Washington, Apr 25 (EFE).- Better migration policies can contribute to potential long-term growth in many countries, given an unprecedented population aging in different parts of the world, according to a report published Tuesday by the World Bank. (BM).
The report, titled “World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees and Societies,” indicates that wealthy nations and a growing number of middle-income nations face population declines, intensifying competition for workers and employment. talent.
In parallel, low-income countries are expected to experience rapid population growth, putting pressure to create jobs for young people.
“Migration can be a powerful force in generating prosperity and development,” said World Bank Group Senior Managing Director Axel van Trotsenburg, adding that “when properly managed, it provides benefits for all people, both in societies origin and destination.
The World Bank projects that in the coming decades the proportion of adults of working age will decrease significantly in many countries: In Spain, which has a population of 47 million, that percentage will drop by more than a third by 2100 and the number of people over 65 years will increase from 20% to 39% of the population.
Countries like Mexico, Thailand, Tunisia and Turkey will soon need more foreign workers because their populations have stopped growing.
The agency has detected that beyond this demographic change, the forces that drive migration are also altering, which, it considers, makes cross-border movements more diverse and complex.
Today, countries of destination and origin can have any income level, and many nations, such as Mexico, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom, send and receive migrants at the same time. The number of refugees has almost tripled in the last decade and climate change threatens to further boost migration trends, the World Bank lists.
On this last point, the World Bank stressed that until now most displacements due to the climate crisis were observed within countries, but around 40% of the world’s population -3.5 billion people- lives in places highly exposed to climate impacts.
The World Bank noted that current approaches do not maximize development gains from migration, but instead cause “great suffering” for people migrating under “unfavorable conditions”.
According to the data it handles, around 2.5% of the world population -184 million people, including 37 million refugees- lives outside their country of nationality and the majority -43%- is in countries Developing.
The report stresses the urgency of better managing migration, stressing that policies need to be formulated to shore up the match between the capacities of migrants and the demand in host societies, while protecting refugees and the need for people to move in unfavorable conditions is reduced.
The text stresses that the nations of origin should make labor migration “an explicit part” of their development strategy.
The WB specified that these countries must reduce the costs of remittances, facilitate the transfer of knowledge from migrants who are abroad, promote the development of skills in high demand in the world so that their citizens can obtain better jobs if they migrate, mitigate the adverse effects of the “brain drain”, protect their nationals while they are abroad and support them when they return.
For their part, destination nations should encourage, in the World Bank’s opinion, migration when the skills provided by migrants are highly required, facilitate their inclusion, and address the social impacts that cause concern among their citizens. They also need to allow refugees to move, get jobs and access whatever national services are available.
The World Bank concluded that in this context international cooperation is essential to transform migration into a powerful force that contributes to development.
