As migrants and refugees from Africa and the Middle East continue to arrive in Europe in unprecedented numbers, a new World Bank/IMF report says that large-scale migration from poor countries to richer regions of the world will be a permanent feature of the global economy for decades to come as a result of major population shifts in countries.
This is according to the Global Monitoring Report 2015/2016: Development Goals in an Era of Demographic Change.
"If countries with aging populations can create a path for refugees and migrants to participate in the economy, everyone benefits. Most of the evidence suggests that migrants will work hard and contribute more in taxes than they consume in social services,” says World Bank Group president, Jim Yong Kim.
The report explains that the direction and pace of global demographic transition is exclusive to each country, with differing implications depending on a nation’s working class population and economic development. However, it emphasises that “all countries at all stages of development can harness demographic transition as a tremendous development opportunity.”
