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African migration: Five things we`ve learnt

Source: BBC News, 28/03/2019

For those who do leave, it is not to Europe or North America that
most go to, but another African country.
Here are five key things we have learnt from the report.
Why do people want to leave?
`Looking for work` and `escaping poverty and economic hardship`
were the biggest factors for wanting to emigrate in almost all of
the 34 countries surveyed, accounting for 44% and 29%
respectively.
Having family and loved ones abroad could influence that decision
too.
Afrobarometer found that one in five depend at least `a little
bit` on cash payments sent to them from another country. A quarter
of those surveyed say someone in their family has lived in another
country during the past three years.
Where do they want to go?
The most popular destinations are not in Europe or North America
but within Africa.
People who say they are considering emigrating mostly want to stay
within their region (29%) or go elsewhere in Africa (7%).
Image copyright .
But researchers found some interesting differences.
People in southern African indicate the strongest preference for
staying in the region (58%) while this feeling was weakest in
North Africa (8%).
For those saying they want to leave the continent, Europe (27%)
and North America (22%) were the next biggest destinations.
Who is most likely to leave?
Around half of all young adults and highly educated citizens say
they have considered leaving their country at least `a little
bit`.
Young adults are most likely to consider emigrating
Source: Afrobarometer profile of African migration, 2019
Most educated are most likely to consider emigrating
Source: Afrobarometer profile of African migration, 2019
`Thoughts of moving abroad are about equally common among the
relatively well-off and the poor`, according to Afrobarometer`s
report.
More men (40%) than women (33%) say they are considering
emigrating, and researchers found the desire to leave is stronger
among people living in town and cities (44%) than rural areas
(32%).
Which countries are people wanting to leave most?
One of the survey`s most striking findings is that 37% - more than
one in three Africans - have considered moving abroad. Just under
half of those say this is something they have thought about `a
lot`.
When it comes to actually moving, 7% of people in Zimbabwe and
Lesotho say they are currently making preparations to go, compared
to an African average of 3%.
Image copyright Getty Images
Countries where more than half of people say they considering
leaving at least `a little bit` are Cape Verde (57%), Sierra Leone
(57%), The Gambia (56%), Togo (54%), and SÃ£o TomÃ© and PrÃncipe
(54%).
But this does not paint the full picture. South Sudan, which does
not feature in the Afrobarometer survey, has seen more than 2.2
million people flee into the wider region since the outbreak of
civil conflict in 2013.
Nor does the survey include Eritrea, from where the UN says around
2,500 refugees cross the border into Ethiopia every month.
What barriers to travel do people face?
Freedom of movement across international borders within the local
region should become a reality, 56% of survey respondents have
told Afrobarometer.
But the same proportion say they find it difficult to cross
borders to work or trade in another country.
In recent years Namibia, Mauritius, Ghana, Rwanda, Benin and Kenya
have all loosened travel restrictions for other African nationals,
and now either grant a visa on arrival or allow for visits of up
to 90 days with just a passport.
But citizens of African countries still need a visa to travel to
more than half of the continent`s 54 countries, protecting borders
drawn up by European colonisers more than a century ago.
`Somebody like me, despite the size of our group, I need 38 visas
to move around Africa,` complained Nigerian billionaire Aliko
Dangote in an interview in 2016.

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