Surjeet Singh

For a laymen, migration is a movement of people from one place to another with the intensions of settling in the new region temporarily or permanently (if they are allowed). The migration can took place within the countries (internal migration) as well as between the countries (external migration). There are various international organizations that publish data on migration such as World Bank, International Organization for Migration (IOM) and United Nations Statistics Division. The World Bank’s Migration and Remittances Fact book of 2011 lists the following estimates for the year 2010; total number of immigrants 215.8 million or 3.2% of world population. In 2013, the percentage of international migrants worldwide increased by 33% with 59% of migrants targeting developed regions. Almost half of these migrants are women, which is one of the most significant migrant-pattern changes in the last half century.
The top migration corridors are Eastern Europe to USA and Canada, Britain to Australia and New Zealand, Russia to Siberia, Turkey to Germany, Mexico and Central America to USA, North Africa to France and Spain, Russia to Ukraine, China to Hong-Kong and USA, West Indies to UK, Vietnam to Malaysia and USA, and India, Pakistan to UK.
There are number of reasons why people choose to migrate to another country these reasons can be economical, social, environmental and political. Worldwide globalization has increased the demand for labor due to which there is a movement of labor from one country to another, people also move as a result of human right violations, violence and conflict, people also move to escape past or future persecution based on race, religion, nationality, and/or membership in a particular social group or political opinion, and sometimes they move because of climate differences.
There are many opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of migration. Advantages of migration includes better GDP growth due to skilled and cheap labor, fulfillment of job vacancies with skilled labor, immigrants brings new and innovative ideas with them, host countries can enriched by cultural diversity, remittances sent by the migrants to their home country, migration can contribute to technological progress, migration boosts the working-age population, and migrants can contribute more in taxes and social contribution.
Disadvantages of migration includes depression of wages due to increased supply of labor, increased population can put huge pressure on public services such as health care and education,
crime-rate can increase, migration can lead to cultural erosion, migration can create environmental problems for the host country, home countries can experience brain-drain if many skilled workers leave the country, and home countries can face the shortage of working population as people of working age move out.
Whether advantages outweigh disadvantages is still the question of many research.

Writer is currently doing masters in Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
He is a freelance contributer on social issues.