African migration: five things we learned

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AFP

More than one in three Africans have considered emigrating, according to Afrobarometer researchers.

Their continent-wide survey also found that young people and educated people were more likely than others to want to leave their home country.

For those who leave, it is not Europe or North America that goes there, but another African country.

Here are five key points from the report.

Why do people want to leave?

"Looking for work" and "getting out of poverty and economic difficulties" were the main factors in wanting to emigrate in almost all the 34 countries studied, accounting respectively for 44% and 29%.

Having relatives and relatives abroad could also influence this decision.

According to Afrobarometer, one in five people depend on at least "a little" cash payments sent to them from another country. A quarter of those surveyed said that one member of their family had lived in another country in the last three years.

Where do they want to go?

The most popular destinations are not in Europe or North America, but in Africa.

People who say they plan to emigrate mainly want to stay in their area (29%) or go elsewhere in Africa (7%).

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But the researchers found interesting differences.

People in Southern Africa indicate the strongest preference for staying in the region (58%) while this feeling was the lowest in North Africa (8%).

For those who say they want to leave the continent, Europe (27%) and North America (22%) come in second place.

Who is most likely to leave?

About half of young adults and highly educated citizens say they have considered leaving their country at least "a little".

"The reflections of going abroad are pretty much common among the relatively wealthy and the poor," according to the Afrobarometer report.

More men (40%) than women (33%) report planning to emigrate and researchers found that the desire to leave was stronger among urban dwellers (44%) than rural areas (32%). %).

Which countries do people want to leave the most?

One of the most striking findings of the survey is that 37% – more than one in three Africans – have considered moving abroad. Just under half of them say that it is something they thought "a lot".

Regarding the move, 7% of people in Zimbabwe and Lesotho say they are getting ready, but the African average is 3%.

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Countries where more than half of those surveyed plan to leave at least "a little" are Cape Verde (57%), Sierra Leone (57%), Gambia (56%), Togo (54%) and São Tomé and Príncipe (54%).

But that does not give a complete picture. South Sudan, which is not included in the Afrobarometer survey, has seen more than 2.2 million people flee into the broader region since the beginning of the civil conflict in 2013.

The study also does not include Eritrea, where, according to the UN, about 2,500 refugees cross the border into Ethiopia each month.

What are the travel barriers faced by people?

Freedom of movement across international borders within the local region should become a reality, said 56% of those polled at Afrobarometer.

But the same proportion states that it is difficult to cross the borders to work or trade in another country.

In recent years, Namibia, Mauritius, Ghana, Rwanda, Benin and Kenya have all eased travel restrictions imposed on other African nationals. They now grant a visa upon arrival or allow visits of up to 90 days with a simple pbadport.

• Why is it so difficult for Africans to visit other African countries?

But citizens of African countries still need a visa to visit more than half of the continent's 54 countries, protecting the borders defined by European colonizers more than a century ago.

"Someone like me, despite the size of our group, I need 38 visas to move to Africa," complained Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote in an interview in 2016.