E.g., 04/23/2024
E.g., 04/23/2024
Migration & Development

Migration & Development

_DevelopmentImpacts

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

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Cover image for Socioeconomic Integration of Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees
Reports
July 2021
By  Diego Chaves-González, Jordi Amaral and María Jesús Mora
Cover image for Deepening Labor Migration Governance at a Time of Immobility: Ghana and Senegal
Policy Briefs
July 2021
By  Camille Le Coz and Kate Hooper
Sentando las bases para una cooperación regional
Reports
April 2021
By  Andrew Selee, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Andrea Tanco, Luis Argueta and Jessica Bolter
Laying the Foundation for Regional Cooperation: Migration Policy and Institutional Capacity in Mexico and Central America
Reports
April 2021
By  Andrew Selee, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Andrea Tanco, Luis Argueta and Jessica Bolter
coverthumb_covid19 global mobility 2020
Reports
April 2021
By  Meghan Benton, Jeanne Batalova, Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Timo Schmidt
coverthumb_covid19 return reintegration
Policy Briefs
February 2021
By  Camille Le Coz and Kathleen Newland

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A man with potatoes in Ecuador

Ecuador has emerged as a significant destination for Venezuelan migrants, and is also a sizable origin for people heading to the United States and Spain. The Andean nation has found itself enmeshed in the Americas' evolving mobility trends and has responded with a mix of policies that have produced some unforeseen outcomes. This country profile evaluates recent trends and puts them in historical context.

Un hombre con patatas en Ecuador

Ecuador se ha convertido en un destino importante para los migrantes sudamericanos, un país de tránsito para quienes se dirigen al norte y una fuente renovada de emigración. El pequeño país andino se ha visto enredado en las tendencias cambiantes de movilidad de la región y ha respondido a las circunstancias cambiantes con una combinación de políticas que ha producido algunos resultados imprevistos.

A Vietnamese family in the kitchen.

The more than 1.3 million Vietnamese immigrants in the United States are the result of nearly 50 years of migration that began with the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. While early generations of Vietnamese immigrants tended to arrive as refugees, the vast majority of recent green-card holders obtained their status through family reunification channels. This article takes a look at the sixth-largest U.S. immigrant population.

A man walks through a community affected by river erosion in Bangladesh.

Despite the widespread impression that people inevitably migrate away from climate-vulnerable areas, many adapt to environmental changes, choose to remain in their homeland, or simply cannot leave, due to a lack of money, connections, legal avenues, or other means to do so. These “trapped populations” may be among the most affected victims of climate change, this article explains.

Protests at a refugee compound in Nauru.

For two decades, asylum seekers seeking to reach Australia by boat were diverted to Nauru, a small Pacific Island nation that made a hefty profit off the extraterritorial asylum arrangement. But attitudes among local Nauruans have been mixed, with some fearing their economy revolved around Australia and the foreign workers who shuttled in and out of the processing center. As more countries seek to strike offshore asylum deals, this article examines the effects on local communities.

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Expert Q&A, Audio
April 15, 2023

When large numbers of asylum seekers and other migrants arrive at the borders of Western countries without prior authorization to enter, they are often treated as “spontaneous” arrivals. But migration is almost never truly spontaneous. Our podcast Changing Climate, Changing Migration speaks with David Leblang, a professor of politics and public policy at the University of Virginia, who discusses how climate change fits into the migration calculus.

Video, Audio
March 9, 2023

This expert conversation reviews migration in nine Caribbean countries, outlining challenges and opportunities for the integration of the migrant population and a successful engagement with diasporas to advance development, along with recommendations to strengthen the region’s capacity to accommodate changing patterns of migration.

Video, Audio
March 9, 2023

En este webinar, expertos del Banco Interamericano (BID) y el Migration Policy Institute (MPI) presentaron las principales conclusiones de su nueva publicación sobre la realidad migratoria de la región y compartieron algunos de los desafíos y oportunidades para la integración de la población migrante y para capitalizar el potencial de sus diásporas como un impulso para el desarrollo.

Expert Q&A, Audio
March 6, 2023

Are migrants, including those moving for reasons connected to climate change, likely to fare much better in the city when it comes to climate impacts? Tune in to this episode of our podcast, Changing Climate, Changing Migration, featuring noted climate expert Neil Adger of the University of Exeter, and find out.

Expert Q&A, Audio
February 2, 2023

Should countries extend legal protections to people displaced by climate change? This episode of Changing Climate, Changing Migration contemplates the merits of such an approach, featuring Ama Francis, a climate displacement project strategist with the International Refugee Assistance Project and Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.

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Recent Activity

Reports
March 2016

This report discusses Spain’s changing migration patterns in the wake of dramatic economic downturn, paying special attention to the effects of the emigration of young, native-born Spaniards. The report also focuses on policies geared toward engaging the increasing number of Spaniards abroad, finding that much of Spain's policy towards diasporas predates the 1980s.

Articles

Afghanistan, once the world's largest origin of refugees, is increasingly experiencing mixed migration, including seasonal and permanent outflows for both economic and humanitarian reasons, internal displacement, and refugee returns. This feature article examines the current trends with a focus on return migration and the development impacts at the intersection of displacement and urbanization.

Reports
February 2016

This Transatlantic Council on Migration report describes how the migration of nationals between Germany and Turkey has developed over recent decades; examines the economic, social, and political factors behind this development; and discusses the policy implications and lessons that can be drawn.

Reports
February 2016

This report by MPI and the Asian Development Bank lays out a realistic roadmap toward freer movement among skilled professionals within the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), encouraging cooperation among ASEAN Member States in recognizing foreign qualifications and making government investments in training and educations systems that prepare workers in accordance with common standards.

Reports
February 2016

While emigration increased after Portugal plunged into an economically turbulent period amid the global financial crisis, the country's image as the poster child for post-crisis outmigration may be misplaced. This report explores the scale, drivers, and impact of emigration from Portugal since the turn of the millennium, and examines how the country can stem emigration and promote the return of emigrants.

Reports
February 2016

This report analyzes the evolution of Chinese emigration from the 1970s, when market-oriented reforms began reducing barriers to movement beyond the country's borders, to the present day. High-skilled and high-value emigration is rising fast. Despite liberalized exit controls, low-skilled labor migration is stagnant as a result of complicated and expensive recruitment procedures.

Reports
February 2016

While skilled migration brings widely acknowledged economic benefits for destination countries and migrants, its impact on countries of origin has been the subject of more debate. Despite a growing consensus that origin countries can benefit from emigration and the circulation of skills, enabling this potential to be fully exploited remains a challenge. This report examines initiatives that develop skills and human capital.

Audio, Webinars
January 27, 2016

The Special Representative on International Migration for the UN Secretary-General, Peter Sutherland, and the former UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, T. Alexander Aleinikoff, preview upcoming high-level humanitarian protection and migration summits in 2016, focusing on likely agendas and what tangible results might occur.

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