NEW DELHI: The total number of international migrants has grown by 49% since 2000, at a time when the global population has grown 23%. As a result, migrants have gone from 2.8% to 3.4% of the world’s population according to the UN report ‘ Making Migration Work for All ’.

The report expressed concern over xenophobic political narratives about migration, adding that irregular migration has become a more acute problem due to large movements of people in different parts of the world.

“The basic challenge before us is to maximize the benefits of migration rather than obsess about minimizing risks: we have a clear body of evidence revealing that, despite many real problems, migration is beneficial both for migrants and host communities in economic and social terms — our overarching task is to broaden the opportunities that migration offers to us all” the report adds.

The report offers the UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ the vision for constructive international cooperation, examining how to better manage migration. There are an estimated 258 million international migrants according to the report, which states that it is probable that demographic trends, coupled with forces such as the impacts of climate change, will contribute to a further increase in migration in the future.

The report refers to the latest estimates suggesting that 23% of the 24.9 million people in forced labour worldwide are international migrants while they constitute only an estimated 3.4% of the world’spopulation.

Migrants, including irregular migrants, contribute by paying taxes and injecting around 85% of their earnings into the economies of host societies, states the report, adding that the remaining 15% is sent back to communities of origin through remittances.

“In 2017, an estimated $596 billion was transferred in remittances globally, with $450 billion going to developing countries. Remittances add up to three times the total of official development assistance. Empirical studies have established that migrants often take jobs that people in local labour forces do not wish to fill, and thus boost economic activity, creating more jobs” the report adds.

Migration is an expanding global reality and the majority of these migrants move between countries in a safe, orderly and regular manner. However, a series of large movements of people in different parts of the world, involving both refugees and migrants in vulnerable situations, have severely tested the collective response capacities of nations, the report said.

It suggested that alternative avenues to return are vastly preferable particularly when irregular migrants have been long established in a country, and follow the law other than with regard to their status.

