Large scale rural-to-urban migration and associated urbanization in developing countries constitute an opportunity but also a risk for human development. In either case, urbanization may lead to increased international migration. Our understanding of the interactions between these two phenomena is constrained by the lack of evidence on subnational heterogeneity in international migration, and the traditional divide between internal and international flows in research.
The MIC project offers the first consistent set of estimates for internal and international in- and out-flows in more than 3000 cities and rural areas in 60 countries spanning all developing regions. This will provide information on where and why we should expect increased international migration in rapidly urbanizing developing countries, and how this relates to domestic rural-to-urban movements. MIC will further identify the drivers of migration flows and their consequences for the processes of urbanization and human development in cities.
MIC is innovative in its global and comparative perspective on migration among metropolitan populations. The output of this project will help governments to tailor their existing migration and development policies, to maximize the development impact of migration, and to make cities more sustainable. The project is funded by the European Research Council within the framework of the European Union ‘s Horizon 2020 program. Project duration: 2021-2026
International migration in the cities of the global South
International migration plays an important role in the population growth of urban agglomerations spread across the global South – especially in larger cities.