The ILO on Young People's Desire to Migrate

摘要

International migrants are overwhelmingly young people, most seeking better work or educational opportunities. Many more would move if circumstances permitted. A recent ILO report on youth employment prospects includes a brief section on the desire to migrate-youth being defined broadly as the age group 15-29. The estimates cited in the report, excerpted below, come from Gallup World Poll country surveys in 2009 and 2015. Confusingly, in the text the ILO does not distinguish " desire to migrate" from " willingness to migrate" and " intention to migrate." The first of these is the most straightforward meaning of the estimates, which derive from responses to the survey question: " Ideally, if you had the opportunity, would you like to move permanently to another country, or would you prefer to continue living in this country?" (Gallup emphasizes that its data reflect aspirations rather than intent, though it uses them to calculate a " potential net migration index" for individual countries-the percentage gain or loss of population if desires were borne out.) That the desire to migrate is high on average among youth in African countries is hardly surprising; more striking are the similar high levels in Latin America and Europe. Within each of these regions, however, there is wide variation among countries.