As competition for skilled workers continues to rise globally, while populations in rich and middle-income countries age, the World Bank says migration can be a powerful force for prosperity and development if managed properly.
This is contained in a new report from the World Bank, which also states that populations across the globe are ageing at an unprecedented pace, making many countries increasingly reliant on migration to realize their long-term growth potential.
The report is titled: ”The World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees, and Societies”.
“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.
“Meanwhile, most low-income countries are expected to see rapid population growth, putting them under pressure to create more jobs for young people.”
The World Bank Senior Managing Director, Axel Trotsenburg, said when migration is managed properly, it provides benefits for all people in origin and destination societies.
The report added that the coming decades, the share of working-age adults would drop sharply in many countries.
It said Spain, with a population of 47 million, is 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.
“Countries like Mexico, Thailand, Tunisia, and Türkiye may soon need more foreign workers because their population is no longer growing.”
The report said beyond this demographic shift, the forces driving migration were 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. ”
It said the number of refugees nearly tripled over the last decade, adding that climate change threatened to fuel more migration.
“So far, most climate-driven movements were within countries, but about 40 per cent of the world’s population, that is 3.5 billion people live in places highly exposed to climate impacts.”
The report said current approaches not only failed to maximize the potential development gains of migration, but they also caused 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 underscores the urgency of managing migration better.”
It said 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 provides a framework for policymakers on how to do this.”
The statement quoted Indermit Gill, Chief Economist, World Bank Group as saying, “this 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.”
The report said origin countries should make labour migration an explicit part of their development strategy.
“They should lower remittance costs, facilitate knowledge transfers from their diaspora, and build skills that are in high demand globally.
“This is 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.”
It said destination countries should encourage migration where the skills migrants bring are in high demand, adding that they should 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.”
The report said international cooperation was essential to make migration a strong force for development.
“Bilateral cooperation can strengthen the match of migrants’ skills with the needs of destination societies.”
It said multilateral efforts were 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.
