New global migration-map shows human development factors are driver, not climate

New Delhi : Global net-migration patterns are more strongly linked with socio-economic factors, not climate change as is generally thought by public, according to new research published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

Providing a new, high-resolution dataset of net-migration over the past two decades (2000-19), the study said it made it possible to answer questions that cannot be addressed with coarser data, such as national averages. The study included researchers from Aalto University, Finland, and the University of Bologna, Italy.

The team combined birth and death rates with overall population growth to estimate net migration. The role of socio-economics and climate were incorporated through the Human Development Index (HDI) and the aridity index.