Mass Migration: Addressing One of the Greatest Challenges and Opportunities of the Century

Every year, millions of people leave their homelands to start their lives somewhere else. Some seek to find a promising new job, strengthen family ties, or engage in new cultural opportunities. Some are seeking relief from crushing poverty or a lack of economic prospects. Others are fleeing war or persecution. Still others are escaping the effects of a long-term drought, a devastating hurricane, or some other kind of climate change–related disaster.

Although individuals’ reasons for wanting to resettle vary, steadily rising numbers of migrants over the past two decades suggest that migration management is becoming one of the most pressing issues of this century. And there are no signs that this trend is slowing. Thus, many host and home communities and countries are urgently revisiting or developing new migration policies.

RAND has worked closely with national and international agencies, particularly in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia, to assess how host- and home-country governments, donor nations, and multilateral agencies can manage policies associated with today’s vast migrant flows.

RAND’s interdisciplinary work tackles three areas that represent some of the biggest migration policy issues over the next decade: migration resulting from conflict, migration resulting from climate change or natural hazards, and management of migration across the United States southern border.

Source: rand.org