UN expects 1.2 million Asian migrants to move to rich countries per year
Geneva (AsiaNews/Agencies) – An unprecedented migratory flow from Asia and Africa towards the richer countries will take place over the next 40 years; by contrast, the indigenous population in the developed world will shrink, this is according to recent figures released by the United Nations Population Division. All in all at least 2.3 million migrants will arrive in the rich world every year from now until 2050, the United Nations said yesterday—1.2 from Asia alone.
With billions more people in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, tens of millions will migrate to Europe and America, whilst the indigenous populations of most countries in the rich world will either stagnate or decline. In total, the world's population will grow by 2.5 billion and reach about 9.2 billion by 2050.
The UN predicts the steady depopulation of vast areas of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union as a result of high levels of emigration and birth rates running persistently below replacement levels.
Bulgaria's population will fall by 35 per cent by 2050; Ukraine's will plummet by 33 per cent, Russia's by one quarter, whilst Britain's population will rise from 60 million to approaching 69 million by 2050—almost entirely because of immigration.
The expected global upheaval is without parallel in human history, the UN reports.
Between 1970 and 1980, the rich world took about one million migrants a year from poor countries. During the next 43 years, immigration will run at more than twice that level and approach 2.3 million every year from now until 2050.
Of these migrants, some 400,000 will leave Africa every year and about 1.2 million will emigrate from Asia. The gap in wealth and opportunity between the rich and poor worlds will be the most significant "pull factor" behind this change. But the pressure exerted by rapidly rising populations in developing countries will also be an important underlying cause.
By 2050, India will have the largest population in the world, totalling almost 1.7 billion people. Pakistan will have the fifth biggest population with 292 millions.
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