World Migration 2005 Vol. III : Costs and Benefits of International Migration

There is no country in the world that is not touched by migration. By early 2005 the number of migrants worldwide is expected to have reached between 185 and 192 million half of them of them women. More people are moving temporarily or circulating between countries working and living between different cultures and following opportunities for work and life enhancement offered by to days globalized economies. This is bringing countries and cultures closer together. Migrants increasingly help to forge closer trade business and cultural links between their countries of origin and host countries. Where it is managed carefully migration can strengthen economic growth and alleviate poverty in developing countries and help draw developing countries into the global economy. In developed countries it is already serving to mitigate chronic population decline and labour shortages. Since the last World Migration report in 2003 the general understanding of the complex causes and effects of migration has broadened and deepened perhaps best exemplified by the many international dialogues and consultative mechanisms that have sprung up or consolidated themselves in the interval. More governments than ever before are engaged in new migration fora such as the UNs Global Commission on International Migration or IOMs International Dialogue on Migration in a Mutual Endeavour to explore multilateral approaches to migration management. (jacket) 494 pp.…