A report published last week by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) shows unpublished data on irregular migrants moving from Africa to Europe.
To prepare the document titled Scaling Fences: Voices of Irregular African Migrants to Europe, the UNDP team interviewed 1,970 migrants from 39 African countries in 13 European countries. They all claimed to have come to Europe by irregular means and not for reasons of asylum or protection.
The report concludes that getting a job was not the only motivation to move and that not all irregular migrants were considered poor in Africa or had lower levels of education. For two-thirds of respondents, the gain or prospect of gain in their home countries did not prevent them from migrating. Respondents also spent at least three more years in the education system than their peers in their home countries.
“Scaling Fences highlights that migration is a reflection of development progress across Africa, although it is uneven progress and not fast enough to meet everyone’s aspirations,” says UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. Lack of choice or barriers to opportunity arises as critical factors in the migration scenario of these young people.
+ This is the second in a series of UNDP reports documenting the journeys of young women and girls from Africa and Africa. The first report in the series explored what brings some migrants into the arms of violent extremism.
Some data
Once in Europe, of the earners, the vast majority (78%) were sending money back. Respondents receiving in Europe were on average returning one-third of their monthly income – which, however, represents 85% of their total monthly income in their home countries.
The report also found that the experience of being in Europe is different for men and women: the gender pay gap in Africa is profoundly reversed in Europe, with women earning 11% more than them – and in contrast to them previously. receiving 26% less in Africa. A larger proportion of women were also sending money back, even among the unpaid.