The 10 Causes and Consequences of Migration

Throughout history there have been many occasions when large migratory movements have occurred.

Migrants can leave their homes for multiple reasons, with the intention of finding a better place to survive and ensure a good future.

Causes of migration

Whoever leaves their country behind does not do so on a whim. Wars, natural disasters, political and ethnic persecution and lack of opportunities are some of the the causes behind migratory movements, and can affect people in a wide variety of ways. people.

1. Political asylum

At times, the political situation of a State can lead to a certain degree of repression towards political dissidence. In this case, a dissident individual may decide to leave the country for fear of reprisals (such as imprisonment, torture, etc.). This is known as political asylum..

2. Humanitarian (or economic) asylum

When the individual decides to migrate from their country of origin for reasons related to poverty, it is often spoken of humanitarian or economic asylum.

3. Cultural migration

Sometimes, the migrant decides to leave his country of origin in search of a better education or better opportunities.

4. Family migration

If the migrant makes the decision to leave their country to reunite with relatives who are in another state, it is often referred to as migration due to family causes.

5. Migration for military causes

When a country or region is under a warlike conflict, the population can decide to leave their homes to escape of the danger posed by war, not only in its purely violent aspect, but also because of the scarcity of resources that provokes.

6. Humanitarian catastrophe migration

If a region or country has been devastated by a natural disaster, such as a tsunami or an earthquake, the people from that place may migrate seeking to rebuild their lives in a more territory stable.

• Recommended article: "Return migration and reverse culture shock"

Types of consequences of migration

Given the various causes behind it, human migration is a complex phenomenon and has a very diverse impact on both the society of origin and the host.

Let's look at the consequences of migration, both from the point of view of the migrant person and from a more social and cultural approach.

1. Psychological

Moving away from the place where you grew up and leaving all your loved ones behind can be very shocking.. This becomes especially traumatic when fleeing the country of origin, either for political reasons or due to some natural disaster, where the flight involves a life or death situation.

Normally, the people who are forced to emigrate are young people with a partner who leave their country, supposing a serious blow to the stability of the relationship.

As much as new technologies help to shorten distances, a hug, a kiss or a caress are not things that can be sent. The lack of family warmth can generate feelings of loneliness and hopelessness, which lead to situations of deep sadness.

In addition, both those who stay and those who leave feel that the distance makes it impossible for them to share everything that happens to them. Not having all the information, situations occur in which both parties fear the worst.

Symptoms

Common symptoms in migrants are sadness, crying, stress, the feeling of insecurity and rejection by the native population.

The migration process emotionally affects all ages, but children are especially vulnerable.

If they have emigrated alone, the minors are completely unprotected, which can encourage them to develop criminal behaviors to survive. On the other hand, if they travel with their families, the maturational development is abnormal, with children who are too mature for their age or adolescents with childish behaviors.

If the reason for leaving the country of origin is a war or a natural catastrophe, it is not uncommon to find immigrants who suffer PTSD, having flashbacks of the moments in which his life was in danger and remembering them over and over again, supposing a great interference in his day to day life.

Many immigrants suffer from Ulysses syndrome, in which there is a set of duels that occur when the migratory project does not develop according to plan.

2. Economical

Migratory movements can have various repercussions, not only in the country where they end up, but also in the country of origin. On many occasions, people migrate massively, which considerably reduces the population of their country.

This means a reduction in unemployment, given that many migrants decide to leave their country seeing that they cannot find work and those who stay benefit from less competition labor. Migrants send money to their relatives, helping them in the family economy and allowing them to survive.

As for the host country, the arrival of young people allows jobs to be filled that the native population is not willing to do, for being low-skilled and poorly paid jobs.

However, there are also negative repercussions. If the country of origin was already poor, the loss of economically active people is an added obstacle. Also, when population is lost, consumption possibilities are lost and, although money is sent to families, it is very fragmented, which does not allow them to get out of poverty.

In the host country, the arrival of a low-skilled and desperate population hurts the less-trained native population. Entrepreneurs choose foreigners, who are willing to do anything to get a miserable income.

As there is more population, the governments are forced to reduce the salary of the natives.

3. Sociocultural

Migrants have their own traditions, language, religion and ways of behaving, which may be very different from those of the host society. This can cause two phenomena, depending on how is the interaction between foreigners and natives.

The arrival of people from other cultures can enrich the host society, becoming more open and plural as different ethnic groups coexist in it.

On the other hand, xenophobic ideas may arise in the national population, who consider that the arrival of foreigners distorts society, seeing them as dangerous people and who pollute their own culture or are directly doing it disappear.

The society of origin, by losing a significant number of young people, grows old, while the recipient receives the opposite process. This is because the majority of migrants are between the ages of 25 and 35, which can reproduce in the new country, increasing the birth rate and fertility.

4. Policies

The arrival of immigrants can motivate the drafting of xenophobic-inspired laws, such as those that prohibit the use of traditional clothing from other countries or that deny the right to care to people in an irregular situation.

Laws that have the purpose of selecting the most useful immigrants depending on the needs of the country can also be enacted.

For example, if more research is needed, visas can be granted to foreign scientists, technicians or specialized in various disciplines. Immigrants can also be let in in order to use cheap labor to build infrastructure at a lower price and more quickly.

Between nationals and foreigners there may be tensions that make native people opt for increasingly extremist ideologies, voting for parties whose only The aspiration is to expel those who are not from the country, leaving aside much more necessary social policies that would significantly benefit society receiving.

Bibliographic references:

• Aruj, R. (2008). Causes, consequences, effects and impact of migration in Latin America. Population papers, 14 (55), 95-116.
• van Oorschot, W. (2010). Public perceptions of the economic, moral, social and migration consequences of the welfare state: an empirical analysis of welfare state legitimacy. Journal of European Social Policy, 20 (1), 19-31.