Introduction
For several decades now, the world has been experiencing mass migration. Mass migration is no longer a new phenomenon since it has existed for several decades, dating back to the 18th century to 20th century with numerous reasons aligning this migration (Bertocchi and Strozzi 2).
Historically, this movement was conventionally nomadic with pastoralists moving in search of pasture and water. Currently, the contemporary migration does not associate with the historical form of migration. With the existing global state of socio-economical exertion, environmental calamities, political issues, insecurity, and persecutions worldwide, several cities and towns across the world experience an influx in population (Hatton and Williamson 6).
This mass migration of citizens from one region to another, specifically migration to towns, is in most cases associated with several negative impacts including demographic challenges, insecurity, and even environmental crises. Even though migration is a politically and socially contested issue, it is unknown as to when it will end. This essay seeks to exploit mass migration in relation to demographic challenges.
Overview of Mass Migration
Human mass migration is the physical movement of people from one region to another. Historically, human migration was nomadic with pastoralists covering several kilometers to access pasture and water. However, nowadays things have changed with the world witnessing massive people migration from rural suburbs to urban environs (Department of Economic and Social Affairs 56-75).
Nations across the world, both in developing and developed countries, have received this aspect with mixed reactions with several governments getting confused on what measures to take as international immigration seems a crucial matter.
This element has thus become a major challenge with most governments failing to provide accurate strategies to overcome human migration. Another term covering human migration is international migration, which defines how individuals or groups of persons move from country to country (Department of Economic and Social Affairs 148).
There are numerous reasons to considerable factors that trigger this migration with each continent or country bearing different judgments. Migration in a country depicts the place’s openness, modernity, and its enthusiasm towards adapting to global economic evolution.
Causes of Mass Migration
Numerous factors have led to migration of people around the globe. Economical differences and demographic factors are the major challenges towards curbing migration in the world (Hatton and Williamson 11). The prevailing status of socio-economic differences and the existing environmental hardships have continuously triggered mass migration.
Cities in developing and underdeveloped countries are economically unfit, thus forcing citizens to shift from their respective countries to other countries, which are prospering economically. According to Bakker, Elings-Pels, and Reis, people migrate to “seek better economic and educational opportunities” (5). The realm of population growth and economic hardships in developing countries have greatly imparted on the trends of international migration with individuals believing in better socio-economic status of those residing in towns.
The world population might eventually grow from 6.555 billion to 9.243 billion in the year 2050 if corrective measures are not enforced (Smith 620). People associate London and New York with immense historical social, cultural, and economical strengths. This conception pulls immigrants into these two cities in search for better lives.
Side A: Against migration
As immigration tends to harbor some imperativeness, the negatives associated to this practice are non-ignorable. Several studies have demonstrated how migration is more harmful than assumed. Immigration and migration practices are associated with numerous misfortunes and repercussions (Hatton and Jeffrey 22).
Starting with population and city governance, immigrants have caused problems towards the management of population in cities. City councils and the respective governing bodies have received extreme challenges in controlling urban population, which mostly results from population surge caused by immigrants. Due to increased population in towns and cities, government expenditure budgets shoot to enhance basic improvements and accommodate the residents around cities (Martin and Widgre 34).
The cities or local authorities face the task of ensuring that there is a maximum security, thus migration forces these authorities to increase their budget to suit the demanding needs of the city. Some quarters opine that most cities have been unable to manage census activities, which play significant roles in maintaining population size, with evidence indicating inaccurate figures of numerous cities’ censuses.
Statistics reveal that recently, international immigration has posed a danger to the world’s largest cities including New York in the US and London in England.
In London, estimates divulge that for a period of about 20 years, the published TIM series “suggest that London (with just 12 per cent of the national population) was associated with 40 per cent of the inflows, 30 per cent of the outflows, and absorbed 67 per cent of the net balance of overseas immigration” (Gordon, Travers, and Whitehead 21). This aspect depicts that there are several immigrants finding their way into England.
This aspect only associate with the continuing supremacy of New York and London, by managing this population through provision sustainable labor, but threatening to the natives. In special attention to New York, the city is only benefitting from growth in tax margins as the population grows and economic performances prosper. However, New York also spends a lot in maintaining the population by providing maximum security and employment.
Migration is also a threat to security. Due to the influx of population into big cities and migration to developed countries, controlling insecurity is a problem. Cases of terrorism attacks, cruel murders, assassinations, kidnappings, persecution, and racial and religious conflicts are eminent security matters bothering growing cities and towns.
Big towns and cities are hiding places for criminals and insurgents who migrate to towns to commit their crimes. Martin and Widgre note that in the process of migrating into developed countries, “migrants attempting to sail or march into rich countries, threaten their security” (5).
This aspect forces the respective countries to overspend in their budget to increase vigilance (Bauer and Zimmermann 7), which may in turn lead to economic constraints. In developed countries, especially the United States, estimates reveal that the state’s expenditure on security issues is continuously increasing, and billions of dollars consumed in an attempt to maintain peace and security (Karoly 7). Migration has also led to congestion in the city suburbs resulting to insecurity.
Migration has also resulted in increased living costs and poor living standards that are threatening the social standards expected in every nation. Generally, the housing structures and resources available in these cities rarely manage to accommodate the population increase resulting from migration. According to Gordon, Travers, and Whitehead, since the respective governments cannot afford to construct adequate rentals for the population, privatization of land appears to dominate most cities and towns (42).
As a result, of land privatization, there is an increased rental rate. In developing countries, private rental sectors become opportunistic to the existing population pressures in towns, thus engaging in developing sub-standard shelters including slums, shanties, and others where low income earners residing in these towns seek asylum.
This situation tends to affect the living standards of people for there is a significant increase in insecurity, poor healthcare, and poverty. Most commonly, due to population surge, immigrants in developing countries suffer from poor living standards due to their low-income status resulting from low paying jobs.
Side B: For migration
Studies carried across the world have ignited an endless debate about mass migration. Some people support the movement while others oppose it. Bauer and Zimmermann assert that mass migration has led to some inevitable significance based on facts to support this importance (22).
Several cities across the world have benefitted from this migration in different dimensions. To begin with, mass migration has significantly influenced economic growth of cities receiving migrants. Increase in population rates in these cities has led to success in overall economic terms on one hand.
The migration aspect associates world big cities, especially London and New York, with powerful economic achievements. According to Gordon, Travers, and Whitehead, migration into such cities is due to “their openness, economic vitality, existing cultural diversity and concentrations of economic and social power” (9). These cities gain economic progress through taxation. London authorities receive additional tax acquiesce due to subsequent growth in their council tax that may result from increased city population.
Still on economic terms, some migrants visit places not due to their poor economical issues, but rather as tourists. Globally, countries commonly acknowledge that tourists form the backbone of economic growth. However, this aspect is mainly beneficial to developing countries as they receive funds and foreign exchange resulting from tourists’ visits into their countries.
Karoly asserts that immigrants have improved labor markets in the countries involved because immigrants have are distinct sources of labor (7). According to studies carried on labor importation practiced by European countries in early 1950s and 1960, “more elastic labor supply allowed faster economic growth without inflation” (Gordon, Travers, and Whitehead 47).
With the absence of barriers to social and economic issues, these immigrants provide a sustainable source of labor to the respective countries, thus improving the labor force. Despite the large supply of labor by immigrants to cities like London and New York, there is no evidence that indicates that migrants are the cause of increased unemployment rates in these regions.
Migration has harmonized peaceful co-existence between countries. Due to the aspect of migration, different races have the opportunity to share their cultural experiences cohesively enabling them to live peacefully with each other as communities. Globalization has enabled people to realize different opportunities across the world and enhance peaceful co-existence between races and nations with tourists playing a major role.
Martin and Widgre assert, “Tourism has become a major industry, as people cross national borders to experience new cultures or the wonders of nature” (8). The growing trend in migration has influenced how individuals live and imparted some significant changes in cultural values of communities, tribes, and races.
In cities like London and New York, immigration has enhanced social housing and social mix of people from different edges of the world (Hatton and Williamson 19). Despite the negative views of numerous studies on immigration, its importance is not ignorable as peaceful integration and cohesion among nations is of great importance of which immigration has influenced.
The current world has experienced massive changes in relation to environmental issues. Smith asserts, “As climate change and its associated processes result in more intense storms, sea level rise, or other cataclysmic environmental events, as some scientific studies are predicting, these events are likely to generate large numbers of environmental migrants or refugees” (618).
This observation is viable because such environmental hazards threaten human lives forcing people to migrate from their abodes in search of better places. Climate change adversely affects the availability of natural resources that significantly support life.
Therefore, in the context of changes in climate, several calamities occur including floods, which do not favor agricultural wellness, thus forcing migrants to move to towns or big cities to fight for their fate, causing great population surge in the towns (Ward 6). Therefore, as human as quality of life remains the most important, migration protects people from hazards that are threat to life.
Personal Opinion
Migration is arguably among the worlds biggest contemporary issues. Almost every country is suffering from this global challenge and is often a politically contested subject in the world.
According to the U.S. statistics, “about a third of the 191 million international migrants today have moved from one developing country to another, with another third moving from developing to developed countries” (Smith 619). People, especially leaders, have received immigration with different perceptions and opinions with some objecting and others proposing to it.
However, none is to blame for this confusion since the world is still growing and the majority of people hardly know how challenging the immigration subject seems. As cities security, annual expenditures, and the welfare of the native remain crucial, survival of every human being and quality of life is more important. Both the merits and demerits of migration are equally important towards ensuring survival.
In fact, the world is far from fully maturing economically, and thus migration is currently an insurmountable problem. It might eventually end depending on the pace at which the world grows and the strategies put in place to counter the problem. Personally, I do not think immigration is a bad thing and with proper planning and policymaking, any country can reap from the benefits of immigration.
Conclusion
Migration is among the most politically and socially contested matters in the current world of globalization. Migration, which implies movement of people from region to another, has proved challenging to numerous countries across the world. European countries entertained migration after the Second World War, with a major aim of acquiring labor force from persons from developing countries.
This move could not come at a better time as people living under stressful and tight socio-economic in third world countries would do anything to get to Europe. Migration has enhanced economic growth in developed countries by providing powerful labor force, improved taxation rates that are significant financial support to local authorities, and encouraged peaceful co-existence, which is vital for economic interdependence among nations.
However, migration has led to other serious problems in big cities and towns including increased government expenditures, upheavals in maintaining peace and security, and poor living standards of immigrants living in these towns and capital cities. Therefore, governments need to come up with an appropriate solution to migration dilemma.
Works Cited
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Bauer, Thomas, and Klaus Zimmermann. Assessment of Possible Migration Pressure and its Labor Market Impact Following EU Enlargement to Central and Eastern Europe, 1999. Web.
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Gordon, Ian, Tony Travers, and Christine Whitehead. The Impact of Recent Immigration on the London Economy, 2007. Web.
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Karoly, Lorant. The demographic challenge in Europe, 2005. Web.
Martin, Philip, and Jonas Widgre. “International Migration: Facing the Challenge.” The population reference bureau 57.1 (2002): 3-40. Print.
Smith, Paul. “Climate Change, Mass Migration and the Military Response.” Orbis 51.4 (2007): 617-633. Print.
Ward, David. Population Growth, Migration and Urbanization, 2012. Web.