How Internet Spread Changes Migration

Technology

December 22nd, 7:06am

Asharq Al-Awsat

A visa stamp on a foreign passport in the US. AFP

The spread of the Internet is shaping migration in profound ways. A team of international researchers carried out a new study that investigated the link between the spread of internet and the global migration trends. The study, which involved over 150 countries, suggests that digital connectivity plays a key role in migration decisions and actively supports the migration process. Countries with higher proportions of internet users tend to have more people who are willing to emigrate. At the individual level, the association between internet use and intention to migrate is stronger among women and those with less education. The same result was found for economic migrants compared to political migrants, according to the team of international researchers from McGill University, University of Oxford, University of Calabria, and Bocconi University. "The digital revolution brought about by the advent of the internet has transformed our societies, economies, and way of life. Migration is no exception in this revolution," said co-author Luca Maria Pesando, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Center on Population Dynamics at McGill University. In the study, published in Population and Development Review, the researchers tracked Internet use and migration pathways with data from the World Bank, the International Telecommunication Union, the Global Peace Index, the Arab Barometer, and the Gallup World Poll, an international survey of citizens across 160 countries. Their findings underscore the importance of the internet as an informational channel for migrants who leave their country in search of better opportunities. Unlike political migrants, who might be pushed, for example, by the sudden explosion of a civil conflict, economic migrants' decisions are more likely to benefit from access to information provided by the internet, and more likely to be shaped by aspirations of brighter futures in their destination countries. "The Internet not only gives us access to more information; it allows us to easily compare ourselves to others living in other -- often wealthier -- countries through social media," said Pesando. As next steps, the research team will explore how digital technology and connectivity affect social development outcomes, ranging from women's empowerment to reproductive health and children's wellbeing across generations.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2696941/how-internet-spread-changes-migration