Migration
Reimagining Migration and Mobility
New Ideas for an Age-old Human Phenomenon
In the face of the world’s unprecedented pace of change the necessity for foresight in governance and multilateral cooperation has never been more acute. Recognizing this IOM engaged School of International Futures a global nonprofit organization to draw upon its “three horizons” methodology and work with some of the leading migration practitioners and scholars in the world to “re-imagine migration and mobility”. Through a collaborative approach involving a wide array of external partners and stakeholders this project leverages IOM’s global convening power to foster strategic foresight on migration and mobility. This initiative aligns with the United Nations Secretary-General’s vision outlined in the United Nations Common Agenda and is one modest component of IOM’s contribution towards the United Nations Summit of the Future in September 2024. This publication offers the chance for reflection on migration and mobility in a highly competitive and contested world towards a more constructive and evidence-based narrative on migration that underpins informed decision-making going forward.
World Migration Report 2024
Since 2000 IOM has been producing its flagship world migration reports every two years. The World Migration Report 2024 the twelfth in the world migration report series has been produced to contribute to increased understanding of migration and mobility throughout the world. The last two years saw major migration and displacement events that have caused great hardship and trauma as well as loss of life. In addition to the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza millions of people have been displaced due to other conflicts such as within and/or from the Syrian Arab Republic Yemen the Central African Republic the Democratic Republic of the Congo the Sudan Ethiopia and Myanmar. There have also been large scale displacements triggered by climate- and weather-related disasters in many parts of the world in 2022 and 2023 including in Pakistan the Philippines China India Bangladesh Brazil and Colombia. Further in February 2023 south-east Türkiye and northern Syrian Arab Republic experienced powerful earthquakes resulting in more than 50000 deaths. By March an estimated 2.7 million people had been displaced in Türkiye and many had been left homeless in the Syrian Arab Republic. This new edition presents key data and information on migration as well as thematic chapters on highly topical migration issues and is structured to focus on two key contributions for readers. Part I includes key information on migration and migrants (including migration-related statistics); and part II includes balanced evidence-based analysis of complex and emerging migration issues.
Growing migration inequality: What do the global data actually show?
International migration is strongly associated with opportunity for positive advancement most typically in economic terms. A long-standing influential international migration narrative is deeply intertwined with the notion of betterment whether this relates to individual attainment household income or community resilience and coping strategies. People migrate for better lives.
A post-pandemic rebound? Migration and mobility globally after COVID-19
The impact of COVID-19 on human populations cannot be overstated. The pandemic caused 12 per cent of worldwide deaths in 2020/2021. In Western Europe the 2020 mortality increase was the highest since the Second World War and in Eastern Europe it was the highest since the break-up of the Soviet Union. COVID-19 vaccines were able to prevent approximately 19.8 million excess deaths. But this did not prevent COVID-19 from altering overall life expectancy in many countries: life expectancy at birth declined for males in the United States of America by 2.2 years in Lithuania by 1.7 years and comparable declines were recorded in 11 countries for males and 8 countries for females.
Migration and migrants: A global overview
The significant variation and diversity in migration and displacement around the world make capturing global trends a challenge. We know from the increasing amount of information at our disposal that migration is often a highly politicized topic making it increasingly prone to misinformation and disinformation by interest groups with political or commercial gains in mind. Straightforward accurate accounts of migration assist in enabling us to question migration myths and critically engage with mis- and disinformation materials. Against this backdrop describing and analysing how migration around the world is changing from a range of different perspectives including those entailing economic social and security dimensions (and associated legal policy frameworks) must start with an understanding of fundamental metrics. Human migration may well be an age-old activity touching almost every society around the world; however it is changing in important ways. Examining the shifts in scale direction demography and frequency can illuminate how migration is evolving while also pointing to long-term trends that have been shaped by historical events as well as more recent developments.
Acknowledgements
The editors are particularly grateful to the authors of the thematic chapters and to all of the IOM and academic reviewers who provided constructive feedback on the draft chapters. We are especially grateful to IOM’s Director General Amy E. Pope and members of IOM’s senior leadership team who supported this edition including Ugochi Daniels Eva Åkerman Börje Mohammed Abdiker Kristin Dadey Maryline Py Michele Klein Solomon Othman Belbeisi Diego Beltrand Marcelo Pisani Ashraf El Nour Sara Lou Arriola Ola Henrikson Manfred Profazi Pär Liljert Alejandro Guidi Aissata Kane and Dejan Keserovic.
Climate change, food insecurity and human mobility: Interlinkages, evidence and action
Climate change is widely considered an “existential threat to humanity” in the words of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. Its impacts are being increasingly felt albeit unevenly by communities and countries worldwide. In recent years different editions of the World Migration Report have explored the linkages between human mobility the environment and climate change accompanying the growth in scientific literature devoted to this topic with specific focuses on migration as adaptation and on the links between slow-onset climate change and migration.
Report overview: Migration continues to be part of the solution in a rapidly changing world, but key challenges remain
It has been more than two years since the release of the World Migration Report 2022 which provided an overview of the global transformations intensely affecting migration and displacement around the world. While acknowledging ongoing changes related to demographic transitions as well as economic and social transformations the 2022 report outlined the major geopolitical environmental and technological transformations that shape migration and mobility sometimes profoundly. The impacts of these systemic global shifts have only intensified further in the last two-year period. For example hardening geopolitics has seen us witness previously unthinkable conflict in terms of both scale and nature. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation in early 2022 signalled a pivotal shift for the world with some arguing that it “marked an abrupt end to 30 years of globalization and all the international cooperation that made that possible”. The immediate impacts on Ukraine and Europe continue to be felt by millions of people while the global impacts have touched many times more as the consequences of the war ripple through global food security energy security international law multilateralism military strategy and alliances.
Foreword
Migration is as old as humanity itself. Throughout history people have migrated in search of better lives to flee conflict or seek safety or simply to find new opportunities. It may surprise people that most migration is regular safe and orderly – regionally focused and often directly connected to work. What captures attention in headlines is just part of the story. Migration is an issue that has been deeply affected by misinformation and politicization and dominant narratives have strayed far away from balanced accurate accounts of migration – both its simple truths and its complex situation-specific realities.
Migration and human security: Unpacking myths and examining new realities and responses
The recent events in Ukraine have highlighted in stark terms the links between national security energy security food security and the catastrophic effects on the human security of Ukrainians but also for many other societies around the world. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected conflict and violence in one country or region is more likely than ever to have ripple effects in other parts of the world. At a time when food crop supply chains are the most globalized in history the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has highlighted the devastating impacts on food and human security for many parts of the developing world.
Other national legislative and administrative actions on cross-border movements
As of 2018 14 African countries 6 Asia-Pacific countries 10 Western and European countries and 5 Latin American and Caribbean countries referred to climate and environmental considerations in their national migration legislations policies or strategies (IOM 2018b:6). Most references pertain to the recognition of environmental factors including climate change disasters and environmental degradation as drivers of migration displacement and/or planned relocation. In some cases migration is explicitly considered a potential adaptation or coping strategy to the adverse effects of climate change especially through measures such as resettlement labour migration and planned relocation. In addition a few laws policies or strategies articulate specific measures to address human mobility in the context of climate change including protection standards free movement protocols visa-free and visa-waivers travel work permits and labour migration schemes.
Impacts of climate change on human mobility
According to a recent study the number of people affected by extreme weather events has increased over the past decades while the risk of being killed in the aftermath of such a disaster is drastically reduced compared to earlier times resulting in much smaller absolute numbers of deaths. Whereas in 1900–1950 around 520000 people lost their lives annually due to disasters; in 2010–2020 60000 people per year were killed (0.33%) (Czaika and Münz 2022).
Introduction
This report focuses on the intersection of environmental change with movements into the European Union from Central Asia. It contributes to a growing body of literature on migration in the context of climate and environmental changes including movements affected by the slow- and sudden-onset impacts of climate change. The report identifies new trends in migration affecting the European Union and Central Asia and discusses the current state of legal and policy responses to these movements. It helps countries in the European Union and Central Asia fulfil commitments made in the Global Compact for Safe Orderly and Regular Migration (hereafter the Global Compact for Migration) related to understanding the drivers of migration in the context of climate and environmental changes. The recommendations made in the report should also help European and Central Asian governments to develop policies that will enable them to respond to these movements more effectively.
Migration in the Context of Climate and Environmental Changes within Central Asia and to the European Union and the Russian Federation
This report focuses on the intersection of climate and environmental changes with movements within Central Asia as well as from Central Asia to the European Union and the Russian Federation. The report contributes to a growing body of literature on the matter including movements affected by the slow- and sudden-onset impacts of climate change. The report identifies new trends in migration affecting the European Union and Central Asia and discusses the current state of legal and policy responses to these movements. It helps countries in the European Union and Central Asia fulfil commitments made in the Global Compact for Safe Orderly and Regular Migration related to understanding the drivers of migration in the context of climate and environmental changes. The recommendations made in the report should also help European and Central Asian governments to develop policies that will enable them to respond to these movements more effectively.