The relationship between migration and development in the ESCAP region

Popul Res Leads. 1991:(38):1-22.

Abstract

PIP: The relationship between migration and development in the ESCAP region including southeast and south Asian countries and the Pacific island of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Samoa, and the Solomon Islands is discussed in terms of mobility transition and origin and destination factors. The changing patterns of mobility in Asia are further delineated in the discussion of internal movements and international movement. Emigration in the smaller countries of the Pacific are treated separately. Future predictions are that the Asia Pacific region will experience continued fertility decline and stabilization of low rates over the next 20 years. The declines will result in slow labor force growth, and increased demand for labor in traditional core and neocore countries as defined and presented in table form by Friedman will be heightened. International movements are likely to increase in large urban areas within destination countries. Tokyo and Singapore are the principal cities in Asia. Tokyo by restrictive government policy has limited immigration, but future labor shortages of unskilled labor from southeast Asia and China are expected. Singapore is already dependent on foreign labor by 10%. Current labor shortages have led to the creation of a growth triangle between Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Other cities expected to emerge as primary cities in international regional complexes with spillover into the hinterlands include the Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Macau triangle in the Pearl River delta, Taipei and Seoul, and possibly Kuala Lumpur. Internal migration is expected to increase in the capital cities of Bangkok, Manila,j and centers such as Shanghai, Beijing, and other large cities of southeast Asia. These cities will be linked through the flows of skilled international migrants, which began in the 1960s and is expected to become a future major flow. Recreational and resource niches will be left in much of the Pacific, the Himalayan Kingdoms, and mountainous regions of northern southeast Asia and western China. Flows will be regulated by national government policy. Difficult decisions will be made on the extent to which multinational corporations and banks are sanctioned or regulated, i.e., currently Hong Kong development is company directed within the law governing power, transport, housing, and land, while in Singapore development is government planned and directed.

MeSH terms

  • Asia
  • Asia, Southeastern
  • Demography
  • Developing Countries
  • Economics*
  • Emigration and Immigration*
  • Employment*
  • Fiji
  • Geography
  • Health Workforce
  • International Agencies
  • Melanesia
  • Micronesia
  • Organizations
  • Pacific Islands
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Polynesia
  • Population
  • Population Dynamics*
  • Samoa
  • Social Change*
  • United Nations*
  • Urban Population
  • Urbanization*
  • Vanuatu