Africa hosts the fourth largest number of global international migrants. In 2017, 25 million people migrated within and outside it.[1] Most of migration in Africa occurs within the continent as 19 million people moved between African countries. The surge in international migration within Africa is due in part by the efforts of African states and international institutions to enhance regional integration.[2] Regional migration in the African continent is also largely facilitated by the development of infrastructure and diffusion of western languages and culture.[3]
As of 2017, 38 million out of the total 258 million global international migrants were born in Africa. 48 out of 58 countries in Africa had at least one source of data accounting for migration statistics; the amount of migrants included in data from the 2000 census or later was about 79 percent.[4] International migrants accounted for two percent or less of the total population of Africa between 2000 and 2017.[1] Of the twenty largest countries of destination for international migrants, one is located on the African continent. In 2000, Côte d'Ivoire was the top destination for international migrants but has since changed to South Africa by 2017.[3] The number of international migrants originating in Africa grew by 68 percent since 2000, the largest growth rate of a region of origin in the world. New York City and the remainder of North America were the fastest-growing destination for migrants born in Africa between 2000 and 2017.[1] For migrants born in Europe, one of the fastest growing destinations was Africa. Although small in absolute numbers of migrants, the fastest growing destination for international migrants born in Oceania and in Latin America and the Caribbean was Africa with a 7 percent increase per year (15,000 and 22,000 migrants, respectively). Over half (53 percent) of total African migrants resided within the region.[5]
General trends
Intra-African continental migration tends to be highest in the West African countries, Southern African countries and small states (Lesotho and Eritrea). Intra-continental emigration trends are low in densely populated countries such as Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa, as well as in the North African Maghreb, from which region most tend to migrate to Europe.[6]
Reasons for migration
Economic factors are the main drivers of international migration in Africa as many migrants cross borders to find employment. Education and family reasons are cited as the second and third most common reasons. Among women, family is the most common reason for migration.[7] Trans-border migration, while largely driven by immediate and specific economic needs, is largely intended to be temporary.[4] Nevertheless, many low-skilled foreign workers end up staying well beyond their intended time. Further, unskilled migrant workers are often classified as temporary migrants in literature on Sub-Saharan African migration, rather than long term or permanent immigrants, regardless of their legal status.[3]
Some of the large swaths of migration in Africa is also often induced by political instability, dramatic regime changes, ethnic tensions, and civil wars which are referred to as forced migration.[3] According to official data, about fourteen percent of international migration in Africa is characterized as forced and involve individuals in "refugee-like" situations. In contrast to popular belief, about 86 percent of African migration is not related to conflict.[6]
International migration systems
South African migration system
The South African Migration System is centered around South Africa and has been developed since the late 19th century in parallel with the emergence and growth of the South African Mining industry. The South African Migration System is defined in large part by the political and economic preeminence of South Africa as a destination for migrants within the continent.[3]
West African migration system
The West African Migration System emerged from the legacies of the French and British colonial empires. Some scholars argue that migration dynamics in West Africa have been attributed to the formation of capitalist economies and the spread of capitalism to other urban settlements and the countryside result in regional and social inequalities. Migration patterns in the West African Migration System are diverse than the South African Migration System because of a lack of a single powerful magnet for migrants (like South Africa). Foreigners made up almost a quarter of Côte d'Ivoire's population until civil war broke out between 2002 and 2004 that undermined its once buoyant economy.[3]
Role of states and regional international institutions
Historically, colonial occupation and the slave trade have shaped the contemporary migration patterns within and from the African continent. During colonial liberation, millions of Africans fled conflicts with colonial powers. The establishment of independent states did not entirely create peaceful conditions; political and economic factors as a result of new conflicts contributed to uncertainty as an incentive to leave one's home state.[6]
Under authoritarian regimes, many more people may wish to migrate but cannot because of the government's increasing willingness to control and restrict emigration. Characteristics of the state-formation process such as nationalism, anti-colonial sentiment, xenophobia and protectionism are used in similar vein by several African governments such as Algeria, Egypt and Côte d'Ivoire to discourage emigration (fearing the loss of human capital) and to restrict immigration or foreigners.[6]
Political stability and national wealth have a particular influence on migration trends in that individuals are less likely to emigrate when they can imagine a future in their home country. Those with higher educational and occupational specializations tend to move across borders in search of more diversified and complex labor markets and social opportunities.[6] A recent analysis of global migrant stock data found a significantly positive relationship between a state's level of political freedom and emigration.[8]
In recent years, regional international institutions in Africa have worked to enhance regional integration on the continent by reducing barriers to immigration.[4] Regional economic communities such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as well as the East African Community (EAC) have cited free movement of persons as a key tenant of their drive toward greater integration. Further, ECOWAS has eliminated visa requirements for citizens of member states to support the free movement of people, goods and capital throughout the region. The South African Development Community (SADC) also works to promote integration and cooperation among member states. Further, in 2018 the African Union adopted a continent wide protocol on free movement to enhance intra-regional migration. Most migrants in Africa chose to stay within the region because the prospect of relocating in Europe or North America is tempered by the reality of cumbersome and highly restrictive visa requirements.[4][3]
Experience of African migrants
Public xenophobia is often a characteristic of the experience of migrants in sub-saharan Africa, as is in many other parts of the world. It is reinforced by and reinforces state-level hostility as there is often a lack of an adequate legal protection framework for migrants. Many migrants become targets of harassment and violence, especially in times of economic downturns.[3] For example, In Côte d'Ivoire, real or imagined migratory status, combined with religion and ethnicity, was used by the government as a political mobilization tool in the recent civil conflict.[3] While prolonged and indefinite settlements of large groups of migrants often lead to formation of immigrant communities, it is an understudied area in Africa.
Female migration
Cross border migration offers women traders a path for economic advancement. There is significant evidence that illustrates the feminization trend of sub-saharan international migration, yet women's motivations for crossing international borders varies greatly from those of men. While men migrate to South Africa mainly for work, for women, work reasons for migration rank below family visits, shopping, selling goods, and obtaining medical care. Women tend to engage in short distance and short term transborder moves while men's migration tends to be longer distance.[3]
The economy of Lesotho is based on agriculture, livestock, manufacturing, mining, and depends heavily on inflows of workers’ remittances and receipts from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). Lesotho is geographically surrounded by South Africa and is economically integrated with it as well. The majority of households subsist on farming. The formal sector employment consist of mainly female workers in the apparel sector, while male migrant laborers work primarily either as miners in South Africa for 3 to 9 months or in the employment of the Government of Lesotho (GOL). Half of the country's population work in informal crop cultivation or animal husbandry.
Demographic features of the population of Mali include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is the port city of Abidjan. It borders Guinea to the northwest, Liberia to the west, Mali to the northwest, Burkina Faso to the northeast, Ghana to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. With 30.9 million inhabitants in 2023, Ivory Coast is the third-most populous country in West Africa. Its official language is French, and indigenous languages are also widely used, including Bété, Baoulé, Dioula, Dan, Anyin, and Cebaara Senufo. In total, there are around 78 different languages spoken in Ivory Coast. The country has a religiously diverse population, including numerous followers of Islam, Christianity, and traditional faiths like Animism.
Human capital flight is the emigration or immigration of individuals who have received advanced training at home. The net benefits of human capital flight for the receiving country are sometimes referred to as a "brain gain" whereas the net costs for the sending country are sometimes referred to as a "brain drain". In occupations with a surplus of graduates, immigration of foreign-trained professionals can aggravate the underemployment of domestic graduates, whereas emigration from an area with a surplus of trained people leads to better opportunities for those remaining. But emigration may cause problems for the home country if the trained people are in short supply there.
Human migration is the movement of people from one place to another, with intentions of settling, permanently or temporarily, at a new location. The movement often occurs over long distances and from one country to another, but internal migration is the dominant form of human migration globally.
Sampa is a town in the Bono Region of Ghana, on the border with Côte d'Ivoire. It is the capital of Jaman North District, and was formerly the site of a Slave market. It was also the capital of the Akan State of Gyaaman in the late 15th century. It is the biggest border town in Ghana with a population of over 36,000. It is the principal town of the Nafana ethnic group. They speak the Nafaanra language and equally speak Twi as a second language because Sampa is a cosmopolitan society. Nafaanra is also spoken in Banda District, parts of Tain District and Bondoukou District of Cote d'Ivoire. It is the leading producer of Cashew in Ghana.
Geographic mobility is the measure of how populations and goods move over time. Geographic mobility, population mobility, or more simply mobility is also a statistic that measures migration within a population. Commonly used in demography and human geography, it may also be used to describe the movement of animals between populations. These moves can be as large scale as international migrations or as small as regional commuting arrangements. Geographic mobility has a large impact on many sociological factors in a community and is a current topic of academic research. It varies between different regions depending on both formal policies and established social norms, and has different effects and responses in different societies. Population mobility has implications ranging from administrative changes in government and impacts on local economic growth to housing markets and demand for regional services.
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short-term stays in a destination country do not fall under the definition of immigration or migration; seasonal labour immigration is sometimes included, however.
Mass migration refers to the migration of large groups of people from one geographical area to another. Mass migration is distinguished from individual or small-scale migration; and also from seasonal migration, which may occur on a regular basis.
African immigrants in Europe are individuals residing in Europe who were born in Africa. This includes both individuals born in North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Migrants' routes encompass the primary geographical routes from tropical Africa to Europe, which individuals undertake in search of residence and employment opportunities not available in their home countries. While Europe remains the predominant destination for most migrants, alternate routes also direct migrants towards South Africa and Asia.
The Zimbabwean diaspora refers to the diaspora of immigrants from the nation of Zimbabwe and their descendants who now reside in other countries. The number of Zimbabweans living outside Zimbabwe varies significantly from 4 to 7 million people, though it is generally accepted at over 5 million people, some 30 per cent of all Zimbabweans. Varying degrees of assimilation and a high degree of interethnic marriages in the Zimbabwean diaspora communities makes determining exact figures difficult. The diaspora population is extremely diverse and consists of Shona people, Ndebele, white Zimbabweans, mixed-race people, Asians, Jewish people and other minority groups. The diaspora traces their origin to several waves of emigration, starting with the exodus that followed the 1965, unilateral declaration of independence in Rhodesia, but significantly since the sociopolitical crisis that began in 2000.
Seasonal migration, locally called the Exode, plays an important part of the economic and cultural life of the West African nation of Niger. While it is a common practice in many nations, Niger sees as much as a third of its rural population travel for seasonal labour, during the Sahelian nation's long dry season. Common patterns of seasonal travel have been built up over hundreds of years, and destinations and work vary by community and ethnic group.
Lebanese people in the Ivory Coast are a community of people whose ancestors are Lebanese and either emigrated to the Ivory Coast directly or are descended from those who did. It is the largest Lebanese diaspora in Africa.
Ivoirians in the United Kingdom or Ivorian British are one of the country's smallest African immigrant groups, consisting of no more than 10,000 individuals. The group includes people born in Côte d'Ivoire who have migrated to the United Kingdom, as well as their British-born descendants.
During the period of 1965 – 2021, an estimated 440,000 people per year emigrated from Africa; a total number of 17 million migrants within Africa was estimated for 2005. The figure of 0.44 million African emigrants per year pales in comparison to the annual population growth of about 2.6%, indicating that only about 2% of Africa's population growth is compensated for by emigration.
Migration from India into Africa pre-dates European colonization. The number of Indians in Africa increased greatly with the settlement of Indians in Africa as indentured servants during colonization, and has continued to increase into the 21st century.
Step migration is a migration pattern conceptualized in 1885 by Ernst Georg Ravenstein, who observed migration as occurring stage by stage as rural inhabitants move closer to urban areas of growth. It is a migration pattern regarded by some scholars to be a widely popular form of international migration in the twenty-first century globalized world. There is a large breadth of study proving the existence of step migration in many international migration patterns, although there is lack of consensus over its exact specification and measurement. Step migration scholars deem it to be an important international trend that has the power to aid in the design of policy development efforts in both rural and urban areas worldwide. According to Abrahm Lustgarten, Senior Environmental Reporter for ProPublica, in his May 2021 report, Step migration – or "stepwise migration" – is a characteristic pattern of migration driven by climate change.
Blaxit is a social movement that promotes the repatriation of Black/African Americans from the United States and Europe to Africa. The term now includes all people of African heritage who desire to move to Africa for many reasons, including new economic growth opportunities and cultural reasons. Combined with African countries which are now seeking to gain skilled and educated migrants, a growing movement has been formed, with the Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo declared that 2019 was the "Year of Return" and in accordance with his declaration, he made immigration to Ghana easier for members of African diaspora communities.
North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa are two distinct yet interconnected regions that share a multitude of cultural, religious, economic, migrational, political, and other societal components that affect the cross-regional relationship between both respective continental zones. While there is not one singular standardized definition as to which countries constitute either region, North Africa is broadly defined as the northern portion of Africa encompassing Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, with Western Sahara and Sudan occasionally included. In contrast, sub-Saharan Africa generally refers to the states and territories which lie fully or partially to the south of the Sahara Desert. The shared ties between both regions derive from a variety of elements, including: traditional religious and cultural linkages, joint economic and developmental interests, intra-regional migration between countries of both areas, and evolving political and diplomatic relations between states.
↑ "Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)". Yearbook of the United Nations 2001. Yearbook of the United Nations. 2001-12-31. pp.1406–1407. doi:10.18356/319bd501-en. ISBN9789211558968.
Udelsmann Rodrigues, C & Bjarnesen, J. Intra-African Migration. Study of the Policy Department for External Relations, Directorate General for External Policies of the Union. October 2020.
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