Consequences of Migration

Social effects of migration

Let's take a look at the many social effects of migration:

Culture and diversity

Culture is the shared beliefs, values and traditions of a demographic. This also extends to food, music, religion, art, dress and language. There are many different cultures across the world, and through migration, most prominently, international migration, these cultures can be shared and brought to new places.

Migration can increase the cultural diversity of a host country, as an introduction of a new culture can bring a whole new market of products and services that were not available in the host country prior to the arrival of migrants. Migration in this sense, can have very positive impacts on the host nation. However there can be negative impacts for the migrants themselves, for example, there can be a significant loss of cultural norms, as they may be entering a host country that has a completely different way of societal living than their origin country.

Assimilation

Assimilation is the integration of migrants into their host country. This occurs naturally, at different rates, and over a long period of time. Assimilation rates are affected by many different factors, such as the level of similarity between migrants and local people or perhaps the existence of tensions between migrants and local groups.

Fig. 2 - St. Patrick's Day is an excellent example of the cultural assimilation of Irish migrants into American culture. Here, the Chicago River in the US is coloured green for St. Patrick's Day.

Social consequences of migration

Let's take a look at some of the social consequences of migration:

Cultural clash

Migrants may have entirely different cultural values or characteristics to those of a host nation. When there are differences between the host and the origin country, tensions may build up between them. This is often called a cultural clash or cultural conflict.

Discrimination

International migration may create spaces for discrimination. Migrants may have a different ethnicity, religious practice, or cultural characteristics from their host nation, or there may be language barriers, which can sometimes cause migrants to be discriminated against in every aspect of their everyday lives, either directly or indirectly.

Segregation

Let's take a look at ethnicity and race. Unlike race, ethnicity is not necessarily connected to biological traits and more often refers to cultural background. For example, Latin Americans are an ethnic group, as they share a common cultural background, but within Latin America, there are people from different races (White, Black, East Asian, Indigenous and Mixed). When international migration occurs, migrants may face racial or ethnic segregation, which may occur in different forms. In large urban areas, there often exists designated neighbourhoods for different ethnicities. This can happen due to migrants being treated differently, affecting their access to certain types of housing, or if local populations make active choices to live away from migrant groups¹. Segregation may also happen because it is attractive for migrants to live in spaces with people who have similar cultural characteristics.

Smuggling and human trafficking

The process of international migration is often complicated, and immigration laws can be very strict. This can lead potential migrants to hire the services of illegal immigration officers, commonly known as smugglers or coyotes. Due to the illegality of their services, there is no guarantee the migration process is safe.

Human trafficking is something different to smuggling. Human trafficking occurs when people (migrants, but human trafficking also happens domestically) are forced into undertaking unpaid forced labour, or sex work, for example. Human trafficking may also occur as a result of smuggling if they are held captive or are forced to work to pay off the often expensive smuggling fees², but this isn't always the case.

Political consequences of migration

There are multiple political consequences that result from migration, but first let's get a better understanding of some commonly misused words:

International borders and asylum seekers

International borders are not always well-defined. Some territories share border control authorities from different countries, and this can cause conflict. Regarding migration, it becomes unclear who is responsible for the migrant movement.

Refugees and European Union policy

Disadvantages of migration

Though necessary for some people, there are disadvantages of migration, for both the host country and country of origin.

Human Capital Flight and economic development

With international migration, origin countries often lose large proportions of the highly skilled workforce. Developing countries, such as India, suffer from the loss of this highly trained workforce, due to migration. This is called Human Capital Flight or Brain drain, which negatively impacts economic growth.

After a migrant has entered their host country, they may send part of their income back to their origin country. This is called remittance. India, for example, receives around 80 billion US dollars per year from remittances (2.7% of their total Gross Domestic Product (GDP)). Despite the fact that most of these workers will still send remittances back to their origin country, these remittances aren't enough to deal with the economic impact of this human capital flight, which can impact the development levels of the origin country.

Population and demographic changes

International migration can affect the population and demographics of both host and origin countries. Through migration, the population in the host country increases. This can increase pressure on public services, as more people are using or needing them³.

With Human Capital Flight and Brain Drain, it tends to be the younger population leaving to seek better opportunities elsewhere. This leaves behind an increasingly elderly population in the origin country, and with a growing younger population in the host country.