Moving on
Posted on April 23rd, 2009 by G Cameron
I’ve spent the last two weeks packing, although it’s probably more realistic to call it: moving our life into ever smaller boxes, while simultaneously contributing to the Oxford landfill. It feels oddly appropriate to research migration during the day, and feel the stress and pressure of preparing for our ritual annual move in the evening. We leave for Vietnam on Sunday morning.
I came across this fascinating map today, from the International Organization for Migration’s 2008 World Migration Report. The immediate conclusion that comes to mind is that the poorest don’t move in high numbers — just look at the very low level of remittances going into Africa, particularly compared with the volume of aid.
That’s a really interesting map. I’ve been concerned about the professional human resource migration (i.e. loss) from the developing to the developed world, but this is the other side of that coin – they send money back home. I’m not sure though that remittances correspond to numbers of migrants? i.e. reasons for migration from Africa may be different and many may end up in different socioeconomic groups in North America. Whereas western migrants from India/China for example may be better educated/higher socioeconomic on average. Are remittances a more ‘effective’ form of aid?
… PS have a safe flight and keep the blogposts flowing!