Germany - The UN Migration Agency (IOM)’s Data Analysis Centre and Maastricht University (Maastricht Graduate School of Governance/UNU-MERIT) recently released a literature review on the Push and Pull Factors of Asylum-Related Migration. The report was commissioned by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) as part of their multi-annual research programme.
Based on a detailed analysis of about 150 pieces of selected academic and non-academic literature, the report provides a comprehensive review of the literature examining factors that influence migration trends, the decisions of migrants to leave their countries of origin, and to claim asylum in the European Union (EU), within a traditional “push/pull framework”. This framework views human mobility as the result of specific factors that either attract an individual to migration (pull factors) or that repel the individual from continued stay in his/her place of usual residence (push factors).
Beyond providing a synthesis of the literature on the determinants of asylum-related migration, the report also assesses the extent to which certain groups of factors have been consistently (or inconsistently) identified as significant in shaping migration patterns and decisions.
Results from the review show there is relative consensus in the literature on the salience of socio-economic factors. Those include (actual or perceived) wage differentials and differences in living standards between communities of origin and destination. The (real or perceived) availability of employment opportunities in destination countries has also been consistently identified as a significant factor in influencing migration decisions.
The presence of various types of networks – e.g., relatives and friends, but also human smuggling networks – that migrants can rely on as a source of information before or during the journey, has also been often identified as very relevant in explaining migration intentions and movements – including forced movements. Most scholars would also generally agree that demand for cheap labour in industrialized countries also shapes human (labour) mobility.
A relative degree of consensus is found on the importance of political factors, particularly when it comes to forced and irregular migration movements. Conflicts, violence, insecurity, political turbulences, and human right abuses all play a key role in migration decisions in different contexts – though comparisons are hard to make across such a diverse body of literature.
In contrast, a number of factors have been less consistently identified in the literature as significant in determining migration.
Demographic variables such as population growth, total fertility rates and population density or size were identified as directly relevant in some studies, but only relevant when combined with additional factors – mainly economic – in other studies.
Some inconsistencies in the literature are also observed on the impact of “proximity indicators” between origin and destination countries – e.g., past colonial ties, linguistic similarities and physical distance.
Environmental factors such as natural disasters or environmental degradation are also likely to be significant triggers of population movements in combination with other factors (e.g., economic insecurity). Separating the impact of environmental change on human displacement is particularly challenging, and some scholars argue that environmental factors are more likely to be significant in explaining internal rather than cross-border migration.
The impact of migration policies and regulations on international migration is still subject of an ongoing debate in the literature on migration determinants: while migration is influenced by regulatory frameworks in countries of origin, transit and destination, the effectiveness of specific policies in certain contexts is still contested. This may be largely due to conceptual and methodological limitations in measuring policy impacts.
Finally, the report notes that migrants constitute a highly diverse group and migration decisions depend on several personal characteristics – migrants’ age, sex, family situation, education or skill levels. Migration decisions and trajectories are also very likely to change while in transit – particularly in the case of irregular journeys, which pose greater risks for migrants.
An online database containing more than 300 resources – including empirical and theoretical studies, as well as reports – was produced as part of the review and can be downloaded here.
For further information, please contact Marzia Rango at IOM´s Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC), tel. +4903027877824, e-mail: mrango@iom.int