The impact of international migration on the economy of developing countries

Abstract

In the research, we study theories which reflect international migration initiation that describe migration decisions or situations independent from structural or individual factors which originally caused migration. We outline a variety of influences on the host country’s economy by the migrants and focused on: migrants-workers, migrants-students, migrants-entrepreneurs, migrants-consumers, migrants-savers, migrants-tax-payers. The research finds that contribution which immigrants can make to the economy of their host countries depends on such factors: the socioeconomic characteristics of the immigrants themselves; immigration status and labor rights; level of integration into society; economic environment of the country of destination; policies and institutional environment. We made a correlation analysis and built a correlation matrix between GDP per capita growth and migrants’ remittances for some developing countries that showed strong direct level of correlation. The research showed that there is a strong direct correlation between the remittances of migrants from the developed countries and the growth of GDP per capita in the developing countries. The strongest link is observed in India, Nigeria and Philippines - in the countries, most dependent on remittances from migrants. In our research we confirmed that India, China, Mexico, Philippines and Nigeria benefited in GDP per capita due to migrants’ remittances. We developed priorities for the policy of migration countries the base of which should be adaptation of the migration policy to labor market needs; protection of migrant’s rights and nondiscrimination; investment into integration of migrants; leveraging the impact of migration on the economy; and monitoring the economic impact of migration.