a easier pathway for things like trade between host and home country

3. Issues over Unequal flows of Migration (Globally)

   • Case Study: USA (AC)
     • Patterns of migration
       • 18th Century had enslaved Africans brought across the Atlntic
       • Displaced people in WW1 and WW2 increased migration
       • There was a period growth between 1820-1909, reaching the peak of just over 8 million people between 1900-1909, but then for the next 3 decades migration reduced to around 600,000 between 1930-39, once after migration grew again, ending in 2000-2009 at around 10,100,000 migrants.
       • Changing presidents caused changing of policies
         • Obama granted many work permits for undocumented migrants
         • Trump (1st) banned many people from coming (EX. the "muslim travel ban" from specific countries)
         • Biden relaxed the ban
         • Trump (2nd) has currently (2 weeks in) has gotten rid of the app people can apply for Visa's with, deporting thousands, and sent troops to the Mexican boarder
       • Mexican migrants in just the US accounts for around 4.3% of Mexico's GDP
     • Challenges of migration
       • Boarders are too long to moniter fully
       • people trying to get in without Visas or legal status (IRREGULAR MIGRATION NOT ILLEGAL MIGRATION)
         • estimated 11.5 million in total
       • Uneven intergration
       • Migrants are often concentrated in specific areas, putting stress on specific services (eg. water in South Cali)
     • Opportunities of migration
       • Increased consumerism, therefore economic stimulation and tax
       • Migrants often work in low paid jobs - construction, transportation, etc - filling in the labour supply
       • Highly educated and skilled people from places like China and India increase the innovative sectors (eg. technology, AI)
   • Case Study: Nigeria (LIDC)
     • Opportunities of migration
       • about 4.5% of GDP comes from remittances
       • Possiblility for more people to come back skilled and help the country develop
     • Challenges of migration
       • The smartest and most skilled will leave to find better opportunities
         • Brain Drain
     • Patterns of migration
       • Top origin points for migrants TO NG: Benin, Ghana, Mali, Cameroon
         • All intra-regional
       • Top destinations FROM NG: USA, UK, Cameroon, Niger, Italy
         • Both inter- and Intra regional migration