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International migration from the Americas to the world has increased dramatically to at least 40 million people in 2018, from 23 million in 2000. These migration flows respond to global demands for low-skilled foreign labour. They also respond to political challenges related to state fragility.
The scope of this phenomenon is considerable. There are more than 80 million transnational households, including some forty million migrants living in the US, Spain, Canada, and elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean, coupled with roughly forty million families of these migrants living at home in the region. These connections impact and benefit both home and host countries’ economies. Among the many impacts of migration, the most well-known are remittances, which in 2017 represented over US$80 billion to the region.
When analyzing current migration flows, two key trends emerge. First, the rise in migration is coming from a handful of countries, many of which face severe political problems related to state fragility and poor economic development. Second, intraregional migration has grown in absolute numbers since 1990, and has at least doubled from 2000 to 2017.
This article takes a look at recent migration patterns, with a special emphasis on migration from Central America, Venezuela, Haiti, and Cuba. It concludes by presenting several options for policy reform.
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