Migration is a huge phenomenon. The share of migrants in industrial countries' populations doubled over the past three decades, and remittances flows to developing countries are larger than foreign investment or overseas aid. 

In many developing countries, the percentage of the population working abroad and the percentage of Global Domestic Product (GDP) represented by remittances run into double digits. Migration is diverse and complex, and therefore the various impacts at individual and group level are difficult to measure and depend on many circumstances among them the skills and former employment of migrants, the history of migration (the existence and location of a large diaspora), the sectors affected, patterns of trade and production, the investment climate, and the size and geographical location of the country.

It is increasingly recognised that migrants constitute an invaluable resource for development and poverty reduction in their home countries.

Isolina Boto
Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development - CTA
Brussels office
Brussels, Belgium
Boto@cta.int