Security Differences for Migration

After the global conflict between capitalism and communism ended in the early 1990s, local conflicts erupted in many areas, leading to separatist movements, new nations and more migrants. Creating new nations is almost always accompanied by migration, as populations are reshuffled so that the “right” people are inside the “right” borders. Governments have in the past sometimes sent migrants to areas that later broke away and formed a new nation, and these internal migrants and their descendants can become international migrants without moving again, as with Russians in the Baltic or Indonesians in East Timor.

Factors Contributing to Migration-Economic differences

Economic differences between countries have been widening, encouraging international migration for incomes and jobs. The world’s GDP was $30 trillion in 2000, making average per capita income $5000 a year, but there was significant variation—the range was from $100 per person per year in Ethiopia to $38000 in Switzerland. When countries are grouped by their per capita GDPs, the gap between high income countries, with $9300 or more per person per year, versus low (below $750 per person per year) and middle income countries climbing into the high-income ranks.[1]