Global Migration

Ken Keller - DHS

AP Human Geography 2004
 There has been a huge increase in
international migration – 150 million
(3% of world’s population live outside
countries of birth (32.5 million in U.S.)
• Growing inequalities between North and South –
moves to increase living standards.
• Increasing demographic pressure in high-
growth regions of NA, Asia, and Africa.
• End of the Cold War – massive population shifts
in Europe.
• Increasing ethnic and political strife for
example, in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Chechnya,
Middle East, Liberia, Iran, Iraq.
 Trends over past 25 years
• Globalization of migration – more countries are
affected by migration at the same time.
• Acceleration of migration – once migration starts,
it is likely to snowball through chain migration.
• Differentiation of migration – more different types
of migration (refugees, family migrants, labor force
migrants).
• Feminization of migration – women are playing an
increasing role in all regions and all types of
migration.
History of international migration
• Pre-19th Century
– Warfare, conflict, formation of nations and
emergence of states.
– Slavery – By 1790, there were 2.5 million
African slaves in the Americas
• In 1790, 19% of US population was black.
• Triangular trade: ships with manufactured goods
(salt, hardware, weapons, rum) from England to W.
Africa, Africans to N and S America and plantation
goods (sugar, tobacco, molasses) back to England.
Middle Passage between Africa
and Americas
 19th Century Migrations
• Colonial migrations
– British recruited 30 million from Indian subcontinent to
work on sugar plantations in the Caribbean. Also to E.
Africa.
– Dutch used Chinese in Dutch E. India (Indonesia)
• Europeans to U.S. Canada, Australia
• Irish to Britain to work in textile factories,
building trades, and on railroad.
• Europeans to France because of low birth rates.
Immigration to N. America
 Post-WWI Movement
• Little movement during inter-war period due to
economic stagnation and isolationism.
• WWII to 1970
– European guest workers – from Mediterranean countries
(Italy,Yugoslavia, Turkey, Spain, Algeria, Greece) to
Britain, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, and
Germany. Filled post-War labor shortage, but were
reluctant to go home when shortage passed.
– Germany: “We asked for workers and we got people”
Migrants brought family members. Now people are free
to move within European Union.
 Guest workers seeded large
migration streams to Germany
 Foreign Born as % of European
populations
• 36% Luxembourg • 5% Denmark
• 19% Switzerland • 4% Netherlands
• 9% Austria • 4% Norway
• 9% Germany • 4% United Kingdom
• 9% Belgium • 3% Ireland\
• 6% France • 2% Spain
• 6% Sweden • 2% Italy
Cornerstone of EU is freedom of movement. 10 countries have
been invited to join in 2004-5, including Cyprus, Czech
Rep.,Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland,
Slovakia, Slovenia. Why not Turkey?
 Other 20th Century movements
• WWII to 1970 continued
– Colonial workers: from Ireland to England; from former
British colonies in the Caribbean and Indian subcontinent to
Britain; Algerians, Moroccans, and Tunisians to France;
Indonesians to Netherlands.
– Europeans to Canada and Australia (restrictive immigration
laws keep U.S. immigration low until mid-1960s
– Bracero “strong arm” Program brought 4.6 million Mexican
guest workers to U.S. between 1942 and 1964 to work in
agriculture. Facilitated growth of fruit and vegetable
production in SW and seeded later migration streams.
Recent and current migration “hot spots”
1. Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union
2. Middle East (SW Asia)
3. Sub-Saharan Africa
4. Latin American and Caribbean
5. Asia
 Eastern Europe and Former
Soviet Union
• Fall of Soviet Union creates economic collapse
and freedom to seek foreign residence.
• East Germans move to west.
• Hungary, Poland, Czech Rep., and Slovakia
emerge as immigration buffer zones between more
unstable places to the East and Western Europe.
• Poles seek work in Dutch and German agriculture,
and Russians and Ukrainians work in Poland.
• Bulgarian Turks return to Turkey.
 Middle East
• Initially, wealthy oil states imported labor from Egypt,
Tunisia, Jordan, and Palestine. Concern about militancy
led to importation of workers from Philippines, Sri
Lanka, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
• Huge return migration during 1990-91 crisis in Kuwait.
• Foreign workers represent 60 to 90% of labor force in
most oil-exporting countries.
• Jewish immigrants to Israel. To replace Palestinians,
Israel also allows entry of Romanians, Thais, and other
foreign workers.
 Africa – includes refugees and
migrants.
• 1/4 of world’s 20 million refugees are in
Africa. National borders, drawn by
Europeans, do not reflect ethnic or tribal
boundaries. 2 million Rwandans left for
Zaire in 1994.
 African migration
• Environmental migrants – from Mauritania
and Mali because of drought.
• South Africa imports mine workers from
Lesotho, Swaziland, and Mozambique.
• Civil war in Liberia
• Economic migrants to former colonial
rulers.
 Latin America and Caribbean
• Traditional area of immigration. Italians to Argentina
between 1947 and 1955. Brazil received African slaves
until 1900 and Japanese workers until 1950.
• Shift to outmigration around 1970.
– Huge economic disparities between NA and US
– Rapid population growth in region. Mexican population
grows from 20 mil. in 1940, to 100 mil. today
– Temporary worker programs created the networks that later
developed into permanent flows.
• Major origin countries for US immigration: Mexico,
Nicaragua, El Salvador, Haiti, and Cuba.
 Asia
• U.S., Canada, and Australia relaxed immigration laws in 1960s and
1970s.
– US military presence in SE Asia. GI brides seeded networks as well as
refugees. Vietnam and Philippines.
– Labor migrants from India and China
• Contract labor to Middle East
• Refugees: 2 million Afghans in Pakistan.
• Labor migration from Thailand, Indonesia, and Philippines to S.
Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore.
• To Japan
– Women from Philippines and Korea to work as dancers, waitresses, and
hostesses
– Return of South American Japanese
Most refugees are returned to
place of birth. A small
proportion are permanently
resettled.