South-South Migration Flows Case Study

BURKINA FASO TO IVORY COAST

  • West Africa has high levels of intra-regional international migration

  • in 2013 there were 560,000 Ivorians living in Burkina Faso

  • There were also 1.46 million born in Burkina Faso living in the Ivory Coast

BURKINA FASO FACTS

  • Burkino Faso is a landlocked, LIDC

  • GDP of US$684 per head

  • Boarderd to the south by the Ivory Coast

  • 1990 net migration was 28,000

IVORY COAST FACTS

  • Ivory Coast is a lower-middle income country and is the worlds largest exported of cocoa

  • GDP of US$1529 per head

  • World bank estimated that $43 million in remittances flowed from Ivory Coast to Burkina Faso in 2015

REASONS FOR EXCESS MOVEMENT FROM BURKINA FASO TO IVORY COAST

  • Employment opportunties and higher wages available in cocoa and coffee plantations

  • Income disparity between two countries is small but sufficient to encourgae significant flows

  • Opportunties for migrant famers in more fertile lands of the Ivory Coast

  • Former French colonial administration in both countries led to shared languages, currency and cultural systems making is easier of Burkinabe descent to travel to Ivory Coast

MYANMAR TO THAILAND

  • The largest ASEAN migration corridor is the flow from Myanmar to Thailand - 1.9 million migrants

  • The geographical proximity of the two countries and the free flows of labour possible within the newly formed ASEAN Economic Communicty (AEC) are further contributory factors

THAILAND

  • Southeast Asia’s fastest growing economy

  • Needs to resolve labour shortages in agriculture, fisheries, manufacturing, construction and domestic services

  • Legal minimum daily wage of 300 baht ($9)

MYANMAR

  • Lower-income country

  • Minimum wage is ten times lower in Myanmar compared to Thailand

  • Many refugees from Myanmar government are escpaing forced labour in gov development projects such as railway construction as part of Myanmar’s economic reforms