ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the magnitude, character and impacts of international migratory flows and explores some of the possible policies that could improve the net benefits from such migration from the perspective of the African nations. There are a variety of types of international migration in the African context as elsewhere. A major benefit of emigration from the countries of Africa is remittance inflows, or monetary transfers from the emigrants to their families in the source countries. African citizens, like others, emigrate from their home countries for a range of economic, political and sociological reasons that all have complex roots. Economic factors include the desire for higher real incomes and higher material standards of living. The chapter begins with an analysis of the forces generating migration among countries, together with an examination of volumes and characteristics of migratory flows. The immigration policies of potential destination countries also help shape the pattern of international migratory flows.
