The Globalization of Migration: Has the world really become more migratory?

This paper analyses shifts in global migration patterns between 1960 and 2000. In order to operationalize the concept of ’globalisation of migration’, the paper elaborates separate Emigration Dispersion and Immigration Diversification indices, which simultaneously capture the spread, distance and intensity of international migration. The results challenge the idea that there has been an increase in the intensity, diversity and geographical scope of migration per se. Migration has globalized from an origin country perspective but not necessarily from a destination country perspective. While global migration rates have declined over the past 50 years, migrants from an increasingly diverse array of origin countries have concentrated in a decreasing pool of prime destination countries. Major shifts in the scope, direction and diversity of migration primarily manifest themselves on a (sub-) regional level. The main shifts in global migration have been directional and are linked to major geopolitical and economic shifts. While the global migration map has changed, access to international migration remains unequally distributed and most migrations remain concentrated in a few large migration corridors. Rather than refuting the globalization of migration as such, this seems to reflect the asymmetric nature of globalization processes.