Migration, a key role in economic development

The report on Migration Profile: Sri Lanka was launched by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) recently.

The objective of Migration Profiles is to provide information related to migration, making the migratory picture of the country clearer at one glance.

Apart from providing migration related information, Migration Profiles can be used for a variety of purposes such as identifying data gaps, promotion of policy coherence, better understanding of migration policy issues, developing indicators of the impact of migration, and facilitating of migration into development agendas.

Data on migration are limited and often scattered between different ministries, and between countries of origin and destination, making it difficult sometimes to develop a coherent migration policy. Thus, in 2005, the European Commission proposed to develop Migration Profiles and since then different countries have produced Migration Profiles.

European countries such as UK, and developing countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, Bangladesh, and Egypt have all prepared Migration Profiles over the past seven years.

Migration is playing, and will continue to play, a key role in the economic development of Sri Lanka. In recent years, the outflow of Sri Lankan workers has shown an increasing trend. In line with the greater numbers of migrants, Sri Lanka has also been experiencing a surge in inflow of remittances.

However, in Sri Lanka too, the limited and scattered nature of migration data is common, which is a major barrier in the planning and management of migration.