Migration

BBC News is featuring a series of reports on migration entitled, World on the Move, to coincide with UN World Migrants Day (December 18th).
The material is worthwhile. So what are you waiting for, guys?
Use the link below to find out more on the issues surrounding migration.

There are now more than 191 million migrants, more than ever before, according to the United Nations.
If all these people belonged to the same country it would have the fifth largest population on earth.
People leave their homes for many different reasons. They could be in search of a better job, lifestyle or education, or they could be struggling to escape poverty, famine or war.

Migrant numbers have more than doubled since the 1960s. The country that attracts the most people from abroad is the United States, with 35 million, followed by Russia and Germany on 13.3 and 7.3 million people respectively.
China sees the most people leave, followed by India and the Philippines. About half of all migrants are bound for North America and Europe.
Although migration can benefit the host country by boosting local economies, it is estimated that around 30 million migrants enter the global workforce illegally.

The number of people who fled their own countries to seek sanctuary elsewhere fell by nearly a million over the course of 2005, according to the UN.

The number of refugees now stands at over eight million, with most people being hosted by Pakistan, Iran and Germany. Afghanistan accounts for nearly a quarter of all refugees, but the figure is now dropping.

Refugees are among the most vulnerable of migrants, as are those termed "internally displaced people" or IDPs. The number of IDPs grew during 2005, partly because of violence in places like Iraq and Sudan.

The numbers of migrants, and migrant workers in particular, has reached record levels in the UK.
Over 1.5 million foreign workers were employed here in 2005, according to the Labour Force Survey.
This huge increase is mostly due to workers coming into the UK from the new EU member states in eastern Europe, especially Poland.

The Migration Research Unit at University College London has described the situation as "almost certainly the largest single wave of in-migration (with Poles the largest ever single national group of entrants) that the British Isles have ever experienced".

BBC material