Migration and Forced Displacement
Maximizing economic upsides and protecting the vulnerable
There are about 184 million people worldwide, including 37 million refugees, who live outside their country of nationality. About 43 percent of them live in low- and middle-income countries. With the right policies in place, cross-border migration can be a powerful force for development and prosperity.
To help countries meet this challenge, this topic page brings together important policy messages derived from World Bank research, including the World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees, and Societies. It also provides additional valuable resources for researchers and policy makers seeking to better understand and address the complexities of migration.
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Key Policy Messages
These are major themes and messages emerging from the latest World Bank research on migration and forced displacement. Click on each card to learn more and access related publications.
Origin countries should make labor migration a part of their development strategy
Origin countries should make labor migration a part of their development strategy
- Facilitate remittances, knowledge transfers, and investments from the diaspora
- Mitigate the downsides of “brain drain”
- Expand training for skills in high demand globally (e.g., healthcare)
Yet simply maximizing remittances should not be a policy goal.
Destination countries should attract migrants with skills that are in demand
Destination countries should attract migrants with skills that are in demand
- Facilitate the economic and social inclusion of these migrants
- Support nationals who are negatively affected
Underrepresented voices must be heard, including:
- Developing countries and local authorities in destination countries
- The private sector, labor unions, and other stakeholders who can assess medium-term labor needs
- Migrants and refugees themselves
Donors and host countries should invest in refugees' economic independence
Donors and host countries should invest in refugees' economic independence
Investments in refugee earning capacity can enable refugees to become financially independent, and reduce the amount of humanitarian aid required.
Including refugees in national education and health systems, with adequate international support, is part of a sustainable response to refugee arrivals.
Countries should work to reduce distressed migration, while respecting people’s dignity
Countries should work to reduce distressed migration, while respecting people’s dignity
When migrants are neither refugees nor a strong match for the destination country’s labor market:
- Human dignity must be the guiding policy principle
- International cooperation is essential
Governments should consider the impact of migration policies on children
Governments should consider the impact of migration policies on children
Migration’s impact on children’s outcomes is complex and context-dependent:
- Policies that promote integration are highly beneficial
- Enforcement-oriented policies tend to hinder children’s development
Policies that improve service access and integration typically lead to positive outcomes for migrant children, such as including refugees in national education and health systems with international support.
Migration policies also impact critical family decisions.
International cooperation is critical to managing migration and forced displacement
International cooperation is critical to managing migration and forced displacement
Refugee-hosting countries and destination countries for migrants need and deserve international support:
- Bilateral cooperation can help finance training for migrants to develop in-demand skills
- New financing instruments should be developed to help countries care for non-citizens sustainably
- International support is needed for climate adaptation
Multimedia
Policy Research Working Papers
Job Finding and Separation among Syrian Refugees in Jordan and their Hosts during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Refugees face important barriers to participation in the formal market, which locks them in informal employment and makes them more vulnerable to shocks. Using data from Jordan, this paper compares the job finding and separation rates of Syrian refugees to those of their hosts before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Distinguishing between Syrians living in camps and those living in host communities shows that the Syrian disadvantage was entirely explained by living in camps.
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Policy Research Working Papers
Migration, Families, and Counterfactual Families
Migration changes how families form and dissolve, and how one should conceptualize the family. Thinking about the impact on the family also shapes individuals’ migration decisions. The authors of this paper draw out lessons from thinking about counterfactual families for empirical research and for migration policy.
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Publications
Data Gaps in Microdata in the Context of Forced Displacement
This paper aims to understand the existing gaps in micro-level data on forcibly displaced people—refugees and internally displaced persons. The findings show that microdata on forcibly displaced people are comparatively rich in Sub-Saharan Africa in contrast to other regions. However, data scarcity remains a problem in a number of ways, and is particularly an issue in countries facing fragility and conflict.
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Policy Research Working Papers
Disastrous Displacement: The Long-Run Impacts of Landslides
Natural disasters displace millions of people a year, but little is known about their long-run impacts when institutional capacity to respond to the disaster is low. This paper estimates the long-run impacts of six major landslides in Uganda, where most affected households received little aid. It finds that landslides substantially increase long-term displacement and migration, and affected households have significantly worse economic and mental health outcomes years afterward.
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Publications
World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees, and Societies
This flagship report addresses the question of how to optimize the development impacts of cross-border movements on countries, and on migrants and refugees themselves. The framework it offers, drawn from labor economics and international law, rests on a “match and motive” matrix that focuses on two factors: how closely migrants’ skills and attributes match the needs of destination countries and what motives underlie their movements.
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