Migration

• [New] In April, BBVA Research predicted a 17% annual drop in remittances to Mexico in 2021, with a only a very gradual recovery and a return to 2019 levels by 2023-28.
• [New] By 2050 there will be 143 million additional climate migrants from Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.
• [New] Internal climate migrants could number more than 143 million by 2050, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and South Asia.
• With net negative migration in 2020, Australia is projected to be more than half a million people smaller in 2022, with flow-on effects from construction to retail.
• Everyone from a migrant agricultural worker relying on a paycheck in Portugal to a foreign healthcare worker living in Sweden is potentially impacted by a dramatic tightening of borders.
• By 2050, 143 million people could migrate within their countries due to gradual climate impacts in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America.
• The number of refugees resettled in safe countries will hit a record low in 2020, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has warned, as it urged the UK government to restart its flagship programme.
• By 2025, 5G revenue is likely to represent 44% of global operator-billed revenue, as customers migrate from 4G and new business use cases are enabled.
• Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to have the largest numbers of internal climate migrants (out of the three regions measured): ranging from 56.6 to 85.7 million in the pessimistic reference scenario by 2050 if no action is taken.
• Countries in East and Southeast Asia will require 275 million migrant workers by 2030, whereas other countries in South and Southeast Asia have surpluses of workers that local labour markets struggle to absorb.
• 5G revenue will represent 44% of global operator billed revenue, thanks to the rapid migration of 4G mobile subscribers to 5G networks and new business use cases enabled by 5G technology.
• After 2024, all of Oregon's population growth and more will come from the net migration due to the combination of continued high net migration, decline in the number of births, and the rise in the number of deaths.
• In the current 2021 fiscal year, amid an economic and health crisis, thousands of refugees (up to 125,000 under an upcoming Biden administration) from countries with floundering healthcare systems are expected to be resettled in the United States without prior testing for the Covid-19 virus.
• Canada is expected to enjoy the fastest population growth rate of G7 countries over the coming 10 years.
• The UK is planning to introduce a new asylum system through legislation in 2021.
• The Refugee Agency urged countries to resettle as many refugees as possible in 2020 and to maintain resettlement quotas for 2021.
• Rohingya Muslims in refugee camps have expressed a wish to return to Myanmar, but fear further persecution by the Tatmadaw coalition who continue to reject their claim, as they are non-citizens of Myanmar.
• The global climate crisis could see more than a billion people displaced from their homes in the next 30 years, as ecological disasters drive mass migrations and greater armed conflict.
• In the first quarter of 2020, remittances from the Russian Federation fell by almost 17 percent: Further decreases throughout the year are expected due to the continued closure of borders and the global economic recession.
• 150 million new climate migrants will emerge from sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America by 2050, spurring polarizing narratives of climate refugees.
• With Australia's international borders largely closed and net overseas migration turning negative, population growth is expected to fall to a rate of just 0.2% in 2020-21 and 0.4% in 2021-22, similar to the pre-pandemic population growth rate in the United States.

Last updated: 13 January 2021