140 : Migration between South and Southeast Asia: Overview of Trends and Issues
Rupa Chanda
2 February 2012
International migration is an important facet of globalization today. There were an estimated
214
million
international migrants in 2009, constituting around 3.1 percent of the world's
population, up from around 82 million in 1970, reflecting the huge increase in international
migration flows over the past few decades.
2
An interesting feature of this migratio
n is the
growing importance of South
-
South migration flows. It is estimated that around 47 percent of
migrants from developing countries migrate to other developing countries.
The number of
migrants in the South has increased by 75 percent over the past 40
years, with the true size of
South
-
South migration estimated at around 74 million.
3
Hence, South
-
South migration is
almost as large as South
-
North migration and developing countries and developing countries
are confronted with policy challenges as both so
urce and host nations.