Human Development and International Migration

Abstract

Migration is one of the most serious issues of economy and society. For this reason, the 2009 Global Human Development Report focuses on the issues of migration and human development. According to the report, many people migrate from their hometown to other regions for survival or better life opportunities. Within this context, this study aims to explore whether human development or the factors (income, education and health) which determine human development play a role in international migration flows, and whether migrants find an opportunity to increase their human development levels. In line with this aim, the direction of international migration flows was analyzed having compared both the 2011 human development indexes of the countries which compose the 27 biggest migration corridors as of 2010 and the main components of the human development index, which are health index, education index and income index. According to the results of the study, migrants move to more developed regions in terms of human development and among the factors which determine human development in terms of migration the most important ones are respectively income or education and health. Therefore, the removal of obstacles before international migration is considered to play a great role in the increase of human development or global welfare.