Table of Contents
Introduction
Migration is defined as the movement of a person or people from one: country, locality etc. to settle in another area. The number of migrants globally has increase d rapidly. In 2017, there was an estimated 258 million international migrants, which represents around 3.4% of the world’s population. (Migration worldwide, 2018).
The number of migrants in the United Kingdom has increased from 5.3 million in 2004 to 9.3 million in 2018 which made up 14% of the country’s population. (Observatory, 2019). Similarly, the number of migrants in the United States was 44.7 million. This accounted as 13.7% of the country’s 327.2 million people (Jeanne Batalova, 2020).
In the last two decades, there was an increase rate of migration in the Gulf Cooperation State countries. They have 10% of the migrants worldwide. Globally, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia are considered the 4th and 5th countries with the largest migration population (Labour Migration, n.d). In the UAE nearly 90% of the population are migrants (Pardikar, 2018).
Oman’s figure of migration has risen dramatically in the last two decays. Expatriates constitute approximately 41.8% of the country’s population (National Center for Statistics & Information, 2020). This increase despite, his late Majesty Sultan Qaboos stated in 2013 that the migrants should not exceed 30-33% of the country’s population. The nationalities that dominated came from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. (Demographics of Oman, 2020). As in 2018, there were 654,812 Indian’s residing in Oman. (Oman, 2019)
Causes
There are many factors that lead to migration. These are called as ‘push factors’ and ‘pull factors. Push factors are reasons in the individual’s home country that influence them individual to leave such as wars. Pull factors’ are those factors in the recipient country that attract people to resettle in the country such as high wages (What are the Pull and Push factors of migration?, n.d.). Comment by Sony: Good approach to introduce causes.
Escaping Wars
War is considered the most significant push factor. (Root Causes of Migration, 2017). For example, 6.7 million Syrians migrated in 2018 because of the war (Line, 2019). This leads to people seeking a safe place to live. As Oman is a very stable and safe region it attracts many of those people suffering from war resettle in it and live in peace. A figure shows that there are 4,159 Iraq’s who have migrated to Oman (Wikipedia, 2020).
Economic factors
Poverty and unemployment are main reasons for people emigrate from poorer countries to other countries seeking for a better opportunity. There may have been jobs in their home countries but they would have probably been paid wages that did not sustain them good living conditions. (International, 2014). As Oman can provide jobs that can sustain a living with an average of 22,513 thousand Omani Rials (Oman Salary, n.d) .A huge contributing factor was the discovery of oil. At that time, Omani’s were not very educated in higher study fields and did not have the skills to work in fields such as: teaching, medicine, engineering etc. This led to people to migrate to Oman as there were a huge number of jobs to be occupied (K.C. Das, 2010). Comment by Sony: Good point though needs to be discussed in the context (understanding) of facts in Oman. Comment by Sony: The citation for this needs to be amended and shortened. It’s adding 9 word count.
Environmental Disasters
Environmental migrants are those people who migrate because of environmental disaster. For example, during the first half 2019, 7 million people were displaced due a natural disaster (Earth, 2019). Environmental migrants are most commonly from South and East Asia. The large number of migrants in the Sultanate is also from Asia. For example, India faces horrifying storms annually that destroy many homes, as a result people move to countries that have safer environment (Environmental Migration, 2019).
Effects
Migration can have both positive and negative effect on the migrant and the country’s citizens. It can have a positive impact on the migrants as they could find a better living condition. In addition, children who were migrants get better opportunities for higher education. Also, migrating skilled workers help in the development and economic growth of the country. This can be shown in Oman as its development was helped by the migrants since 1970. Comment by Sony: Any reference for this fact?
Nevertheless, currently migrants compete with Omani citizens for jobs. In Oman 81% of workforces were taken by expatriates and only 429,806 out of 2,255,409 workers were Omani (INDRELID, 2018). A greater percentage of migrants work in the private sector.
Furthermore, migrants’ workers remit money to their home country to help their family and improve their living status. However, high rate of money transfer can have a negative impact on the country. In Oman there was an increase in the money transferred outside the country (Times, 2019). Comment by Sony: Amend the reference – this is too long for an author. Let me know if you need a brief tutorial on the steps and how to select info when doing citation.
Also, migration damages the environment as migration contributes to overpopulation, this can put stain on natural resources as more of the supply is needed. Consequently, increasing the rate of pollution in the country (Migration and Its Effects, n.d).
Solutions
Currently, Oman implemented Omanization policy which needs to be re-enforced further. Also, Oman needs to train and build capacity of young people so they can take the jobs which currently occupied by expatriate. This is to reduce the pull effect experienced by employers. Comment by Sony: Amend citation to be short.
Furthermore, Oman can assist other countries to promote stability, education and employment opportunities. Reducing and stopping conflicts and wars in the region and globally can lead to reduce rate of migration. (Migration, n.d). Comment by Sony: An excellent country referring to migration from war zones.
Conclusion
In conclusion, after carrying out this research my perspective on migration has changed. I learned that migration is a global issue which affects both the migrants and the country’s citizens. It is caused by the humans’ activities as well as by environmental factors. I believe countries should work together to stop wars and assist development in those poor countries to reduce migration. At the same time, I believe that migration should not be stopped totally, as it helps development and sharing skills between different countries. Nevertheless, migration should be regulated.
Bibliography
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