About 99 per cent of potential migrants would choose to stay in the country, if there were better job opportunities in Bangladesh, according to a study of IOM.
The findings were released by International Organization for Migration in coordination with the government on Wednesday.
The top drivers of migration from Bangladesh include an absence of job opportunities (particularly in the formal sector), insufficient income, financial problems, and a lack of social services and limited social protection systems, it said.
IOM shared the report titled “Bangladesh: Survey on Drivers of Migration and Migrants’ Profile” with all relevant stakeholders in an online report launch event.
In November and December 2019, a total of 11,415 potential migrants, who intended to migrate by June 2020, were interviewed.
Potential migrants were categorised as regular or irregular, based on whether they had registered their intention to move with the government or not. The study covered all 64 districts in the country.
The report presents pre-Covid-19 dynamics, however, the comprehensive analysis of drivers of migration and profiles of potential migrants will provide a baseline, which can be used to understand migration in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic as well.
Most respondents were male (89 per cent) and the average age of respondents was 27, with a total of 64 per cent of respondents aged in their twenties.
Approximately half of the respondents were married. Most respondents were of working age and had attained some level of education.
In terms of the highest education level attained by respondents, 41 per cent finished middle school, 27 per cent completed secondary education, 26 per cent completed primary education, and 3 per cent didn’t enroll for any education.
Poor quality employment remains a challenge in Bangladesh and forty per cent of potential migrants were unemployed before deciding to migrate, and 90 per cent reported no personal income or insufficient income.
Interestingly, the report found that the profiles of regular and irregular potential migrants are very similar. In Bangladesh, the general perception of irregular migrants is that they are young, less educated, and less likely to be employed.
Instead, the report found that regular and irregular potential migrants are the same age and have similar levels of education.
The report also debunked the widely held perception that migrants leave countries in the Global South to travel to countries in the Global North, but as can be seen in the data, this is not the case in Bangladesh.
Instead, migration is predominately South - South, with most migrants going to countries in the Middle East or elsewhere in Asia.
Only 1.4 per cent expressed interest in migrating to Europe and the Americas. Most respondents reported that they would travel to the Middle East where Saudi Arabia was the most popular country of destination.
The Report shows that 85 per cent of potential migrants paid migration facilitators to support their relocation. Regular and irregular potential migrants paid very similar amounts to migration facilitators and the average amount paid by regular potential migrants was Tk 243,651 (USD 2,871), while irregular potential migrants on average paid Tk 229,488 (USD 2,705).
The largest amount paid (to a migration facilitator) was Tk 1.6 million (USD 18,857).
Dr. Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, said, “Labour migration is immensely important for the economic and social development of Bangladesh.
“For a better understanding of this sector, we need to prepare a database of people going abroad for jobs with details such as their socio-economic background and to formulate better-informed migration scenarios for the future,” he said.
This report provides a detailed understanding of the factors that shape international labour migration from Bangladesh, and it will help us to formulate better policies and practices, he added.
Giorgi Gigauri, chief of mission of IOM in Bangladesh, said, “This is the first time, we have completed a nationwide survey of potential migrants.”
“We anticipate that the findings from the report will initiate discussions on how to address the socioeconomic drivers of migration from Bangladesh and support high-level dialogue on the importance of investing in education and skills,” he said.