MIGRATION

In 2013, approximately 41.3 million immigrants lived in the United States, an all-time high for a nation historically built on immigration. The United States remains a popular destination attracting about 20 percent of the world's international migrants, even as it represents less than 5 percent of the global population. Immigrants accounted for 13 percent of the total 316 million U.S. residents; adding the U.S.-born children (of all ages) of immigrants means that approximately 80 million people, or one-quarter of the overall U.S. population, is either of the first or second generation.

January 2010, Volume 17, Number 1Global: UN Migrants, PopulationThe UN estimated the stock of international migrants at 214 million in 2010, meaning that 3.1 percent of the worlds 6.9 billion people were living outside their country of birth (www.unmigration.org). The 128 million migrants in more-developed countries were 10.3 percent of their 1.2 billion population, while the 86 million in less-developed countries were 1.5 percent of their 5.7 billion people. The ratio of the share of migrants to share of population in industrial countries was 3.3 (industrial countries had a 3.3 higher share of migrants than their share of global population), highlighting the fact that migrants usually move from poorer to richer countries.The 48 countries of Europe (including Russia) had the most migrants. Europes 70 million migrants were almost 10 percent of Europe's 733 million residents, and Europes share of the worlds migrants was three times its share of the world population. There were 61 million migrants in the 50 Asian countries, making migrants 1.5 percent of the 4.2 billion Asian residents; the ratio of Asias share of global migrants to its share of global population was one-half. Almost half of Asias migrants were in western Asia, which the UN defines as the Gulf countries and the Middle East (Saudi Arabia accounted for 12 percent of Asias migrants).North America had 50 million migrants in 2010, including 43 million in the US and 7.2 million in Canada. North Americas share of global migrants was almost five times its share of global population, as a seventh of residents were foreign born. Oceania had the highest share of migrants among residents, as 22 percent of the residents of Australia and New Zealand were foreign born. Oceania had less than one percent of the global population and three percent of the worlds migrants.Africa and Latin America had relatively few migrants in 2010, about 19 million and seven million, respectively. In both continents, a few countries had high shares of migrants in their population, as with Libya and Ivory Coast, which each had more than 10 percent migrants, or Costa Rica, which had more than 10 percent migrants, but the relative paucity of migrants in population giants such as Nigeria and Brazil reduced the share of migrants in Africa and Latin America.The countries with the most migrants were the US, 43 million; Russia, 12 million; Germany, 11 million; and Saudi Arabia, Canada, and France, about seven million each; these six countries included 87 million migrants, or 40 percent of the total. Countries with the highest share of migrants in their populations were mostly Gulf oil exporters such as Qatar, where over 85 percent of residents are migrants, and UAE and Kuwait, with 70 percent migrants. The countries with the lowest migrant shares of residents include China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Peru and Cuba, where less than one tenth of one percent of residents are migrants.Western Union-EIU. An online survey of 500 business leaders in September 2009, 90 percent of whom hired foreign workers, found three-fourths agreeing that migration benefits their business and the larger economy the surprise may be that some leaders of businesses that hire foreign workers do not believe migrants benefit their businesses and the economy. Most business leaders say migrants have specific skills; 20 percent say they depend on migrants.The survey asserts that migrants are "an economic engine in every region of the world, as foreign workers often fill an unmet demand."Most business leaders are satisfied with current procedures for hiring foreign workers a quarter said regulations made it difficult to hire migrants. Most are not involved publicly in trying to lower barriers to hiring migrants.At the request of Western Union, the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2008 compiled a migration index (Global Migration Barometer) that ranks 61 countries by how attractive and open they are to migration.Mobility. There are more countries, and more countries sending and receiving people between them, than at any time in history. Most migration is economically motivated, moving workers and their families from poorer to richer countries. Many receiving-country governments are unsure how to respond to some of their employers seeking to hire foreign workers who are eager to enter and work.Governments who find it difficult to expand legal labor migration or to prevent unauthorized migration are by default allowing employers and labor brokers and other intermediaries to "make" immigration policy, defined as determining how many, from where, and in what status newcomers arrive.What should governments do to improve migration management? Demetrios Papademetriou in "The Age of Mobility" provides a familiar summary of the problem and offers a familiar solution, open the front door wider to the immigrants desired by employers to help close the "back door" to unauthorized workers. Citing demographic projections of shrinking labor forces, Papademetriou urges "leadership" to overcome public opposition to more migration, calling on leaders to demonstrate both the "inevitability" of more migration and its economic benefits.The debate about how leaders should "shape" inevitable migration may be sharpest in "non-immigrant" Europe, which has some of the largest gaps between elites groping to open front-doors wider and public opinion skeptical of more migration because of, for instance, high unemployment rates among foreigners. European elites have little credibility on migration, since governments that recruited low-skilled guest workers in the 1960s and 1970s promised they would not settle.It is not clear that repeating the 1960s in the 21st century will have a different result. Papademetriou proposes a return to the 1960s, urging European governments to allow foreign workers to enter on probation and earn rights to settle with work and good behavior. Papademetriou assumes that migrants will obtain good jobs with good benefits, including health insurance, but proposes that access to non-work related benefits be limited while foreigners are on probation, creating layers or tiers in social assistance programs.Papademetriou concludes that elites must "teach" restrictionist publics that immigration is inevitable and good for them. Papademetriou wants EU states to give the EU more power over migration (flow management), but give local governments more authority over integration. Essentially, this is an argument that employers should get what they want, and that governments should overrule restrictionist publics to open doors wider to immigrants.Papademetriou, Demetrios. 2007. The Age of Mobility.www.migrationpolicy.org/transatlantic/pubs.php

Since humans first left Africa60,000 years ago, they have been migrating around the planet in great numbers and the advent of international borders certainly did not stop global migration. Although the percentage of the worlds people living outside of their birth countries hasremained steady in recent decades, the worlds increasing population means that the sheer number of international migrants has never been higher.Thisinteractive map, which usesUnited Nations Population Divisiondata, lets you view the total number of people living outside their birth countries. It also shows migrants in both directions as emigrants, who have left their origin country, or as immigrants, who have entered a destination country. The U.N. defines an international migrant as a person who has been living for one year or longer in a country other than the one in which he or she was born.Here are seven interesting global migration patterns we foundusing the map.1The United Kingdom is home to the most diverse immigrant community in the world.It used to be said that the sun never set on the British Empire. Now, people from the many countries the British once ruled live inside the U.K.s borders. Based on theHerfindahl-Hirschman index which is widely used by biologists, ecologists, linguists, economists, sociologists and demographers to measure the degree of concentration of human or biological populations the diversity of immigrant birth countries in the U.K. on a 0 to 100 scale is 97. For immigrants living in the U.S., it is 91.2The French like to live all over the world emigrants from France live in more countries than emigrants from any other nation.Using the Herfindahl index, the destination diversity of emigrants born in France is 95 on a 0 to 100 scale. It is 89 for American-born people living outside of the U.S.There are at least 1,000 French-born people living in each of 83 different countries and territories; the most popular destinations are Spain (220,000) and the United States (180,000).3The Mexico-to-U.S. link is the most popular bilateral migration path in the world. As of 2013,more Mexican immigrants (13 million) were living in the U.S. than all immigrants to Russia combined (11 million). Russia has the second largest number of total foreign-born residents, after the United States, which has a total foreign-born population of about 46 million.4The number of Indian-born people living outside of India and the number of Chinese-born people living outside China both doubled between 1990 and 2013 for India, from 7 million to 14 million, and for China, from 4 million to 9 million. India has the largest number of people living outside of its borders, in 2013 surpassing Mexico, the former leader. (Russia and China rank third and fourth, respectively.) The United Arab Emirates (2.9 million) and the United States (2.1 million) have the most Indian migrants, while Hong Kong (2.3 million) and the U.S. (2.2 million) are the top destinations for Chinese migrants.5The number of immigrants living in Spain grew nearly eightfold between 1990 and 2013,from less than 1 million to more than 6 million. Spains economy was soaring prior to the global recession, drawing migrants from Europe, Latin America, North Africa and elsewhere.Spains economic structure, immigration lawsand demographics combine to create an attractive landing spot for prospective immigrants.6The United Arab Emirates has the highest share of foreign-born people (84% of its population).The next three highest Qatar (74%), Kuwait (60%) and Bahrain (55%) also are in the Persian Gulf area. Immigrants in the UAE and neighboring countries come from many different places, but the largest numbers are from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The foreign-born population has grown by nearly 500% in recent decades, from 1.3 million in 1990 to 7.8 million in 2013.7Countries with the fewest resources send lower shares of migrants.Although international migration is intrinsically tied with the search for jobs, people in the most impoverished countries may not have the money to finance a trip. The Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Niger countries with some of the lowest U.N. Human Development Index ratings and GDP per capita all have less than 3% of their population living outside their borders.

Australia, New ZealandThe Australian Liberal-National coalition government elected in 2014 has fulfilled one of its election pledges, reducing the arrival of boat people from Indonesia. During the first eight months of 2014, only one boat with 157 "illegal maritime entrants" arrived, compared with 268 boats and 18,800 migrants in the same period in 2013.PM Tony Abbott, who is coping with the possibility of recession after 23 years of economic growth, plans to maintain tight controls on arrivals by sea, sending migrants to Nauru for processing and settlement if they are found to be refugees there rather than in Australia. Critics condemn Australia's treatment of asylum seekers, saying it detracts from the credit in the international community that Australia earned over decades for its generous refugee resettlement policies.In September 2014, Australia announced that foreigners recognized as refugees in Nauru could choose to resettle in Cambodia, with resettlement costs paid by Australia. There were an estimated 3,300 asylum applicants in Australia's offshore detention centers in September 2014.457 Visas. Australia introduced the 457 visa for skilled foreign workers in 1996. Since 2012, its official name has been Temporary Work (Skilled) (Subclass 457) visa.Employers begin the admissions process by becoming "designated approved sponsors" with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. They then apply to hire foreigners with 457-visas who can stay in Australia from three months to four years; while working in Australia, 457-visa holders may apply for immigrant visas.The 457-visa is attractive because the spouses and family members of 457-visa holders may accompany them to Australia and obtain work permits, and 457-visa holders who lose their jobs may stay in Australia up to 90 days to seek another job.There were 108,870 foreigners with 457-visas at the end of 2013-14. Employers must pay them at least A$53,900 a year, with a wage reduction of up to 10 percent allowed in some cases. With foreign students allowed to work, backpackers who can work, and 457 visa holders, there are an estimated one million foreign workers in Australia.Unions complain that 457 visas are used to undercut negotiated or award wages. Under so-called Designated Area Migration Agreements, employers can receive special consideration for 457-visas to build infrastructure projects, such as the A$34 billion Ichthys LNG project near Darwin. Unions say that 457-visa holders hold down the wage spikes that would normally be associated with big projects in remote areas.

October 2014, Volume 21, Number 4EU: Migration, Integration, TradeEurope, with a tenth of the world's people, has a quarter of the world's countries and a third of the world's migrants. The share of migrants in European countries averages 10 percent, but varies from less than five percent of residents in Eastern Europe to almost 30 percent in Switzerland. European leaders have three major goals: to attract more skilled migrants, keep out the uninvited, and integrate low-skilled migrants and their children who are already settled in Europe.The EU's 28 member states had 507 million residents at the end of 2013, up a net 653,000 due to immigration. Denmark and Germany had the highest immigration rates, and Cyprus, Greece and Ireland had the highest emigration rates.Relatively few EU nationals move from one EU country to another, and a third of the 12 million intra-EU migrants are Romanians and Poles. About 40 percent of the non-EU foreigners in the EU are from European countries such as Turkey (considered to be in Europe), a quarter are from Africa, and a fifth are from Asia. Many of these non-EU foreigners are guest workers recruited to fill jobs in the 1960s and 1970s and their descendants.Guest workers. European countries became reluctant countries of immigration in the 1960s, when a combination of de-colonization, a delayed baby boom, expanding higher education, and earlier retirement combined with undervalued exchange rates and a "guns and butter" US economy to bolster the demand for VWs and other European goods at home and abroad. Leaders of an integrating Europe allowed labor-short employers to recruit guest workers, first in Italy and later in other southern European countries and North Africa. These guest workers were expected to work a few years and then depart to spur development from southern Italy to eastern Turkey, but this did not occur.The demand for labor persisted, and guest workers earned the right to bring their families and settle as immigrants. Most European countries stopped recruiting guest workers in 1973-74 during the recession following oil price hikes, and tried to encourage migrants who lost their jobs to leave with departure bonuses, but most stayed. Some chose spouses "back home" who did not speak Dutch or German, leading to "integration contracts" that require foreigners to learn the local language in order to enter or stay in the country.European countries are now struggling with the integration of low-skilled migrants. Many are not in the labor force, and the unemployment rates of Turks and Moroccans are often twice the rates of Dutch or German workers. Migrants and their children with regular jobs generally have above poverty-level incomes and access to work-related benefits, including health insurance and paid vacations. In the US, by contrast, most low-skilled migrants have jobs, but many are "working poor," with low incomes and limited access to work-related benefits. The European migration challenge is often summarized as how to get migrants into jobs, while the US challenge centers on ensuring that migrants with jobs have adequate incomes.Talent. European leaders complain that the US gets a disproportionate share of the world's "global talent" for reasons that range from English to lower taxes and stock options. The EU's Blue Card program aims to make Europe more attractive to foreign professionals by allowing employers to hire non-EU foreigners who have bachelors' degrees and will be paid at least 1.5 times the average gross salary in the country in which they will live and work with their families, E47,600 ($66,000) in Germany. After two to three years, Blue Card holders may apply for immigrant status or move to another EU country. Most countries allow foreign student graduates of local universities to work and settle.The minimum salary can be lower in labor-short occupations, only E37,100 in occupations such as engineer and doctor.Asylum. Over 1,000 foreigners a day applied for asylum in the EU member states in 2013, a third in Germany and a sixth in France. Germany received 110,000 of the EU-28's almost 400,000 new asylum applications in 2013 (the US received about 90,000 asylum applications in 2013), including 15,000 from nationals of Serbia and Kosovo; 15,000 from Russia; and 12,000 from Syria. France had 60,000 new asylum applications; Sweden 54,000; the UK 29,000; and Italy 28,000.Southern European governments where migrants arrive in boats want more burden sharing, or money from other EU member states. Northern European governments point out that most asylum seekers leave Greece, Italy and Spain and apply for asylum in northern Europe, so they are already sharing the burden of dealing with migrants crossing the Mediterranean.Over 350 migrants died when their ship sank near the Italian island of Lampedusa October 3, 2013. In response, Italy launched Mare Nostrum, Latin for our sea, in 2014 and reported rescuing over 90,000 migrants who set off in ships from Libya for Lampedusa. Mare Nostrum cost $11 million a month. Critics say that it encouraged migrants to set out in unsafe boats in the expectation of being rescued.Greek Dimitris Avramopoulos, the incoming EU commissioner for home affairs, in September 2014 proposed that EU countries allow foreigners to apply for asylum at their embassies around the world in order to reduce boat trips across the Mediterranean. Avramopoulos told the EU Parliament that he opposed creating a Fortress Europe but defended the fence on the Greek-Turkey land border to keep out unauthorized foreigners. He also endorsed a "charter" on legal immigration aimed at attracting more skilled workers.New EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker plans to create a new commissioner for immigration and integration; immigration is now included with home affairs. The goal is to help the EU's 28 member states to better control external borders, to process asylum seekers efficiently, and to return those not in need of protection quickly.Unemployment remains high in the 18 countries that use the Euro, 11.5 percent in August 2014, meaning that 18.3 million of the 159 million-strong Eurozone labor force was jobless. Unemployment rates ranged from 24 percent or more in Greece and Spain to less than five percent in Austria and Germany.TTIP. Trade in goods and services between the US and the EU-28 member states was $700 billion in 2013. The US ($15 trillion) and the EU ($16 trillion) account for half of global GDP of $66 trillion in 2013, a third of trade in goods, and over 40 percent of trade in services, so that a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) could wind up setting global standards for trade in goods and services. For example, a TTIP agreement on auto safety standard could effectively become the global standard.TTIP aims to reduce remaining trade barriers in negotiations that began in July 2013 in three major areas, that is, market access, regulatory convergence and cooperation. Firms want easier access to supply goods and services to governments, US farmers want easier access to EU markets, and corporations want faster remedies in the event of disputes.Regulatory non-tariff barriers are considered the most difficult issues to resolve, such as food safety rules, technical barriers to trade generally and in particular sectors such as drug safety, and developing a framework to deal with disputes after TTIP is in place. TTIP negotiations are not dealing with agricultural and aircraft subsidies.There is opposition to TTIP on both sides of the Atlantic. Democrats and unions oppose TTIP, fearing job losses, while many Europeans fear TTIP will open doors to GMO food products. Chemicals, motor vehicles, pharmaceuticals and food each raise issues because standards and attitudes differ.One issue is investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) courts that would allow firms to sue governments for violations of trade rules outside normal courts; the US wants ISDS courts included in TTIP. UNCTAD reported that, of 568 cases brought over the past five decades, 53 percent were begun by firms based in the EU and 22 percent by US firms.

October 2014, Volume 21, Number 4Latin AmericaCentral America has 45 million people in seven countries, ranging from 16 million in Guatemala to 400,000 in Belize. The big three, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, include two-thirds of all Central Americans and have become a major new source of immigrants to the US.Few Central Americans moved to the US until fighting displaced thousands in the 1980s, some of whom migrated to the US. The US granted asylum to Nicaraguans fleeing a government that the US opposed, but not to Guatemalans and Salvadorans fleeing governments the US supported.Courts and legislation allowed most Central Americans in the US to eventually become immigrants and US citizens. These anchors, plus Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and earthquakes in El Salvador in 2001 that prompted the US to grant "temporary protected status" that included the right to work in the US, brought more Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans to the US. (www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status-deferred-enforced-departure/temporary-protected-status)TPS has been renewed since, and there are now large Central American communities in Los Angeles, New York and Washington DC. As of 2013, some 271,000 Salvadorans in the US before 2001 had TPS, as did 83,000 Hondurans and 4,300 Nicaraguans in the US before 1999. Of the three million Central Americans now living in the United States, however, over 60 percent are in the US illegally.Central Americans were in the news in summer 2014, as women and children traveled through Mexico and entered the US in south Texas and applied for asylum. Most were given a date to appear in immigration court and released to live with US relatives.The arrival of the Central Americans prompted reactions similar to those about unauthorized migration generally. Restrictionists urged that they be returned immediately to discourage more, while admissionists argued that many deserve refuge in the US because of drug-related violence at home.Not all Central Americans are eager to move to the US. Panama is booming, attracting immigrants, including some Americans. Costa Rica is the only Latin American country with more Americans living there than Costa Ricans living in the US.Miami has become the business capital of Latin America, the place where successful Latin Americans have second homes and is a favored shopping mecca for the middle class. The influx of South Americans has diminished the dominance of Cuban Americans in the Miami area. Colombians are almost five percent of the Miami-Dade area population, followed by Argentines, Peruvians and Venezuelans.Over half of Miami's residents are foreign born, and 63 percent speak Spanish at home. Cubans are half of area Hispanics and a third of the total population of Miami-Dade.Panama. The 50 mile north-south Panama Canal was opened to ships August 15, 1914. The US government built the canal and operated it from the American-controlled Panama Canal Zone until 2000. A 1977 treaty turned the canal over to Panama on December 31, 1999.About 1,000 ships a month pass through the canal today, paying $1.8 billion in tolls in 2013, of which almost $1 billion went to the Panamanian government.So-called Panamax ships can hold about 5,000 shipping containers. Many cargo ships are too large to pass through the 1914 locks; 45 percent of the world's cargo capacity is in ships too large for the canal, including oil tankers than can carry 230,000 tons of oil and container ships with 18,000 containers.Panama in 2006 voted to expand the canal, and new and larger locks are expected to be completed in 2015 that will allow ships with 14,000 containers to pass through the canal. Grupo Unidos por el Canal bid $3.1 billion to build a new set of locks to accommodate larger ships, but work stopped in February 2014 when the project was 70 percent complete as a result of a dispute over how to divide $1.6 billion in cost overruns between Grupo, led by Spain's Sacyr, and the Panamanian government.About $13 trillion worth of goods is transported by ship each year, 70 percent of total freight. Until 2000, the largest cargo ships could carry about 5,000 standard 20-foot-long shipping containers. Triple E ships, the largest cargo vessels today that cost $190 million each, can each carry 18,000 containers, 10 rows below deck and 10 above, but their 194-foot wide hull makes them too large to pass through the Panama Canal. Large ships traveling at 16 to 18 knots save fuel and move far more containers than smaller ships.On Triple E ships, the cost of a 25-30 person crew is 25 percent of operating expenses, followed by 20 percent for fuel.Earlier in 2014, the Nicaraguan government announced plans to build a route between the Atlantic and Pacific bankrolled by a Chinese billionaire that would accommodate Triple E ships.Brazil. Brazilians went to the polls October 5, 2014 to elect a new president. Current President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers' Party won over 40 percent of the vote, Senator Aecio Neves of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party won 34 percent of the vote, and environmentalist Marina Silva, who became the presidential candidate when its leader was killed in an August 2014 plane crash, won 21 percent of the vote. Voting is mandatory for Brazilians 18 to 70.Silva, daughter of rubber tappers who was raised in the Amazon rain forest, is the first Black or pardo to run for office in Brazil, a country that imported over four million of the 10 million slaves brought to the Americas and did not end slavery until 1888. Some 53 percent of Brazilians said they were Black or pardo in 2013, including many mixed-race residents. However, few national politicians are Black or pardo, and whites earn twice as much a month, an average of $800 a month, than Black or pardo Brazilians.Deforestation in the Amazon emerged as an issue just before the election. Highway BR-163 crosses the rainforest to connect the agricultural heartland of Mato Grosso with the port of Santarem. Novo Progresso, a settlement along the road, sees daily battles between land speculators who try to burn forest and the environmental police who try to catch them and destroy their equipment, including tractors and logging trucks. Optimists say that Brazil has reduced illegal deforestation as much as possible, while pessimists say that the government must do more.October 2014, Volume 21, Number 4Africa Rising?Africa may be at the dawn of a new economic age, with growing exports fueling a new middle class. The so-called Africa Rising story is based on assertions that 350 million Africans were in the middle class in 2010, ten times more than the 32 million estimated by the OECD, which put the African economy's purchasing power on par with the Canadian economy. The African Development Bank, on the other hand, defines middle class as having an income of $2 or more a day, and says that middle class means being able to buy more than necessities.University of Texas Professor Vijay Mahajan popularized the notion that Africa is rising in a 2009 book, Africa Rising: How 900 Million African Consumers Offer More Than You Think. Mahajan argues that up to a third of the 1.1 billion Africans can be considered middle class and that, despite many problems, there is more hope than despair across a continent where 40 percent of residents are under 15.There are many challenges, including a population increasing by 20 million a year and an urban population increasing twice as fast, by 40 million a year.US. The number of African immigrants in the US rose from 100,000 in 1970 to 1.6 million in 2010; over half arrived between 2000 and 2010. The four leading countries of origin provided over 40 percent of African immigrants in the US: Nigeria, with 243,000 immigrants in the US in 2012; Ethiopia, 191,000; Egypt, 174,000; and Ghana, 134,000.Many of the African immigrants in the US arrived as students and settled, helping to explain why a higher share of African immigrant adults, 17 percent in 2012, than US-born adults, 11 percent, have advanced degrees. African immigrants are more likely than other immigrants to report speaking English very well, and have higher median earnings than the median of all immigrants taken together.A Liberian visitor was stricken with the Ebola virus after arriving in the US in September 2014. He has since died. Thomas E. Duncan completed a departure form in Liberia saying he had no contact with anyone with Ebola, even though he helped a neighbor who later died go to a hospital.Countries. South Africa modified migration policies May 26, 2014, distinguishing between short-and long-stay visas.South Africa in 2010 allowed 245,000 Zimbabweans in the country to obtain Zimbabwe Special Permits (ZSP) that allow them to live and work in South Africa. These permits are to be extended until December 2017 beginning in October 2014. The South African government will also crack down on unauthorized foreigners in the country.Kenya in September 2014 suspended sending domestic workers abroad because of what the government called mistreatment of Kenyan women abroad. The government said that all private recruiters would have to be re-certified in order to send domestic workers abroad.Ghana, Africa's second-largest gold producer, is floundering, with an economy that has stalled and a depreciating currency. In 1960, Ghana and South Korea had roughly the same per capita GDP, and both had about 60 percent of their workers employed in agriculture. In 2013, Ghana's GDP per capita was $1,400, while Korea's was $21,000.About 70 percent of government spending is on the bureaucracy, which is considered overstaffed and inefficient. The cedi, introduced in 1967, has lost value against the dollar.Niger is one of the world's poorest countries with one of the highest birth rates; women average eight children each. Niger's population of 17 million is expected to exceed 35 million by 2030.

October 2014, Volume 21, Number 4China: HukouThe number of internal rural-urban migrants in China, 270 million in 2013, exceeds the number of international migrants, 232 million. Only 170 million of the internal Chinese migrants move long distances; the other 100 million leave their rural villages, but remain in the same province. Migrants earned an average 2,609 yuan ($425) a month at the end of 2013.Since Chinese citizens receive public services such as education and health care in the place where they are registered, rural-urban migrants and their children have limited access to local public services where they work. Migrants who stay within their province may want to buy apartments in provincial cities so that their children obtain a better education.The hukou or household registration system was introduced in 1958 to prevent rural-urban migration that could lead to urban slums and unrest.The Chinese government on July 30, 2014 issued guidelines aimed at reforming the hukou system; it wants 100 million rural-urban migrants to have urban hukous by 2020. To minimize the costs to urban areas of providing public services, the government issued rules on how urban hukous are to be granted by city size. For example, cities with fewer than 500,000 residents must freely grant urban hukous to rural-urban migrants, while those with 500,000 to one million residents may impose conditions such as requiring migrants to have jobs.Cities with more than five million residents may impose the most conditions, including fees, on migrants seeking urban hukous. In large cities, migrants seeking urban hukous must have a stable job and own or rent a place to live in the city in which they want to be registered. Chinese authorities want to limit the growth of mega-cities. Beijing's population almost doubled between 1990 and 2011 to over 20 million, including 7.4 million rural-urban migrants.Some economists suggest that giving rural-urban migrants secure urban hukous will raise productivity. One study found that after migrants became permanent urban residents, their productivity rose by over 25 percent.Emigration. The Wall Street Journal reported August 16, 2014 that two-thirds of Chinese with assets of at least $1.6 million have emigrated or are planning to leave for reasons that range from a search for better education systems for their children to cleaner air abroad. Some of those leaving want their children to avoid test-driven Chinese schools, while others believe that their wealth will be more secure in Australia, Canada or the US.The Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council says that the Chinese diaspora numbers 48 million, double the size of the Indian diaspora. Historians say that the Chinese diaspora has often shaped events within China, explaining why the Chinese government is very interested in overseas Chinese. For example, Chinese in Southeast Asia provided critical support for Sun Yat-sen's 1911 revolution that toppled the Qing dynasty.Countries to which richer Chinese migrate are ambivalent about accepting more. Most welcome Chinese investment in real estate, although there are fears that Chinese buyers are pricing local buyers out of markets from Australia's Gold Coast to Vancouver. Chinese are the largest share of foreign students in Australia, Canada, and the US, and there are as many Chinese as British students studying full-time for master's degrees in the UK.Over 100 million Chinese went abroad in 2013 as tourists. Their number is expected to top 200 million by 2020.The average Chinese lifespan almost doubled from 40 in 1950 to 76 in 2011, when the US average was 79. About 30 percent of Chinese adults are obese or overweight, compared with 70 percent in the US, prompting speculation that Chinese authorities may be able to prevent the weight gains that often accompany affluence by taxing and restricting access to sugary soda and fatty food.China, which has a middle class of 350 million to 400 million, larger than the US population, consumes half of the world's pork.Hong Kong. There were 320,000 foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong in 2013, including half from the Philippines and 47 percent from Indonesia. Almost half of the 2,664 licensed employment agencies in Hong Kong, 1,276, place domestic workers into private households. Some agencies require domestic workers to take out loans in order to be placed into jobs.The Fair Employment Agency is a non-profit organization that aims to reduce the indebtedness of foreign domestic workers. Once domestic workers arrive in Hong Kong, they are supposed to pay a maximum of 10 percent of their first month's pay or HK$401 in repayment. Many agencies charge workers HK$20,000, and often lend the money at interest rates of 70 percent or more, so that domestic workers have small net earnings for their first eight months in Hong Kong.The Fair Employment Agency charges employers HK$8,000 for each domestic worker, the standard fee. The FEA hopes that it can show how ethical recruitment is good for both employers and workers. It wants to expand and eventually certify other ethical agencies.There were student-led protests in Hong Kong in September 2014 because mainland China refused to allow all candidates to compete in the election of the new chief executive in 2017. Hong Kong, often called China's financial window to the world, has a Basic Law that grants freedom of speech and other rights in the one-country, two-systems framework. Candidates for Hong Kong chief executive in 2017 must be nominated by a Beijing-dominated nominations committee.Foreign domestic helpers, who often congregate in Chater Garden and other areas of the central district, were warned to stay away from so-called Occupy Central protests to avoid arrest and deportation.Taiwan. There were 713,000 foreigners living in Taiwan June 30, 2014, including 517,000 migrant workers. Most were from Southeast Asian countries, including 43 percent from Indonesian, 26 percent from Vietnam, and 19 percent from the Philippines. Taiwan's minimum wage will rise from NT$19,047 a month to NT20,008 in 2015.The Ministry of Labor in September 2014 announced that migrant workers would no longer have to return to their home countries every three years. The policy change was welcomed by both employers and migrant advocates, who said that migrants would save up to $2,000 each in brokerage and travel costs and employers would save any costs involved in training replacement workers.Taiwan's Council of Agriculture in October 2014 announced plans to begin recruiting foreign farm workers. Many of the workers employed for wages on Taiwanese farms are elderly, and most rural youth leave farming areas for education and do not return.

October 2014, Volume 21, Number 4Japan, KoreaThere were 1,235 Indonesians working in Japanese hospitals and nursing homes in summer 2014, and the quota for new admissions will be raised to 348 for 2015. Japanese host institutions pay foreign health care workers about $1,000 a month while they work and study to pass exams that are given in Japanese. If they pass the exams, the foreign nurses can stay in Japan indefinitely at regular Japanese wages.More Japanese firms are hiring foreign graduates of Japanese universities. The New York Times reported August 25, 2014 on the dress and interview protocols for graduates when they interview for jobs. Most Japanese firms hire new graduates and train them internally, and the Japanese Ministry of Education and Science reported that almost 95 percent of the graduating students in 2014 found a full-time job by June 2014. Hiring fresh graduates and training them in-house means that young workers must wait for promotions and that mid-career hires are rare in Japan.Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in June 2014 announced the creation of six economic zones where business regulations are to be relaxed in an effort to jump start the economy. In Osaka Prefecture, one proposal would allow Japanese households to employ foreign domestic workers so that Japanese women who now stay home could work for wages.The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan has urged the government to allow families whose household income exceeds Y7 million a year to employ foreign domestic workers. Migrant rights groups expressed concern that domestic workers would arrive indebted to brokers at home, and that it would be hard to protect their rights while they are employed in private homes in Japan.Japan's Supreme Court in July 2014 ruled that permanent foreign residents do not qualify for public assistance because they are not Japanese citizens. Many local governments have been providing welfare assistance to foreigners with permanent or long-term residency status, but the Supreme Court ruled that local governments do not have to provide assistance to non-Japanese citizens.Korea. The Employment Permit System celebrated its 10th anniversary in summer 2014. The EPS replaced the previous trainee system in August 2004, and became the main way for Korean employers to hire low-skilled migrant workers from 15 Asian countries after 2007.The number of EPS workers was 450,134 in April 2014 up from 3,167 in 2004. As of June 2014, some 38,435 EPS workers were unauthorized, usually because they failed to leave Korea when their work permits expired. Unauthorized EPS workers were 20 percent of the total 185,838 unauthorized workers in Korea.

Global: RefugeesThere were 11.7 million refugees at the end of 2013 (excluding Palestinians), and another 33.3 million internally displaced persons. Afghanistan produced the most refugees, 2.6 million at the end of 2013; followed by Syria, 2.5 million; Somalia, 1.1 million; Sudan, 650,000; and Congo, 500,000. Pakistan hosted 1.6 million refugees; Iran and Lebanon, 860,000 each; Jordan, 640,000; and Turkey, 610,000.Some 613,000 foreigners made new asylum applications in 2013 in the 44 industrialized countries, including almost 400,000 who applied in one of the 28 member-states of the EU and almost 90,000 who applied in the US. Citizens of Syria, Russia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Serbia accounted for a third of the new asylum applications in industrialized countries.UNHCR in September 2014 projected over 700,000 asylum applications in 2014, the most in two decades. Syria is poised to overtake Afghanistan as the leading source of asylum applicants. Over two-thirds of asylum applicants in the first half of 2014 applied in six countries: France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Turkey and the US.