Migration & Development

Governments, development specialists, and others have rediscovered the connections between migration and development. Yet while increasing volumes of research have focused on the actual and potential contributions of migrant communities to sustainable development or poverty reduction in their countries of origin, the findings have not been systematically translated into policy guidance. One result is that little coherence is to be found between the development and migration policies of governments in countries of destination and origin—a reality that the research offered here seeks to address.

Recent Activity

Reports February 2024 Leaving No One Behind: Inclusive Fintech for Remittances By Ravenna Sohst	Articles February 22, 2024 Reliant on Labor Migration, the Global South Forges a New Social Contract with Its Citizens By Kamal Sadiq and Gerasimos Tsourapas
Articles February 15, 2024 Afghan Immigrants in the United States By Julian Montalvo and Jeanne Batalova	Articles February 8, 2024 South Asia’s Tibetan Refugee Community Is Shrinking, Imperiling Its Long-Term Future By Tenzin Dorjee and Tsewang Rigzin
Articles January 30, 2024 China’s Demand for Brides Draws Women from Across Southeast Asia—Sometimes by Force By Visalaakshi Annamalai	Multimedia January 24, 2024 Are the Pacific’s Climate Migration Experiments a Preview for the World?
Articles January 26, 2024 Aging Societies Rely on Immigrant Health-Care Workers, Posing Challenges for Origin Countries By Heidi Bludau	Articles January 11, 2024 European Immigrants in the United States By Feyisayo Oyolola and Jeanne Batalova

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Policy Briefs June 2023 Linking Migrant Reintegration Assistance and Development Goals By Camille Le Coz and Ravenna Sohst	Reports June 2023 Migration Narratives in Northern Central America: How Competing Stories Shape Policy and Public Opinion in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador By Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, Aaron Clark-Ginsberg, Alejandra Lopez and Alejandro Vélez Salas
Reports March 2023 Migration, Integration, and Diaspora Engagement in the Caribbean: A Policy Review By Valerie Lacarte, Jordi Amaral, Diego Chaves-González, Ana María Sáiz and Jeremy Harris	Reports November 2022 Financing Responses to Climate Migration: The Unique Role of Multilateral Development Banks By Lawrence Huang, Ravenna Sohst and Camille Le Coz
Reports June 2022 Programas de trabajadores temporales en Canadá, México y Costa Rica: ¿Son vías prometedoras para gestionar la migración centroamericana? By Cristobal Ramón, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, María Jesús Mora and Ana Martín Gil	Reports June 2022 Temporary Worker Programs in Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica: Promising Pathways for Managing Central American Migration? By Cristobal Ramón, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, María Jesús Mora and Ana Martín Gil
Reports April 2022 Destination-Country Policies to Foster Diaspora Engagement in Development By Kathleen Newland	Reports March 2022 Migración de Huehuetenango en el Altiplano Occidental de Guatemala: Respuestas de políticas públicas y desarrollo By Andrew Selee, Luis Argueta and Juan José Hurtado Paz y Paz

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A family of Afghan evacuees leaving Fort McCoy, Wisconsin.

Spotlight

February 15, 2024

Afghan Immigrants in the United States

The Afghan immigrant population in the United States has grown dramatically since 2010, and particularly since the 2021 withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Most Afghans who obtained a green card in recent years have done so through the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, reserved for interpreters and other Afghans who worked with the U.S. government. This article offers data on the approximately 195,000 Afghan immigrants in the United States.

Feature

February 8, 2024

South Asia’s Tibetan Refugee Community Is Shrinking, Imperiling Its Long-Term Future

The number of Tibetan refugees in India, Nepal, and Bhutan has been on a steady decline since the mid-2000s, posing a threat to the future of an exile community that has developed a robust governance, cultural, educational, and religious structure. While the Tibetan government-in-exile has become a model for displaced communities, a series of factors have contributed to the shrinking population in South Asia, as this article describes.

Feature

January 30, 2024

China’s Demand for Brides Draws Women from Across Southeast Asia—Sometimes by Force

An unknown number of women and girls from Southeast Asia have gone to China to marry Chinese men. Many go voluntarily, hoping for a better quality of life for themselves and their families. But some are deceived into their situation and are victims of human trafficking. This article takes a look at the phenomenon of marriage migration spurred by China's gender imbalance.

Feature

January 26, 2024

Aging Societies Rely on Immigrant Health-Care Workers, Posing Challenges for Origin Countries

Countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany are increasingly relying on immigrant health-care workers to fill gaps in their workforce and care for aging populations. That has created opportunities for many foreign-born doctors and nurses, but could harm their origin countries. This article examines the dynamics of global health-care worker migration, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A celebration for the Feast of San Gennaro in New York's Little Italy

Spotlight

January 11, 2024

European Immigrants in the United States

One-tenth of all immigrants in the United States come from Europe, a vast decline from the mid-20th century, as migration within Europe has grown and more U.S. immigrants arrive from other destinations. This article provides an overview of contemporary European immigration to the United States, as a region and by top European countries of origin.

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Expert Q&A, Audio

October 27, 2023

Is Climate Migration a Homeland Security Threat?

Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff talks about the security implications of climate change and migration in this episode of the podcast Changing Climate, Changing Migration.

Expert Q&A, Audio

October 19, 2023

Documenting the Migration Journey: African Kinship Dynamics in Europe

African migrants turn to the strength of kinship-based support systems in pursuit of stability as they settle in a European landscape that is sometimes made precarious by their legal status and shifting policies. This episode discusses use of the kinship networks, including to exchange or broker identity documents between migrants along the migration journey and at destination.

Video, Audio

September 26, 2023

Migration, Disasters, and Climate Change in Eastern Africa

During this MPI webinar, climate experts and regional authorities outline the challenges related to climate change and human mobility that local communities, national governments, and the IGAD region are confronting.

Expert Q&A, Audio

September 19, 2023

Trapped Populations: When Climate Migration Isn’t Possible

Why do people stay in places where their homes, livelihoods, and their very lives are threatened by the impacts of climate change? Caroline Zickgraf, deputy director of the Hugo Observatory at the University of Liège in Belgium, discusses these so-called "trapped populations" in this episode of the Changing Climate, Changing Migration podcast.

Expert Q&A, Audio

August 24, 2023

Managing Changing Migration Dynamics and Policies in West Africa for Regional Gain

MPI Europe Associate Director Camille Le Coz discusses migration dynamics in West Africa and and how African leaders are responding to these trends with Leander Kandilige, a senior lecturer at the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of Ghana.

Recent Activity

Articles

December 3, 2020

Building Climate Resilience through Migration in Thailand

Migration can help build resilience against the encroaching effects of climate change. Instead of being passive victims of environmental degradation, individuals sometimes move to gain money, knowledge, and skills that can fortify their household of origin. Migrant workers from Thailand demonstrate how and under what conditions this process works.

Expert Q&A, Audio

November 25, 2020

One Billion Climate Migrants? Not So Fast

There are a lot of predictions about how many people will migrate in response to climate change. Depending on where you look, the next few decades could see hundreds of millions—or even more than 1 billion—people pick up and move. On this episode of our Changing Climate, Changing Migration podcast, we asked Julia Blocher, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, to explain why the predictions vary so much. We also discussed how this movement can lead to conflict.

Reports

November 2020

Building a New Regional Migration System: Redefining U.S. Cooperation with Mexico and Central America

Addressing regional cooperation around migration will be among the immigration challenges and opportunities facing the incoming Biden administration. This report examines how movement between the United States, Mexico, and Central America has evolved in recent decades, and lays out a four-part strategy to expand opportunities for legal migration, address humanitarian protection needs, improve enforcement, and mitigate some of the forces driving people to emigrate.

Expert Q&A, Audio

November 17, 2020

Does Climate Change Cause Migration? It’s Complicated

The relationship between climate change and migration is long and complex. Human civilizations have been affected by environmental conditions for centuries, but we should be wary of arguments that huge numbers of people are inevitably destined to migrate in response to specific climate threats. In this episode of Changing Climate, Changing Migration, we chat with Alex de Sherbinin of Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network about what the research shows—and does not show.

Articles

November 13, 2020

In Relatively Peaceful Tanzania, Climate Change and Migration Can Spur Conflict

Climate-induced migration can lead to tensions and violence between host communities and new arrivals. This conflict can flare up at various levels, including among rural farmers and herders in relatively peaceful countries such as Tanzania.

Articles

November 5, 2020

Mexican Immigrants in the United States

The nearly 11 million Mexican immigrants in the United States represent almost one-quarter of the country’s entire immigrant population, and as such are the largest foreign-born group. But their numbers have been declining, shrinking by 7 percent between 2010 and 2019. Among recently arrived immigrants, those from China and India now outpace Mexicans for the first time.

Audio, Webinars

October 27, 2020

Un Diálogo con Miembros de Coalición por Venezuela

En dicho diálogo, algunos de los representantes de las organizaciones que conforman la red en Norteamérica, Centroamérica, Sudamérica y el Caribe, comparten la manera como se coordinan, las acciones que se llevan a cabo y las dificultades, retos y desafíos que atraviesan.

Articles

October 23, 2020

Climate Impacts as Drivers of Migration

Climate change is affecting human movement now, causing internal displacement and international migration, and will do so in the future. But the impact is often indirect, and rarely is the process as straightforward as one might think. This article provides an overview of research on how climatic hazards drive and affect migration, reviewing which types of people might migrate and under what conditions.

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