Beyond the Headlines

• Author: Jesus Gonzalez-Garcia and Montfort Mlachila

Beyond the Headlines Finance & Development, June 2017, Vol. 54, No. 2

Jesus Gonzalez-Garcia and Montfort Mlachila

Migration from sub-Saharan Africa has far-ranging effects on home and host countries alike

International migration has been in the headlines for the past few years: a surge of refugees to Europe, especially from the Middle East and Africa, has spurred the ongoing refugee crisis. A backlash has followed in many countries, including within sub-Saharan Africa.

Developing economies tend to receive more immigrants relative to their population than advanced economies. Refugees make the headlines, but in sub-Saharan Africa longer-term migration, within and outside the region, strongly affects the continent’s economies.

In 2013, about 20 million sub-Saharan Africans, twice the 1990 number, were living outside their own country—13 million of whom had migrated within the region (see Chart 1).

The demographic boom in sub-Saharan Africa’s working-age population—which typically feeds migration—means the trend will continue for decades. The current 2 percent migration rate (migrants as percent of population) in sub-Saharan Africa is low relative to the rest of the developing world, where 3 percent of the population live abroad. But it has kept up with the rapid growth of the region’s population as a whole—from about 480 million in 1990 to about 900 million in 2015.

Where are they going?Most migration occurs within the region (see Chart 2). People who move for economic reasons tend to look for opportunity in wealthier neighboring countries.

Why do Africans move to other African countries proportionately more than to richer countries? One reason is economics. The poor cannot afford a plane ticket to Europe or the United States, but they can jump on a bus or truck, and borders within Africa are porous. Cultural and linguistic affinity also plays a role.

Forced migrationThe number of refugees—people fleeing war or persecution—is much lower in Africa since 1990, both within and outside the region. About half of migrants were refugees in 1990, down to about 10 percent by 2013 thanks to fewer large-scale conflicts in the region (see Chart 3).

Five conflict-affected countries are the main sources of intra-African refugees: the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan. Those from Somalia found refuge in Kenya and Ethiopia, refugees from Sudan migrated to Chad, and South Sudanese have been...