Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Human Development and Net Migration: the Ghanaian Experience

  • Published:
Journal of International Migration and Integration Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Correction to this article was published on 24 August 2021

This article has been updated

Abstract

This study examines human development as a key economic driver of net migration in Ghana. The study uses annual time series data spanning the period of 1980–2020. An instrumental variable econometric approach is used for the analysis based on its strength in addressing identification challenges such as serial correlation and endogeneity issues commonly associated with time series data. Other econometric techniques are also used for robustness purposes. The study shows evidence of a negative and statistically significant relationship between human development and net migration in Ghana. This finding implies that improving human development negatively drives net migration in favour of emigration. The study recommends that efforts towards improving education, health and income should be strengthened to reduce emigration especially skilled and illegal migrants. This study concludes that human development is a key socio-economic driver of net migration in Ghana.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

Data is available in the WDI Public Dataset. Data will be shared upon request.

Change history

Abbreviations

HDI:

Human Development Index

ODA:

Official Development Assistance

References

  • Afrobarometer (2017). Quest for greener pastures: Four in 10 Ghanaians have considered emigrating. Afrobarometer, December. Retrieved from https://afrobarometer.org/press/quest-greener-pastures-four-10-ghanaians-have-considered-emigrating. Accessed 10 Feb 2020

  • Amoah, A., Kwablah, E., Korle, K., & Offei, D. (2020). Renewable energy consumption in Africa: The role of economic well-being and economic freedom. Energy and Sustainability Society, 10(1), 1–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amuakwa-Mensah, F., Boakye-Yiadom, L., & Baah-Boateng, W. (2016). Effect of education on migration decisions in Ghana: A rural-urban perspective. Journal of Economic Studies, 43(2), 336–356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anarfi, J., Kwankye, S., Ababio, O-M., & Tiemoko, R. (2003). Migration from and to Ghana: A background paper. Working Paper C4. Issued by the Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/253408103_Migration_From_and_To_Ghana_A_Background_Paper. Accessed 30 Mar 2020

  • Aryeetey, E., & Kanbur, R. (2008). The economy of Ghana: Analytical perspectives on stability, growth and poverty. James Currey and Woeli Publishing Services.

    Google Scholar 

  • Asiama, R. K., & Amoah, A. (2019). Non-performing loans and monetary policy dynamics in Ghana. African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, 10(2), 169–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asiedu, A. B. (2010). Some perspectives on the migration of skilled professionals from Ghana. African Studies Review, 53(1), 61–78

  • Awumbila, M., Deshingkar, P., Kandilige, L., Teye, J. K., & Setrana, M. (2019). Please, thank you and sorry – brokering migration and constructing identities for domestic work in Ghana. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 45(14), 2655–2671. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1528097

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castelli, F. (2018). Drivers of migration. why do people move? Journal of Travel Medicine, 25(1), 040

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castles, S., & Miller, M. J. (1993). The age of migration: International population movements in the modern world. London: Macmillan.

  • Cebula, R. J. (2005). Internal migration determinants: Recent evidence. International Advances in Economic Research, 11(3), 267–274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clemens, M. A. (2014). Does development reduce migration? In International handbook on migration and economic development. Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coe, C. (2012). Growing up and going abroad: How Ghanaian children imagine transnational migration. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 38(6), 913–931

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connor, P. (2018). At least a million sub-Saharan Africans moved to Europe since 2010: Sub-Saharan migration to the United States also growing. Pew Research Center. Available at http://www.pewglobal.org/2018/03/22/at-least-a-million-sub-saharan-africans-moved-to-europe-since-2010/. Accessed 8 July 2018

  • de Haas, H. (2008). The Myth of Invasion: The inconvenient realities of African migration to Europe. Third World Quarterly, 29(7), 1305–1322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Haas, H. (2011). The determinants of international migration. Conceptualizing policy, origin and destination effects. DEMIG Project Paper, 2. International Migration Institute Working Paper No. 32. Available at http://projects.mcrit.com/foresightlibrary/attachments/The%20Determinants%20of%20International%20Migration.pdf. Accessed 29 Mar 2020

  • De Jong, G. F. (2000). Expectations, gender, and norms in migration decision-making. Population Studies, 54(3), 307–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dustmann, C., & Glitz, A. (2011). Migration and education. In E. A. Hanushek, S. Machin, & L. Woessmann (Eds.), Handbook of the Economics of Education (Vol. 4, pp. 327–439). Elsevier.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Elliott, G., Stock, J. H., & Rothenberg, T. J. (1996). Efficient tests for an autoregressive unit root. Econometrica, 64, 813–836. https://doi.org/10.2307/2171846

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flahaux, M. L., & De Haas, H. (2016). African migration: Trends, patterns, drivers. Comparative Migration Studies, 4(1), 1–25

  • Food and Agriculture Organization. (2017). Evidence on internal and international migration patterns in selected African countries. A joint product of FAO’s Statistics Division and Social Policies and Rural Institutions Division. Available at http://www.fao.org/3/i7468e/i7468e.pdf. Accessed 1 Apr 2020

  • Ghana Statistical Service. (2010). 2010 population and housing census. Summary Report of Final Results. Accra, Ghana. Available at https://statsghana.gov.gh/gsscommunity/adm_program/modules/downloads/get_file.php%3Ffile_id%3D27+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=gh. Accessed 18 Feb 2020

  • Hagan, E., & Amoah, A. (2019). Foreign direct investment and economic growth nexus in Africa. African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, 11(1), 1–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higa, K., Nonaka, R., Tsurumi, T., & Managi, S. (2019). Migration and human capital: Evidence from Japan. Journal of The Japanese and International, 54, 101051

  • Hagopian, A., Thompson, M. J., Fordyce, M., Johnson, K. E., & Hart, L. G. (2004). The migration of physicians from sub-Saharan Africa to the United States of America: Measures of the African brain drain. Human Resources for Health, 2(1), 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • International Organization for Migration (IOM, 2020). World migration report 2020. Retrieved from https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/wmr_2020.pdf. Accessed 25 Nov 2021

  • Killick, T. (2010). Development economics in action: A study of economic policies in Ghana (2nd ed.). Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Korle, K., Amoah, A., Hughes, G., Pomeyie, P., & Ahiabor, G. (2020). Investigating the role of disaggregated economic freedom measures and FDI on human development in Africa. Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, 36(4), 303–321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwablah, E., Amoah, A., & Panin, A. (2014). The impact of foreign aid on national income in Ghana: A test for long-run equilibrium. African Journal of Economic and Sustainable Development, 3(3), 215–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kyeremeh, E. (2020). Exploring the return migration experience of football migrants: A case study of Ghanaian footballers. African Geographical Review, 39(3), 224–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/19376812.2019.1696213

  • Lee, E. S. (1966). A theory of migration. Demography, 3(1), 47–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maj, J., & Kubiciel-Lodzihska, S. (2020). Entrepreneurial tendencies of migrants working in the care sector in Poland. Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, 8(3), 27–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mamertino, M., & Sinclair, T. M. (2019). Migration and online job search: A gravity model approach. Economics Letters, 181, 51–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masih, R., & Masih, A. M. M. (1996). Stock-Watson Dynamic OLS (DOLS) and error-correction modelling approaches to estimating long and short-run elasticities in a demand function: New evidence and methodological implications from an application to demand for coal in Mainland China. Energy Economics, 18(4), 315–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. S., & Akresh, I. R. (2006). Immigrant intentions and mobility in a global economy: The attitudes and behaviour of recently arrived U.S. immigrants. Social Science Quarterly, 87(5), 954–971

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mensah, J. T., Marbuah, G., & Amoah, A. (2016). Energy demand in Ghana: A disaggregated analysis. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 53, 924–935

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Migration Policy Institute (2015). The Ghanaian Diaspora in the United States. RAD Diaspora Profiles series. MPI and RAD, Washington, D.C. Retrieved from www.migrationpolicy.org/research/select-diaspora-populations-unitedstates. Accessed 1 Apr 2021

  • Mouthaan, M. (2019). Unpacking domestic preferences in the policy-receiving state: The EU’s migration cooperation with Senegal and Ghana. Comparative Migration Studies, 7(1), 1–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Nguyen-Akbar, M. (2017). The formation of spatial and symbolic boundaries among Vietnamese diasporic skilled return migrants in ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Sociological Perspectives, 60(6), 1115–1135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, P. C., & Perron, P. (1988). Testing for a unit root in time series regression. Biometrika, 75(2), 335–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reinhold, S., & Thom, K. (2009). Temporary migration and skill upgrading: Evidence from Mexican migrants. Available at http://papers.ssrn.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/sol3/PIP_Journal.cfm?pip_jrnl=1425858. Accessed 1 Apr 2021

  • Richmond, B. (1994). System dynamics/systems thinking: Let’s just get on with it. System Dynamics Review, 10(2–3), 135–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shimeles, A. (2010). Migration patterns, trends and policy issues in Africa. Tunisia: African Development Bank Group, Working Paper Series, No. 119. Available at https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Procurement/Project-related-Procurement/WORKING%20119%20word%20document%20AA.PDF. Accessed 1 Apr 2021

  • Sobczak-Szelc, K., & Fekih, N. (2020). Migration as one of several adaptation strategies for environmental limitations in Tunisia: Evidence from El Faouar. Comparative Migration Studies, 8(1), 1–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stark, O., Micevska, M., & Mycielski, J. (2009). Relative poverty as a determinant of migration: Evidence from Poland. Economics Letters, 103(3), 119–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tetteh, J. E., & Amoah, A. (2020). Stock market performance: Is the weather a bother in the tropics? Evidence from Ghana. Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences. Available at https://doi.org/10.1108/JEAS-04-2020-0042

  • United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2019a). World Population Prospects 2019, Online Edition. Rev. 1. Retrieved February 9, 2020, from https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Standard/Migration/. Accessed Feb 2020

  • United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA, 2019b) International migrant stock 2019. UN DESA, Population Division, New York. Available at www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/data/estimates2/estimates19.asp. Accessed 9 Jan 2021

  • Wesselbaum, D., & Aburn, A. (2019). Gone with the wind: International migration. Global and planetary change. Global and Planetary Change, 178, 96–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, N. (2009). Education, gender, and migration in the context of social change. Social Science Research, 38(4), 883–896

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2021). World development indicators on online (WDI) database. Washington, DC: World Bank. Available at http://www.databank.worldbank.org. Accessed 8 Apr 2021

  • Ziesemer, T. H. W. (2011). Developing countries’ net-migration: The impact of economic opportunities, disasters, conflicts, and political instability. International Economic Journal, 25(3), 373–386

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Chief Editor and his editorial team for the high level of professionalism demonstrated. A million thanks to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that have improved the quality of the manuscript. Again, we are grateful to Prof. Clara K. Fayorsey, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, as well as colleagues in the Department of Economics, Central University, especially Mr. Daniel Offei. Lastly, the Minister, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are duly acknowledged for their role towards reducing emigration.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Sustainable Development, University of Environment and Sustainable Development, Somanya, Ghana

    Anthony Amoah

  2. Department of Economics, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana

    Carlos Tetteh

  3. Department of Economics, Central University, Accra, Ghana

    Kofi Korle

  4. Department of Adult Education and HR Studies, School of Continuing and Distance Education, College of Education, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana

    Samuel Howard Quartey

Authors
  1. Anthony Amoah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Carlos Tetteh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kofi Korle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Samuel Howard Quartey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Apart from the corresponding author bringing the idea and undertaking the estimations, all sections were shared equally by the authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anthony Amoah.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

Not applicable.

Consent for Publication

Not applicable.

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

The original online version of this article was revised: It appears that all authors have two affiliations which is not right.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 11

Table 11 Descriptive statistics
Full size table
Table 12 First stage regression results
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Amoah, A., Tetteh, C., Korle, K. et al. Human Development and Net Migration: the Ghanaian Experience. Int. Migration & Integration 23, 1147–1172 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-021-00874-6

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-021-00874-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation