International Labor Mobility of Nationals : Experience and Evidence for Afghanistan at Macro Level
Migration in Afghanistan has been a relevant phenomenon during the last several decades, driven by a complex combination of protracted conflict, food insecurity, natural disasters, and socioeconomic factors. Around 4.8 million Afghan currently live...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/536541530196136716/International-labor-mobility-of-nationals-experience-and-evidence-for-Afghanistan-at-macro-level http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30268 |
| Summary: | Migration in Afghanistan has been a
relevant phenomenon during the last several decades, driven
by a complex combination of protracted conflict, food
insecurity, natural disasters, and socioeconomic factors.
Around 4.8 million Afghan currently live abroad, most of
them in neighboring Iran and Pakistan. While prior migration
waves consisted of refugees to a large extent, in the last
decade economic migrants have been increasingly prevalent,
not only to Iran but also to Gulf Cooperation Council and
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
countries. Due to the lack of formal mechanisms for
migration, however, the vast majority of flows have an
irregular nature. As a consequence, official statistics
vastly underestimate the value of remittances at 1.7 percent
of GDP, while analysis that includes informal channels raise
this figure by up to 10 times. Overall, although a
relatively small share of families benefits from
remittances, they provide a vital source of income and act
as a buffer against income shocks. |
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