Why Do People Migrate? Part 1: Facts

Even though Europe is a rich state when compared to the countries of origin of migrants, and it is only logical that it should be able to host these migrants, and even though the big number of migrants arriving in Europe is actually a small proportion of the number of them arriving in neighbouring countries, European countries still feel overwhelmed by migration and we speak of a 'migration crisis', which to top it all, has happened just when Europe was recovering from an 'economic crisis'. Now, in a crisis, it's only natural that people become self defensive, maybe a bit too much, and they fear unemployment and cuts in social benefits, first as a result of the 'economic crisis' and potentially now as a result of the 'migration crisis'. This caused that even economically-strong countries like Germany, where migrants were very welcome at first, are now more conscious of potential economic threats that might develop for them.

However, as this article shows, an empirical study of the situation would show that, although at first these migrants receive more benefits than they pay in taxes and will therefore be an extra expense for the state, which may imply cuts in other areas such as research and development, if the migrants are well-integrated, the situation will turn out to be positive in the long-term. This migration crisis might even turn out to be the solution for a crisis which we were possibly heading at, namely that resulting from an ageing society. From a positive perspective, in fact, the migrants that we are welcoming today may be the benefactors of our future pensions 