Human Development Report 2009 Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development

This report breaks new ground in applying a human development approach to the study of migration. It discusses who migrants are, where they come from and go to, and why they move. It looks at the multiple impacts of migration for all who are affected by it – not just those who move, but also those who stay. In so doing, the report’s findings cast new light on some common misconceptions.

Reviewing an extensive literature, the report finds that fears about migrants taking the jobs or lowering the wages of local people, placing an unwelcome burden on local services, or costing the taxpayer money, are generally exaggerated. When migrants’ skills complement those of local people, both groups benefit. Societies as a whole may also benefit in many ways – ranging from rising levels of technical innovation to increasingly diverse cuisine to which migrants contribute.

By examining policies with a view to expanding people’s freedoms rather than controlling or restricting human movement, this
report proposes a bold set of reforms. It argues that, when tailored to country-specific contexts, these changes can amplify human mobility’s already substantial contributions to human development.