What is global migration?

A situation in which people go to live in foreign countries, especially in order to find work.
What are the types of global migration?
There are two types of migration: internal migration, which refers to people moving from one
area to another within one country; and international migration, in which people cross borders of
one country to another. The latter can be further broken down into five groups. First are those
who move permanently to another country (immigrants). The second refers to workers who stay
in another country for a fixed period (at least 6months in a year). Illegal migrants comprise the
third group, while the fourth are migrants whose families have “petitioned” them to move to the
destination country. The fifth group are refugees (also known as asylum-seekers), i.e., those
“unable or unwilling to return because of a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race,
religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. (Claudio &
Abinales, 2018, pp.100-110)
What are the main causes of migration?
1. Political.
The deplorable state of displacement brought about by civil conflict and insecurity places
asylum seekers at the topmost of our list. As stated, 90 percent of migration is borne out
of economic reasons. By contrast, the remaining 10 percent are refugees and asylum
seekers who have fled to another country to escape conflict and persecution. Roughly half
of the word’s 24 million refugees are in the Middle East and North Africa, reflecting the
dominant pattern of flight to a neighboring country. Overall more than 65 million people
around the world have been forcibly displaced. That’s the most since World War II,
according to the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR). (Ibid., p.204)

2. Economic- In search for better opportunities

The second most prevalent reason is economic. An economic migrant is someone who
emigrates from one region to another to seek an improvement in living standards because
the living conditions or job opportunities in the migrant’s own region are not sufficient.
People who work legally in another country are often described as immigrants or
expatriates. Economic factors provide the main motivation behind migration. In fact,
according to the International Labor Organization, approximately half of the total
population of current international migrants, or about 100 million migrant workers, have
left home to find better job and lifestyle opportunities for their families abroad
(International Labor Office of the Director-General, 2008). In some countries, jobs
simply do not exist for a great deal of the population. In other instances, the income gap
between sending and receiving countries is great enough to warrant a move. India, for
example, has recently experienced a surge in emigration due to a combination of these
factors (Index, Mundi, 2012).

*Environmental Migration
 Causes of migration include natural disasters such as flooding

Push and Pull Factors of Migration

Push Factors are reasons that drive people to leave home, these factors are considered
negative aspect of the sending country meanwhile pull factors are reason why people
move to certain place and considered a positive aspect of the receiving country.

Push Factors are the following

 lack of services
 lack of safety
 high crime
 crop failure
 drought
 flooding
 poverty
 war

Pull Factors are the following

 higher employment
 more wealth
 better services
 good climate
 safer, less crime
 political stability
 more fertile land
 lower risk from natural hazards

What are the main effects of migration?

According to an article published in PubMed.gov written by Bello Isaias (1989), recent large-
scale emigrations from developing countries have been provoked by world economic crises
and/or by reaction to dangers posed by armed conflicts.
Migrants eventually induce social, economic, and political problems in receiving countries,
including
1) increases in the population, with adverse effects on existing social institutions;
2) Increases in demand for goods and services;
3) Displacement of nationals from occupations in the countryside and in the cities;
4) Increases in the size of the informal sector of the national economy;
5) Deterioration in the salary structures of the informal, rural, and urban sectors of the economy;
6) transculturation;
7) Occasional loss of customs and traditions by the local population; and
8) The introduction of diseases and social problems.
The receiving countries do benefit from the infusion of skills. The consequences of migration for
developing countries include the following aspects:
1) Adaptation of labor markets to demands of the economy,
2) Degree and type of concentration of migrant populations in the receiving country,
3) Differences that arise between formal and informal and urban and rural sectors of the
economy,
4) Type and degree of concentration and interaction of population groups, and
5) Possible moral deformation of some migrants and their deviant behavior.
In conclusion, receiving countries must have policies that responsibly address the presence of
economic immigrants and refugees on their territory, without this being considered detrimental
to the national interest.