Migrant Women Are Big Money Senders To Home Country : UN
New York (ANTARA News) - Women constitute
half of the estimated 190
million international migrants worldwide and are
responsible for the largest amount of remittances, the UN Population Fund said
Wednesday.
Women migrants sent home a total of 232 billion dollars in
2005, of which 167 billion dollars went to developing
countries.
Remittances and foreign direct investments are the main
sources of economic development in many developing countries.
In an
annual report, A Passage to Hope: Women and International Migration, the UN
population agency said that remittances could be even higher than reported
because migrants often use informal channels. The report focused on the roles of
migrant women and their economic impacts on their home countries.
It said
that the international community only recently has begun to grasp how much
migrant women contribute to the world economy and the social well-being of the
population in their home countries.
"Women are migrating and will
continue to do so," the report said as reported by DPA.
"Although women
and youth have always made up a considerable proportion of international
migrants, their contributions have largely gone unnoticed. Their voices must be
heard."
The report noted that migrants' total remittances were larger
than the official development assistance provided by governments, which have
been urged to set aside 7 per cent of their gross national products (GNPs) to
help poor countries. Only the Nordic countries have met that target.
Of
the 1 billion dollars Sri Lanka received in remittances in 1999, more than 62
per cent came from women migrants, the report said.
The Philippines
annually receives 6 billion dollars in remittances, one-third from women
migrants.
Bangladeshi women working in Middle Eastern countries sent
home 72 per cent of total remittances in their country, of which 52 per cent
were earmarked for families' daily needs, health care and education.
Brain drain
But international migration has resulted in a
brain drain for many countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said
that the migration of women includes many nurses and physicians, depriving home
countries of badly needed medical personnel. Developed countries, where the
ageing population requires more medical personnel, benefit from this migration.
WHO set a minimum ratio of 100 nurses per 100,000 residents in all
countries. Some poor countries have only 10 nurses per 100,000 inhabitants.
By contrast, Finland and Norway each have 2,000 nurses per 100,000
inhabitants.
While developing countries have tried to stop the flow of
skilled woman migrants, the demands for nurses and doctors has continued to grow
in wealthy countries. WHO said that by 2008 Britain would need 25,000 more
doctors and 250,000 more nurses than in 1997.
The US has projected the
need for an additional 1 million nurses by 2020 because of the ageing
population.
Canada and Australia projected deficits of 78,000 nurses and
40,000 nurses, respectively, in the next four to five years.
"This is
partially owing to demographic ageing brought on by lower fertility rates and
longer life expectancies in industrialized countries," the report said.
(*)
___________________________________________________________________