By Gom Mirian
About 2.3 percent of the world’s population, accounting for 184 million people, including 37 million refugees, live outside their country of nationality, according to a new report released Friday by the World Bank.
According to the 2023 World Development Report (WDR2023), 43 percent of these persons live in low- and middle-income countries while high-income countries account for 40 percent respectively.
The report also disclosed that in most countries, only a small share of the population has moved to another country as of 2020.
More: “Many countries at all levels of income are now both countries of origin and destination.
“Migration is a response to global imbalances, such as large welfare differences, and to shocks such as conflict and violence.
“Because of demographic divergences and climate change, migration will become increasingly necessary over the next decades for countries at all income levels.”
According to the World Bank, migration has proven to be a powerful force for poverty reduction, but in some cases, it comes at a dear cost to migrants and their families, a cost that needs mitigation.
To this end, the WDR2023 report highlighted strategies for better migration to support the development and sustainable growth of both the destination and origin countries and migrants and refugees themselves.
The framework it offers, drawn from labor economics and international law, rests on a “match and motive” matrix that focuses on two factors: how closely migrants’ skills and attributes match the needs of destination countries and what motives underlie their movements.
“This approach enables policymakers to distinguish between different types of movements and to design migration policies for each.
“International cooperation will be critical to the effective management of migration”, said the WDR2023 report in summary.
