In search of a better life.

This pamphlet describes some recent findings reported in the UN's "State of World Population, 1993." The summary focuses on the costs and benefits of migration, investments in technology in order to attract low cost labor, and impetus for migration from economic development. A recent study in the Philippines indicates that reduced migration pressures will require increased capacity to migrate but reduced desire to do so. National policies should be devoted to economic development, reduced population pressure, family planning, reproductive health care, equity in education of girls and boys, and long-term initiatives (land reform, rural development, access to credit, and opportunities for a livelihood among the poor). A successful strategy is identified as reduction of uncertainty and insecurity and investment in human resources. Mass movements have occurred throughout history. Development is a short-term push factor for potential migration. Studies demonstrate that remittances from migration contribute to higher living standards for households receiving the benefits. Optimal use of remittances can be encouraged by reinforcing or establishing local social norms. Development strategies in the past encouraged export labor. New alternatives are export processing zones, where technology and investments are made to attract low-cost labor to border areas or zones. Pressures to migrate can be both internal and external in the form of disparities between rich and poor countries. Migrants are subject to push and pull factors. Global communication media and social networks strengthen the pull of rich nations. Migration is a social process and a collective expression of millions of individual and family decisions. Future migration patterns may overwhelmingly strain industrialized and developing countries. Urban areas already show signs of an inability to absorb population adequately in terms of social services and job opportunities. Many migrants report that they prefer urban poverty to rural desperation. Growth of urban agglomerations in the world is represented in charts for 1950, 1970, 1990, and 2000. Metro Manila in 2000 will be the 19th largest city.