GLOBAL DEMOGRAPHY

AND
GLOBAL MIGRATION
GLOBAL DEMOGRAPHY

Demography – a complex
discipline that requires the
integration of various social
scientific data.
DAVI D E. BL O O M
AN D • Both internal migration and international
DAVI D C ANNING migration complicate this picture.
• The overall implication of population growth
• In the past 5O years, the world
for policy lie in the imperative for
accelerated its transition out of long-term
demographic stability. investments in health and education and
for sound policies related to labour, trade
• In most countries, this growth led to and retirement.
falling fertility rates. Although fertility has
fallen, the population continues to • Understanding future trends is essential for
increase because of population the development of good policy.
momentum.
• Demographic projections can be quite
• In the meantime, demographic change has reliable, but huge uncertainties - in the
created a ‘bulge’ generation.
realms of health, changes in human life
• Population growth has been the subject of span, scientific advances, migration, global
great debate among economists and warming and wars .
demographers.
• The experiences of East Asia, Ireland,
Sub-Saharan Africa all serve evidence of
the effect of demographic change on
economic growth.
ECONOMY AND POPULATION

Rural families view multiple children and large kinship networks as

critical investments. Urban families may not have the same kinship
network anymore because couple live on theor own, or because they
move out of the farmlands. The 1980 United Nations report on urban
and rural population growth states that 85 percent of the world rural
population in 1975 and or projected to contain 90 percent by the end of
the 20th century.
International migration today 191 million people live in countries other
than their own, and the United Nations projects that 2.2 million will
move from the developing world to the First World countries.
THE “PERILS” OF
OVERPOPULATION

Urbanization and industrialization as indicators of a developing society,

but disagree on the role of population growth or decline in modernization.
By limiting the population, vital resources could be used for economic
progress and not be “diverted” and “wasted” to feeding more mouths.
Politics determine “birth control” programs. Developed countries justify
their support for population control in developing countries by depicting
the latter as conservative societies.
• Today’s global population
has reached 7.4 billion, and
it is estimated to increase to
9.5 billion in 2050, then
POPULATION GROWTH
11.2 billion by 2100.
AND
FOOD SECURITY • Ninety-five percent of this
population growth will
happen in the developing
countries. Developed
countries population will
remain steady in general,
but declining in some of the
most advanced countries.
GLOBAL MIGRATION

Migration - crossing the boundary of a

political or administrative unit for a
certain minimum period.
• Internal Migration - It refers to
move from one area (a province,
district or municipality to another
within one country.
Example. Movements of Uigar
2 TYPES OF ‘national minority’ people from the
MIGRATION western provinces of China to cities
in the east.
• International Migration - It means
crossing the frontiers which
separate one of the world’s
approximately 2 states from
another.
Example. Between the southern
Philippines and Sabah in Malaysia
ONE WAY IN WHICH STATES • 4. Refugees: according to the 1951 Convention
SEEK TO IMPROVE CONTROL relating to the status of refugees, a refugee is a
IS BY DIVIDING UP
INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS person residing outside his or her country of
INTO CATEGORIES. nationality, who is unable or unwilling to return
because of a ‘well-founded fear to persecution on
1. Temporary labour migrants (also known as guest- account of race, religion, nationality, membership
workers: men and women who migrate for a limited on a particular social group, or politician opinion’.
period
• 5. Asylum-seekers: people who move across
e.g. Japan and Germany will need workers from borders in search of protection, but who may not
demographically young countries like Philippines. fulfill the strict criteria laid down by the 1951
2. Highly skilled and business migrants: people with Convention.
qualifications as managers executives, professionals, • 6. Family members (also known as family
technicians or similar, who move within the internal reunion or family reunification migrants:
labour markets of transitional corporations and migration to join people who have already entered
international organization. an immigration country under one of the above
e.g. Working populations in countries like the United categories.
States move to more skilled careers, their economies e.g. Many countries, including the USA, Canada,
will require migrants to work jobs that their local Australia and most European Union member states
workers are beginning to reject. recognize in principle the right to family reunion for
3. Irregular migrants (also known as undocumented legal immigrants.
or illegal migrants: people who enter a country, • 7. Return migrants: people who return to their
usually in search of employment, without the necessary countries of origin after a period in another
documents and permits. country.
CAUSE OF MIGRATION

The disparity in levels of income,

employment and social well-being between
differing areas.
Differences in demographic patterns with
regard to fertility, mortality, age-structure
and labour force growth are also important.
MIGRATION AS A
• mass expulsions of foreign
CHALLENGE TO THE workers (e.g., Nigeria, Libya,
NATION-STATE
Malaysia
• building fences and walls
The Schengen Agreement in along orders (e.g., South
Europe and the tightening of Africa, Israel, Malaysia
border controls in the USA
may have reduced irregular • severe punishments for
movements, but they illegal entrants (e.g., corporal
certainly have not stopped punishment in Singapore;
them altogether. imprisonment or a bar on
Several African and Asian future admission in many
countries have carried out countries
quite draconian measures,
such as • sanctions against employers
(e.g., South Africa, Japan
and other countries
• Ninety percent of the value generated by
migrant workers remain in their host
countries, they have sent billions back to
their home countries.
• The Asian Development Bank (ADB)
observes than in countries like the
Philippines, remittance “do not have a
BENEFITS AND DETRIMENTS significant influence on other key items of
OF THE SENDING consumption or investment such as
COUNTRIES spending on education and health care”.
Remittance, therefore, may help in lifting
“household out of poverty … but not in
rebalancing growth, especially in the long
run.
• Global migration is “siphoning qualified
personnel, [and] removing dynamic young
workers, this process is called “brain drain”.
• The loss of professionals in certain key roles,
such as doctor, has been detrimental to the
migrants’ home countries.
• The United States Federal Bureau
of Investigation lists human
trafficking as the largest criminal
activity worldwide.
• Human trafficking has been very
profitable, earning syndicates,
THE PROBLEM OF HUMAN
TRAFFICKING smugglers, and corrupt state
officials profits of as high as $150
billion a year in 2014.
Governments, the private sector,
and civil society groups have
worked together to combat human
trafficking, yet the results remain
uneven.
• Migrants contribute significantly
to a host nation’s GDP, but their
access to housing, health care,
and education is not easy.
• Democratic states assimilate
immigrants and their children by
INTEGRATION
granting them citizenship and the
rights that go with it especially
public education.
• Governments and private
businesses have made policy
changes to address integration
problems, like using multiple
languages in state documents.
THANK YOU 