World Bank: 184 Million People Living Outside Their Countries of Nationality

•Urges Nigeria, others to make labour migration part of devt strategies 

•Says better migration policies will boost prosperity globally

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

A new report by the World Bank has revealed that about 2.5 per cent of the world’s population or 184 million people, including 37 million refugees—now live outside their countries of nationality, with the largest share—43 per cent resident in developing countries.

As Nigeria grapples with the increasingly knotty challenge of brain-drain, otherwise known as ‘japa syndrome’, the report urged the country and others to make labour migration explicit part of their development strategies

The report also indicated that populations across the globe were aging at an unprecedented pace, making many countries increasingly reliant on migration to realise their long-term growth potential.

According to the “World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees, and Societies”, which was released yesterday,  there are globally about 184 million migrants (about 2.3 per cent of the world’s population), 37 million of them being refugees.

“There are also about 40 per cent (64 million economic migrants and 10 million refugees) living in high-income countries that belong to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),” it added.

The 348-page report stated that these were high and low-skilled workers and their families, people with an intent to settle, temporary migrants, students, as well as undocumented migrants and people seeking international protection.

The number includes 11 million European Union (EU) citizens living in other EU countries with extensive residency rights).

With the reality that populations across the globe were aging at an unprecedented pace, making many countries increasingly reliant on migration to realise their long-term growth potential, the report noted that the trend offered a unique opportunity to make migration work better for economies and people.

It stressed that wealthy countries as well as a growing number of middle-income countries—traditionally among the main sources of migrants—face diminishing populations, intensifying the global competition for workers and talent.

But most low-income countries are expected to see rapid population growth, putting them under pressure to create more jobs for young people, it added.

Commenting on the report, World Bank Senior Managing Director, Axel van Trotsenburg, said, “Migration can be a powerful force for prosperity and development. When it is managed properly, it provides benefits for all people — in origin and destination societies.”

The report underscored the fact that in the coming decades, the share of working-age adults would drop sharply in many countries, adding that Spain, with a population of 47 million, was projected to shrink by more than one third by 2100, with those above age 65 increasing from 20 per cent to 39 per cent of the population.

However, the report also revealed that countries like Mexico, Thailand, Tunisia and Türkey may soon need more foreign workers because their population is no longer growing.

Beyond this demographic shift, it observed that the forces driving migration are also changing, making cross-border movements more diverse and complex.

“Today, destination and origin countries span all income levels, with many countries such as Mexico, Nigeria, and the U.K. both sending and receiving migrants.

The number of refugees nearly tripled over the last decade. Climate change threatens to fuel more migration. So far, most climate-driven movements were within countries, but about 40 per cent of the world’s population—3.5 billion people—lives in places highly exposed to climate impacts.

“Current approaches not only fail to maximise the potential development gains of migration, they also cause great suffering for people moving in distress.

“About 2.5 per cent of the world’s population—184 million people, including 37 million refugees—now live outside their country of nationality. The largest share—43 per cent—lives in developing countries,” the report stressed.

The report underscored the urgency of managing migration better, noting the goal of policymakers should be to strengthen the match of migrants’ skills with the demand in destination societies, while protecting refugees and reducing the need for distressed movements.

The report provided a framework for policymakers on how to do this, according to Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Senior Vice President for Development Economics, Indermit Gill.

He said: “This World Development Report proposes a simple but powerful framework to aid the making of migration and refugee policy.

 “It tells us when such policies can be made unilaterally by destination countries, when they are better made plurilaterally by destination, transit and origin countries, and when they must be considered a multilateral responsibility.”

Part of the recommendations of the report is that origin countries should make labour migration an explicit part of their development strategy.

 Calling on the origin countries to lower remittance costs, facilitate knowledge transfers from their diaspora, build skills that are in high demand globally so that citizens can get better jobs if they migrate, mitigate the adverse effects of “brain drain,” protect their nationals while abroad, and support them upon return.

In contrast, destination countries should encourage migration where the skills migrants bring are in high demand, facilitate their inclusion, and address social impacts that raise concerns among their citizens. They should let refugees move, get jobs, and access national services wherever they are available, it said.

Noting that international cooperation was essential to make migration a strong force for development, the report argued that bilateral cooperation can strengthen the match of migrants’ skills with the needs of destination societies.

“Multilateral efforts are needed to share the costs of refugee-hosting and to address distressed migration.

“Voices that are underrepresented in the migration debate must be heard: this includes developing countries, the private sector and other stakeholders, and migrants and refugees themselves,” it said.