[LINK] A Case Study of Wealth and Emigration

[rfmcdonald]

From Reuters, proof that economic development can, in fact, encourage emigration from poorer countries to richer ones.

Peru, with growth officials say could be more than 7 percent this year, is enjoying an export-led recovery. But according to figures published on Monday, one of its top exports is its people.

An average of 1,149 Peruvians left the country every day in the first half of 2005, a rise in net migration statistics of 39 percent compared to a daily rate of 826 people in 2004, according to the National Statistics Institute (INEI).

Long lines of visa seekers outside the U.S. and Spanish embassies in Lima every day are testimony to the sheer numbers who believe that their lives will be better abroad, despite four straight years of economic growth at home.

It is the improving living standards that makes it feasible for them to go, said INEI chief Farid Matuk.

"Peruvians have always wanted to emigrate. But now it's possible because of economic growth," he said.

He said that a family with extra cash could afford to decide that sending one member abroad to work and ship home dollars was more productive than, say, buying a car and running a taxi service -- one of Peru's most popular informal jobs.

According to Peruvian consultancy Apoyo, remittances to Peru totaled $1.117 billion in 2004, up 30 percent on 2003.

The United States and Chile are the top destinations for the net 302,000 Peruvians who emigrated in 2004 and 209,000 who had left by June 2005. Those two countries alone account for 40 percent of the total. More than 5 percent go to Spain.

Matuk said most emigrants were from Lima, highlighting the fact that Peru's economic recovery has been concentrated in the provinces. More than half Peru's population lives in poverty.

The more mobile the population, it seems, the more likely to emigrate. People shouldn't be surprised by this, but I predict that they will be.