Migration between South and Southeast Asia: Overview of trends and issues

Abstract

1. International migration is an important facet of globalization today. There were an estimated 214 million international migrants in 2009, constituting around 3.1 percent of the world's population, up from around 82 million in 1970, reflecting the huge increase in international migration flows over the past few decades. 2. An interesting feature of this migration is the growing importance of South-South migration flows. It is estimated that around 47 percent of migrants from developing countries migrate to other developing countries. The number of migrants in the South has increased by 75 percent over the past 40 years, with the true size of South-South migration estimated at around 74 million. 3. Hence, South-South migration is almost as large as South-North migration and developing countries and developing countries are confronted with policy challenges as both source and host nations............................