RAWALPINDI, Dec 17: As the International Migrants Day is being observed on Thursday (December 18), migration has become one of the defining issues of the 21st Century, making it now an essential, inevitable and potentially beneficial component of the economic and social life of every country and region.

Remittances made by migrants are one of the most visible outcomes of international migration. They have a profound impact on the quality of life of millions of poor households in developing countries.

At the house-hold level, remittances enhance wellbeing and economic security by providing critical resources for spending on immediate subsistence needs such as food and housing as well as on improved health care and education, a UN report on migrants said.

Asia and the Pacific region remains one of the largest recipients of recorded remittances.

In 2007, remittances sent to countries in the region by migrant workers exceeded $121 billion, up from $11 billion in 2006 and more than double the level reached in 2000.

Official figures for Pakistan show that workers’ remittances have increased and amounted to $6.5 billion in 2007-08 from $5.3 billion in 2006-07.

South Asia is easily the largest Asian destination for migrant workers, hosting almost seven per cent of all migrants in the world; however, these migrants are only a small share of the labour force of South Asia.

Data shows that 4.63 per cent of all migrant workers originate from China, 5.76 per cent from India, and 8.83 per cent from the rest of South Asia. Despite these large percentages of the global migrant stock, these migrants represent only 0.5 per cent and 0.97 per cent of China’s and India’s own labor forces, but a larger 4.16 per cent of the rest of South Asia’s labour force.

The UN report states that international migration has become an integral and inevitable feature of globalisation. In Asia and the Pacific, it has become a structural and permanent element of societies and economies.

The movement of people across borders in search of better economic opportunities or safety is a longstanding characteristic of societies in the region. However, more countries are now significantly affected by international migration than at any time in history.

The trends and patterns of contemporary international migration systems in Asia and the Pacific show a marked complexity. The number of international migrants in Asia nearly doubled between 1960 and 2005, growing from an estimated 28 million in 1960 to more than 53 million in 2005.

The Asia and Pacific region currently hosts over 30 per cent of the world’s estimated 200 million international migrants. A growing number of countries in the region are participating in the migration process.