With reference to specific examples, examine the advantages of migrations

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Yasodara Karunaratne 12.4

With reference to specific examples, examine the advantages of migrations

Migration can be defined as a movement and in human terms usually refers to a permanent or semi permanent change of home. In spatial aspects there are two main types of migrations: internal and external migration where internal migration is the movement within a country whilst external migration is the movement across national boundaries and across countries. On the other hand, in temporal aspects there are many types of migrations: permanent, semi-permanent, seasonal, daily, forced and voluntary migration among which the last two are the most prominent. Voluntary migration can be defined as the free movement of migrants looking for an improved quality of life and personal freedom (jobs, improved housing e.t.c) whilst forced migration is when people have to leave their country because they are forced away from it for reasons beyond their control (wars, famines, e.t.c) In this essay I will attempt to examine the advantages and disadvantages of voluntary and forced migration (internal and external) concerning both the host and origin nations with references to the Philippines, United Kingdom, China, India, New Orleans and Darfur.

        The Philippines is the world’s 12th most populous country in the world with a population of 92 million people of which 11 million live abroad (around 11% of the population). The majority of the Filipinos migrate to other nations in order seek for employment and financially support their families back in the Philippines. They are given the name OFW’s which is an abbreviation for Overseas Filipino workers. In the US alone, it is estimated that there are around 3,100,000 OFW’s.The greater number of these Filipino migrants are women that seek employment in other nations as domestic helpers and personal service workers. In addition to this, OFW’s also work as doctors, physical therapists, nurses, accountants, IT professionals, engineers, architects, entertainers, technicians, teachers, military servicemen, seafarers, students and caregivers. The migration of OFW’s to other nations has proven to be a vital aspect of upholding the economy in the Philippines. This is because remittances sent by the OFW’s to the Philippines are the sole pillars upon which the country of Philippines is held safe from drastic economical crisis. The amount of remittances was more than US$10 billion in 2005, equivalent to 13.5% of the country’s GDP. In addition to this, in the year of 2009, the Philippines was ranked as the 3 largest recipient country of remittances which totaled around US$17.348 billion. These remittances are then used to improve income distribution and quality of life beyond what other available development approaches could deliver, especially if the poor, unskilled labour emigrated which is the case in the Philippines. Besides this, remittances are spent on current consumption, health, and education, leading thus, to improved standards of living for emigrant households in the country of origin therefore alleviating poverty to a certain extent. In terms of internal migration, China is an example where certain cities within China benefit economically from remittances with correlation to internal migration. For instance, around 130 million workers within China migrate to much more modernized and industrialized cities such as Beijing as means of supporting their families financially back in much more rural cities.

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        An additional advantage of external migration for the country of origin is the reduction of population pressures. For instances, between the years of 1950 and 1970, over 70 million Indian’s migrated to other countries which is the equivalent of 50 years of India’s natural increase. This has greatly aided to relieve population pressures in India during that period of time as more people migrated to other countries putting less stress on the country’s resources (food, water, land e.t.c). In addition to this, in the Southwestern tribal belt of India, the majority of the population are in the depths of poverty ...

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