The story of #human #migration is as old as #humanity. As the story goes, two million years ago, a predecessor to Homo Sapiens, Homo Erectus, migrated out of Africa, followed by other branches of our ancient family, eventually settling in Asia, Europe, Australia and later North and South America. The reason why is timeless, to find a better life for ourselves.
On a slightly different note, studies have concluded that #teenagers take greater risks than adults, in part, because the part of their brain that is able to analyze and assess #risk is not fully developed until their early 20's. Social scientists have speculated that we were programmed early on in our #evolution with this because it would be the #teenagers, likely the most physically fit and healthiest of all our ancient ancestor age groups, that would take the risk and move onto and into new territories and best ensure survival of the species.
Today, we use the terms #immigration and #emigration. People are constantly in motion. Many of the people in American trace their #heritage to the great waves of #emigration from Europe in the mid-to-late 1800s and early 1900s. #Emigration that came from #famine and #war. Other groups, such as #African #Americans, were forcibly migrated out of #Africa through #slavery. Recently, the largest #migration in all human history went mostly unnoticed, that is, the massive influx of hundreds of millions of people in #China moving from rural to urban settlements.
Unfortunately, too much of the world views human #migration as undesirable. Perhaps the suspicion is borne from historical upheaval and succession of newly arriving races and cultures and perceived, increasing competition internally for scarce resources. #European settlers in North American eventually subjugated the many Native American cultures that had lived there uninterrupted for thousands of years. #China, #Japan, the United Arab Emirates and #Switzerland are just a few examples countries worldwide that strictly limit inflow of human migrants.
Those that do, or have, welcomed human #migration openly are seen as anomalies and the experience of those countries has had some marked differences as a direct result. Perhaps, the United States of America, is the most telling example. America has been relatively open with its #immigration policy throughout most of its history. The Statue of #Liberty in New York harbor is an internationally recognized icon and beacon for #immigrants, past and present.
WorldAtlas.com points out that the United States is unique for its immigration. All #American, except Native Americans, trace their #heritage to #immigrants who came to the United States from other parts of the world. According to the United Nations, 3.3% of the world's population of 7.9 billion people, or approximately 260,700,000 people live in countries that are not where they were born originally. By absolute numbers, the top five countries in the world with the most #immigrants may come as a surprise. 1) United States 2) Germany 3) Russia 4) Saudi Arabia 5) United Kingdom. It may also come as a surprise to know the countries with the highest percentage of their population as immigrants. 1) United Arab Emirates 2) Qatar 3) Kuwait 4) Monaco.
There are several #countries around the #world that are suffering economically because their native #population is not reproducing in numbers sufficient to maintain their economic and social systems and their #immigration policy is restrictive. #Japan comes to mind. Fewer and fewer younger people are shouldering #social #welfare costs of an increasingly aging #population. #China predicted this trend and eased up on its one child only policy recently.
#Immigration can have many positive benefits for a country. It can add much needed #labor to the #economy, add more people to younger age cohorts, #culturally enrich and #diversify, demonstrate a country's #humanitarianism, and increase the overall #intellectual and #creative #capital of a nation, among many benefits.
Collective #fears causes many governments worldwide to greatly restrict human migration. Some would say it is necessary, others say it is harmful and #inhumane. This article does not attempt to answer those concerns. It merely underscores that #human #migration has been a part of our #heritage since our humble beginnings.
My parents emigrated to #Canada from #Scotland after World War II. I emigrated from #Canada to the #United States and then later moved from the Gulf Coast to the West Coast looking for work. The Hernandez family (subject of July 2021 Learn-Engage-Empower story) emigrated from #Cuba to the United States. A friend recently emigrated from the United States to #Ireland. Another friend emigrated from #Jamaica to the United States several years ago to attend college. I dare say almost all of us know someone, somewhere that has emigrated to find a better life. And I am thankful that the #opportunity was present to do so.
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Next week. A Story of Recreation Gone Wild
This is one part of a multi-part story. To view past installments and other stories, please visit our blog, Learn-Engage-Empower at im4u.world.
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