Status: 01.12.2021 13:59
During the corona pandemic, the number of internally displaced persons rose by 40.5 million worldwide, according to the International Organization for Migration in its annual report. At the same time, billions of people are stuck.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has presented its new World Migration Report. According to this, the displacement of people within their countries as a result of conflict, violence and natural disasters has “increased dramatically”. The number of internally displaced persons has increased by 40.5 million.
IOM chief sees “paradoxical phenomenon”
In its report, the IOM addresses the latest developments in human migration in all its forms: from fleeing war and conflict to skilled workers looking for jobs abroad.
IOM Director Antonio Vitorino pointed to a “paradoxical phenomenon” that had never happened before in human history: on the one hand, billions of people would be detained by the pandemic, and on the other, millions would be driven from their homes.
The IOM report counted around 281 million migrants worldwide in 2020 – this would correspond to 3.6 percent of the global population. In 2019 it was 3.5 percent (272 million).
In comparison: For 1970 the IOM recorded only 84 million migrants and a share of 2.3 percent of the world population in the migratory movement.
Migrant workers send less money home
Around 60 percent of migrants were migrant workers last year. International remittances – i.e. money transfers from migrants to their home countries – fell to 702 billion dollars (around 620 billion euros) in 2020. The previous year it was $ 719 billion.
Around 3900 people were killed while fleeing – in 2019 there were 5400, reported the IOM. In the past two years, conflicts in countries such as Syria, Yemen, the Congo, the Central African Republic and South Sudan have caused “major migration and displacement incidents”.
Another factor is political and economic instability in countries like Venezuela and Afghanistan. The report also mentions displacement due to climate and weather – for example in China, Bangladesh, the Philippines, India, Haiti and the USA.
According to the IOM report, the number of air passengers fell by 60 percent in 2020 to 1.8 billion from 4.5 billion in 2019. The pandemic has undoubtedly changed the world and affects “all aspects of migration,” said author Marie McAuliffe.
It is likely that the increase in the number of international migrants will continue to be weak as long as there are travel restrictions and other requirements, it said.