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Home / Politics & Society / Professional Development for Teachers / Teaching Migration Through Data and Storytelling / Where and why do people move?

Where and why do people move?

Watch our MIDEQ experts introduce different types of migration and where it occurs.
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<v ->The geography of conflict induced migration,</v> and because it relates to this, the South-South migration dynamics. Most of the conflict induced migrations are occurring in the adjacent territories or immediate borders so to speak
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because of the nature of the conflict. Sometimes forces people just simply to cross the immediate border and that’s where many of the refugees are. And the media image gives you the impression that the west is really bombarded and you know, every day we see Syrian refugees or refugees from Sub-Saharan Africa, the boat people and this kind of like gives the wrong impression as if you know, there are more refugees going to the Global North than within the Global South. Nearly all of the countries with highest number of refugees in the world are in the Global South. The first three would be Turkey, Pakistan, you know, and then in Africa you have Uganda and Ethiopia.
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And each are hosting more than a million refugees. And, and again, this has some policy implications because somehow there is a need for humanitarian burden sharing somehow. And then also to send this message for the Global North is a bit laid back and relaxing. Oh, it’s done done overstated and of course it’s kind of like immigration is there an issue and a problem could be a problem. But in real, the real figures show that this if we have to talk about refugee crisis that is occurring within Global South not in Global, Global North.
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One of the major characteristic features of South-South migration is that many domestic workers there’s a new need, a new demand for domestic workers in relatively higher income countries in the Global South. So like for instance if you take the Gulf countries, this is where most of also the South-South migration is occuring. The majority of the domestic workers are female migrants. This doesn’t mean that there are no women going to the Global North, but then because of the nature of the labour market, you’ll see a greater feminization of migration processes in the Global South. One word, wonder what’s what is in this term South-South migration? And of course the South-South migration is part of a broader migration process.
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There are different types and categories of migration. People move in different directions but depending on who moves where, from where, you know puts you in a certain category of migration. Conventionally when we think of International Migration, what comes to our mind is the South-North migration. By South and North we mean this kind of like previously used to be known as South is now developing countries and North Global North is developed countries and with significant income inequalities. And then to what extent people from poor countries in developing countries or generally from the Global South migrate to Global North to improve their conditions of life. Definitely this is happening.
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It’s a big chunk of the migration processes but it’s not the only one. There are other types of migration including even the Reverse migration, North-South migration. There are people who are moving from the Global South to the, from the Global North to the Global South for various reasons as part of you know, workers in the multinational corporation for instance and there are new opportunities structures for people in the Global from the Global South and the Global North as well. So we have also this NSM as well, but importantly there is also North-North migration. There are people are also moving or migrating within the Global South. And then the category that meant is very much interested is South-South migration.
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The sheer size of movement of people within the Global South makes it unimperative to engage it for what it is not necessarily in relation to others as well. And because of the volume of movement within the Global South and then given the fact that migration is related to developmental outcomes, understanding this type of migration dynamics is very very important, in issues such as for instance poverty reduction or in fulfilling the SDG goals as well. We also start with this simple question. Why do people move? You know, people who are on the move are not necessarily poor even the evidence is on the contrary because you need to fund your migration.
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And there is issue of relative deprivation not necessarily absolute deprivation. And the very fact that, you know, I would be in a better condition if I move can really fuel migration and then make an informed decision. So there’s kind of opportunity structures and information about different income levels and conditions of life. It’s very much affecting the decision making process. <v ->Did we talk about the safety measures of migration?</v> How can you make migration safe so that you earn more from migration instead of, you know, taking a risky path and then becoming more poorer? So the different reasons for migration was mostly like for human needs, it’s lack of economic support and other you know, other jobs in the country.
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When we’re thinking about where people move, understanding the diverse flows and types of migration helps us to make sense of the changing world we live in.

Throughout the course you may hear our experts discuss the following types and flows of migration:

Types of migration

Internal is the movement of people within a State involving the establishment of a new temporary or permanent residence.

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This content is taken from
SOAS University of London online course,

Teaching Migration Through Data and Storytelling

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International is the movement of persons away from their place of usual residence and across an international border to a country of which they are not nationals.

Migration flows

South-South migration (SSM) is the largest migration flow in the world. With the world’s 82 million South-South migrants forming about 36% of all global migrants, South-South migration is an increasingly significant factor in the economic and social development of many countries. MIDEQ focuses on the potential of SSM to reduce inequalities and contribute to development.

South-North migration (SNM), the second largest migration flow, is movement from the Global South to the Global North, such as Morocco to Spain or Mexico to the United States.

North-North migration (NNM) is the movement of international migrants from one Global North country to another, such as from Canada to the United States.

North-South migration (NSM) is the movement of people from the Global North to the Global South, for example from Japan to Thailand.

The International Organisation of Migration (IOM) is the migration agency for the United Nations (the UN). It supports the global management of migration, cooperation on migration issues and humanitarian assistance to migrants in need, be they refugees or displaced persons. Since 2000, IOM has been producing world migration reports.

Please download the latest World Migration Report 2020. You will need this report to complete our next step together.

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This content is taken from SOAS University of London online course
Teaching Migration Through Data and Storytelling
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