Nepal

Our world is very unequal. For many people around the world moving away from their home town or village can be the best - sometimes the only - option open to improve their life chances. Migration can be hugely effective in improving the income, education and participation of individuals and families, and enhancing their children’s future prospects. But its value is more than that: being able to decide where to live is a key element of human freedom.

There is no typical profile of migrants around the world. Fruit pickers, nurses, political refugees, construction workers, academics and computer programmers are all part of the nearly 1 billion people on the move both within their own countries and overseas. When people move they embark on a journey of hope and uncertainty, whether within or across international borders. Most people move in search of better opportunities, hoping to combine their own talents with resources in the destination country so as to benefit themselves and their immediate family, who often accompany or follow them. Local communities and societies as a whole have also benefited, both in places of origin and at destinations. The diversity of these individuals and the rules that govern their movement make human mobility one of the most complex issues facing the world today, especially in the midst of the global recession.

Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development explores how better policies towards mobility can enhance human development. It first traces the contours of human movement - who moves where, when and why - before analysing the wide-ranging impacts of movement on migrants and their families and on places of origin and destination. It lays out the case for governments to reduce restrictions on movement within and across their borders, so as to expand human choices and freedoms. It argues for practical measures that can improve prospects on arrival, which in turn will have large benefits both for destination communities and for places of origin. The reforms speak not only to destination governments but also to governments of origin, to other key actors - in particular the private sector, unions and non-governmental organizations - and to individual migrants themselves.

The 2009 Human Development Report fixes human development firmly on the agenda of policy makers who seek the best outcomes from increasingly complex patterns of human movement worldwide.


For more information and past issues
visit UNDP HDR website http://hdr.undp.org