The Migration Trend - Some Basics

Migration is one of the influencing factors thatforced migrants. Fuelled by a combination of push
changes our lives. And apparently migration is a trendfactors in source countries and pull factors in
that will continue to influence our lives.receiving countries."
Migration is the collective noun for both immigrationSo the "desire" to migrate comes from... "a
and emigration. We all know what that is; we are allwell-developed networks that link the supply of
dealing with it, either direct or indirectly.labour with the demand of businesses for both highly
Globalisation on the other hand is a lot more abstract.skilled and unskilled workers." This in the case of
It could be defined as; ...the integration of economicvoluntary migration). "Forced migration is fuelled by
and capital markets throughout the world. Bringing theconflicts, human rights abuses and political repression
world closer through better world-widethat displace people from their home communities. "
communication, transport and trade links. The creationAlthough the overall share of migrants is less than
of a "Global Village", where members of the samethree percent of the world population, the migration
industry from around the world interact on a largeflows increase beyond the growth of the world
scale. (London Stock Exchange)population: "During the period from 1985 to 1990,
According to the council of Europe, globalization andglobal population growth increased by about 1.7
migration represent two of the most dynamic globalpercent per year, whereas the total population of
socio-political trends. Although each shows a properinternational migrants increased by 2.59 percent per
dynamic, both (phenomenon) are highly interrelated.year." (
Globalization creates situations -- economic inequalitiesInteresting is also a recent article on (e)migration
for example -- which increase "the pressure andfocused on the German situation:
intensify the desire to migrate." (In 2004 more than 150,000 Germans... were going
The OECD exposes that "record numbers of peopleabroad--the highest number since 1884.
are moving to many OECD countries in search ofAt the same time the immigration decreased heavily
jobs and to join their families... the economicover the last years... Hard numbers are difficult to
down-turn in some OECD countries has not affectedfind, but anecdotal evidence suggests that many
the upward trend in international migration whichmore academics are leaving Germany than are
began in the mid-1990s.arriving, in contrast with countries such as the United
The United States admitted more than a millionStates and Sweden that have a net "brain-gain".
permanent immigrants in 2001 and 2002, 25% moreAccording to a German medical organisation, about
than in 2000. In the same time period, several12,000 German doctors now work abroad ("Germany:
European countries, including Austria, France andland of emigration. Auf wiedersehen, Fatherland" (
Switzerland, admitted about 15% more immigrants.Migration is an important drive for change. People that
(OECD, Jan. 2004)migrate will have to deal with change. But in this case,
The journal of Humanitarian Assistance elaborates onthe migration trend will change (all) our lives. In fact it
the same topic: "Longer-term international migrantsalready does affect us in many ways.
belong to two broad groups: voluntary migrants and