The OECD presents seven migration challenges and opportunities: 1. Continuing emigration from MENA to OECD countries 2. Existence of large diasporas in the OECD 3. Return migration to MENA countries 4. International students 5. Remittances 6. Transit migration in MENA countries 7. Emerging permanent immigration to MENA countries

1. Current State of Migration in Mediterranean
Countries: Challenges and opportunities for
migration governance
Strengthening Migration Governance:
The role of Inter-institutional Coordination and
evidence-based policy making / 27-28 October 2016 – Tunis, Tunisia
By: Friedrich Poeschel,
International Migration Division
Funded by the
European Union
République
Tunisienne
Ministère des
Affaires Etrangères

2. 1. Continuing emigration from MENA to OECD countries
2. Existence of large diasporas in the OECD
3. Return migration to MENA countries
4. International students
5. Remittances
6. Transit migration
in MENA countries
7. Emerging permanent
immigration to MENA countries
Outline of the presentation:
seven challenges and opportunities
Drawing on analyses of emigration

3. Flows from Syria to the OECD higher than
from Morocco, but legal migration is stable
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Syria
Lebanon
Iraq
Tunisia
Egypt
Algeria
Iran
Morocco
Main migration flows from MENA countries to OECD countries
Source:
OECD
International
Migration
Database
• Total level of legal migration flows from MENA countries is stable at 300k per year,
corresponding to 5% of total flows to OECD in 2014.
• Morocco is main origin: 27% of legal migration flows from MENA to OECD in 2014;
Iraq and Algeria account for 14% each.
• Main destinations of legal flows: France (21%), USA (18%) and Germany (14%).

4. • In Italy, most net migration flows fell in the wake of the economic crisis.
• In Spain, net flows from Morocco and Algeria even became negative.
Net migration flows to Italy and Spain
have tended to fall
Net migration flows from selected MENA countries to Italy and Spain
Source:
OECD
International
Migration
Database
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Morocco
Egypt
Tunisia
Algeria
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
80
Morocco
Egypt
Tunisia
Algeria
Italy Spain

5. Intentions to emigrate remain high in the
population of MENA countries
Emigration intentions in the MENA countries, 2007-2013
Source: Gallup World Poll
• Emigration intentions are particularly high among those aged 15-24 (up
to 40-45% in Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia)
• Also higher for highly-educated persons: on average 27%, with 22-25%
in Algeria and Egypt and about 30% in Morocco and Tunisia.

6. The labour market situation appears to be
the main reason for emigration
Change needed for potential emigrants to stay, selected MENA countries, 2010-2014
Source:
Gallup
World
Poll
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Other reasons
More freedoms
Better opportunities for education
Improvements in the economy
Find a job or a better job
Tunisia
Morocco
Algeria
Egypt
percentages

7. Challenge No.1 for migration governance:
how to manage ongoing emigration
• How can the process of emigration be included in
the development planning of the origin country?
• How to achieve a triple-win situation? E.g. in
seasonal labour migration, how to ensure certain
standards for working conditions (such as in the
MISMES project between Morocco and Spain)?
• How can migrants be supported through pre-
departure services such as language training?
• How can migrants’ qualifications be made more
transferable or readily recognisable, so that they
work less often in jobs they are overqualified for?

8. Many MENA countries have large
diasporas in OECD countries
Stocks of emigrants in the OECD, main MENA origin countries, 2000/01 and 2010/11
• 8 million emigrants from MENA countries resided in the OECD in 2010/11.
• Numbers were highest in France (2.7 million, 1/3 of all in the OECD), the
United States (1.1 million), Spain (700k), Italy (550k) and Canada (500k).
• Stocks in Germany, Israel and the United Kingdom were close to 400k.
Source: Database of Immigrants in OECD Countries (DIOC)

9. High emigration rates for highly-qualified
persons and health professionals
Emigration rates (in %), 2010/11
Source: Database of Immigrants in OECD Countries (DIOC), OECD (2015) « Connecting With Emigrants »
• In 2010/11, more than 1 in 3 of all emigrants from MENA countries had a
tertiary education.
• However, many health professionals born in MENA countries might have
been trained in the destination country.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
Emigrated persons (left scale) Emigration rates in % (right scale)
Doctors Nurses
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Sudan
SaudiArabia
Egypt
Iran
Syria
Libya
Jordan
MENA
Iraq
Algeria
Tunisia
Morocco
Lebanon
Highly-educated All education levels
Health professionals born in selected MENA countries, 2010/11

10. Emigrants from the MENA countries are
highly entrepreneurial
Self-employed persons as a share of all employed persons by place of birth, 2014
• The share of self-employment among emigrants from MENA countries is
almost always higher than among native-born persons.
• Challenge No. 2: how to mobilise emigrants’ skills, their networks and
capital for economic development in the origin country?
Source: EU-LFS except USA (CPS).

11. Return migrants can boost
entrepreneurship in their origin country
Professional status of Moroccan emigrants after return (in percent), 2014
• Among return migrants in Morocco, the share of employers is almost three
times as high as for the total population.
• Challenge No. 3: how to facilitate the reintegration of return migrants,
including entrepreneurs who are not accustomed to the local procedures?
Source: 2014 Moroccan census (RGPH).

12. • MENA students account for 7% of all international students in OECD countries
• Their number has grown by 9% from 2013 to 2014
• USA is main destination (33%), followed by France (27%) and UK (13%)
• Challenge No.4: how to facilitate academic exchange and mobility, not “brain drain”?
220 000 students from MENA countries
enrolled at OECD institutions
International students from MENA countries enrolled in OECD countries in 2014
Source : OECD Education Database (OECD, 2016)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Thousands
Thousands
<------------------------------------ Left axis Right axis ------------------------------------------->

13. Remittance flows have been stable over
the past three years
Remittance flows to selected MENA countries in millions of current USD, 2005-2014
• In total, 50 billion currents USD were remitted to MENA countries in
2014, corresponding to more than 2% of the region’s GDP.
Source: OECD (2015) « Connecting With Emigrants » based on World Bank data
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Egypt
Morocco
Tunisia
Algeria
MENA total
(right scale)

14. The MENA region exhibits the highest
costs of sending money
Remittance costs by destination
• Remittances to the MENA region cost at least 3-5% of the transferred sum,
while transfers to most other world regions can be made for below 3%
• Challenge No. 5: how to provide secure, low-cost and reliable banking
services across borders?
Source: OECD (2016) « Recruiting Immigrant Workers: Europe » based on World Bank data.

15. Challenge No.7: Developing policies to manage
permanent immigration and integration
• Economic development and growth attract labour
migrants to more and more MENA countries, often
first from neighbouring countries.
• Irregular migrants can abandon their journey to
Europe, so that initial transit migration slowly turns
into permanent immigration.
• A persistent irregular situation might limit the
economic contribution from irregular migrants and
undermine their integration in the long term.

16. Contact: Friedrich.Poeschel@oecd.org
OECD International Migration Division: www.oecd.org/migration
OECD International Migration Outlook, via www.oecd.org/migration/imo
OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs: www.oecd.org/els
For further information