Food Insecurity and International Migration Flows

Abstract

The driving forces of international migration are increasingly complex and interrelated. This article examines the relationship between food insecurity and regular, permanent international migration. The analysis draws on data from the first global measure of individual-level food insecurity combined with data on migration flows from 198 origin countries to 16 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development destination countries for 2014 and 2015. Using a fixed-effects regression model that resembles an augmented gravity equation controlling for various confounding factors, we show both a significant positive correlation between food insecurity at origin and out-migration and a positive correlation between out-migration and within-country inequality in food insecurity at origin. Our findings imply that people may react not only to the average prevalence of food insecurity but also to their relative position in the distribution of food insecurity within their origin country. This finding may help inform policymakers about potential threshold effects and guide the design of migration policies and aid programs. It also contributes to the study of international migration flows by presenting novel evidence for the role of food insecurity and within-country inequality in food insecurity as drivers of migration flows.