Migration can benefit both sending and receiving countries and reduce poverty among migrants if it is better coordinated between countries, according to a new World Bank report.
Migration within and from the transition economies of Europe and Central Asia has been large and will likely continue to increase as declining birthrates across much of the region will lead to an increased demand for a young labor force, according to Migration and Remittances: Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.
“It has been well publicised that migration to Western Europe has increased significantly over the past 15 years, with Western Europe receiving 42 percent of migrants from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as growing numbers of migrants from the former Soviet Union,” says a spokesperson for World Bank. “What is less known is that on a global level, Germany and France are the only Western European nations in the top-ten migrant-receiving countries. Russia is number two, and Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Poland are also in the top ten.”