VŠB – Technical University of Ostrava Migration from Sub-Saharan Africa´s Countries to the EU Member States: Do the Prospects for Better Economic Well-Being Matter? Eva Kovářová Faculty of Economics VŠB – Technical University of Ostrava Czech Republic

Introduction Mobility is one of the universal features of human species. People have been migrating since the beginning of time. Because of existence of international borders, migration is not considered a matter of course in presence as in the past. Policy and economic barriers existing in current world constrained natural human ambition to reach better living conditions. If people are mobile in industrial countries, one usually speaks enthusiastically about flexible labour markets (Ellis, 2003), and whole migration between developed countries is considered to be natural process. However, migration to developed countries from the less developed ones is usually interpreted in negative terms. If the international migration is discussed by the general public, it is usually understood in terms of migration from developing countries to rich countries in Europe and North America. This misleading interpretation is based on the fact that on average three quarters of international migrants come to a country with a higher level of human development than their country of origin has. South-North migration flows represent only one third of international migration.

Research Motivation and Objectives In recent years, the number of immigrants coming to Europe has increased in dramatic way – including both refugees and economic migrants (Nová, 2016). They come from two regions, located not far from Europe – Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. Immigrants coming from the former one are usually considered (with regard to the actual insecurity there) refugees that need special treatment. Those coming from the latter one are usually considered economic migrants wanting to obtain social benefits offered in the European Union Member States. However, in many cases, people coming to the EU from Sub-Saharan Africa are eligible to obtain refugee status. The main objectives of my research are to identify fundamental patterns of Sub- Saharan Africa-EU migration flows and to examine relations between the number of asylum applicants registered in EU Member States and existing institutional, political, economic and social framework in EU countries hosting the largest proportion of Sub-Saharan Africa´s immigrants.

Definitions Asylum Applicant - First Time Asylum Applicants - APs First-time asylum applicants for international protection (as defined by Article 2(h) of Qualification Directive 2011/95/EU) are persons who lodged an application for asylum for the first time in a given Member State during the reference period. The term 'first-time' implies no time limitation and therefore person can be recorded as first-time applicant only if he or she had never applied for international protection in the reporting country in the past, irrespective of the fact that he is found to have applied in another Member State of the European Union. Sub-Saharan Africa – SSA Sub-Saharan Africa is quite frequent term used in various circumstances. However, each researcher covers different number of states with this regional or socio- economic designation. Eurostat does not recognize explicitly for statistical purposes Sub-Saharan Africa. In the paper, own definition of SSA is applied and this term covers 49 countries (all African countries besides Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco). Economic Well-Being GDP per capita, incomes, jobs and earnings … material living conditions (see definition of well-being index introduced by OECD or the report of Stiglitz, Sen, Fitoussi).

Asylum Applicants in the EU Total number of asylum applications registered in the EU 28 Member States has increased in recent years. However, in the 1990s, the EU faced similar phenomenon. Because of political crises and armed conflicts, number of new asylum applications started to grow in 1987, where the peak was reached in 1992 when EU 15 Member States registered about 700 thousand applications. In the second half of the 1990s, number of application permanently declined. Between years 1998 and 2003, EU 15 Member States recorded from 300 to 400 thousands asylum applicants annually. Since 2004, significant drop was monitored and the EU 27 Member States registered 192 300 new asylum applications in 2006. Between years 2008-2012, total number of asylum applications submitted in the EU Member States was growing slowly because of increased migration especially from unstable Middle East, and poor Sub-Saharan Africa. Year over year changes in the number of registered asylum seekers started to grow in 2013. In 2014, the EU recorded more than 600 thousand asylum applicants and in 2015 their number doubled to 1,300 thousand. However, beginning of the refugee crisis was evident worldwide. In 2015, every minute 30 people had to flee from their homes. 55 % of all refugees worldwide came from three countries – Syria (5.5 million), Afghanistan (2.5 million) and South Sudan (1.4 million).

Asylum Applicants in the EU Number of Asylum Applicants in EU countries Asylum Applicants from SSA and Total Number of Asylum Applicants from Third Countries 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Total number of APs 225 150 263 835 259 400 309 040 335 290 431 090 626 960 1 322 825 1 259 955 Number of APs from SSA 68 595 75 650 61 660 84 435 72 925 97 000 152 245 167 315 219 330 Percentage share 30.47 % 28.67 % 23.77 % 27.32 % 21.75 % 22.50 % 24.28 % 12.65 % 17.41 % Source: Eurostat (2017), own data processing

First Time Asylum Applicants in the EU from SSA Total Number of First Time Asylum Applicants Coming to the EU Member States from SSA Countries Source: Eurostat (2018), own data processing

First Time Asylum Applicants in the EU from SSA TOP 5 Countries of Origins of Asylum Applicant Coming to the EU from SSA Year Top 5 countries of origin of APs in EU Total no. APs in EU No. SSA countries with more than 1 000 APs in EU 1st No. Aps 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 2008 Somalia 15 255 Nigeria 8 970 Eritrea 6 930 Zimbabwe 4 730 Ghana 2 515 55 255 10 2009 16 865 7 825 7 735 4 990 Congo DR 4 180 64 020 14 2010 12 920 5 435 5 000 Guinea 4 440 4 325 53 440 12 2011 12 225 10 600 5 795 5 575 5 560 77 095 18 2012 12 850 7 475 6 725 6 235 4 480 65 385 16 2013 14 715 13 920 10 190 7 505 Mali 6 425 87 835 2014 36 250 18 895 14 805 12 790 Gambia 11 315 143 870 2015 33 115 30 025 19 610 Sudan 10 920 169 645 17 2016 46 255 33 370 18 975 15 725 13 465 210 840 20 2017 39 105 24 370 17 730 Côte d'Ivoire 14 020 12 730 192 720 2008-2017 185 560 169 080 149 325 67 390 60 595 1 120 105 /// Source: Eurostat (2018), own data processing

First Time Asylum Applicants in the EU from SSA TOP 5 EU Countries Hosting Largest Number of Asylum Applicants Coming from SSA Year Top 5 hosting countries of APs from SSA Share of top 5 in total number of Aps 1st No. Aps 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 2008 Italy 21 490 United Kingdom 12 150 Sweden 5 200 Netherlands 5 135 Belgium 3 150 85.29 2009 13 880 France 12 780 9 435 8 140 7 705 81.11 2010 14 810 8 285 7 835 Germany 5 875 5 295 78.75 2011 25 095 17 380 7 145 6 645 6 555 81.46 2012 17 055 10 235 7 730 6 785 6 575 74.03 2013 18 945 17 050 14 450 9 920 6 995 76.74 2014 40 645 33 280 20 510 17 250 9 445 84.19 2015 50 375 35 035 24 115 14 555 11 965 80.25 2016 84 075 68 825 26 420 7 785 4 140 90.72 2017 86 995 42 655 30 515 4 330 87.56 2008-2017 343 555 220 470 182 530 90 890 87 710 82.60 Source: Eurostat (2018), own data processing

First Time Asylum Applicants in the EU from SSA Specified Groups of EU Member States  Country group 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2008-2017 V4 110 80 105 185 360 2 905 1 520 5 935 625 85 11 910 EU6 32 635 37 480 34 350 57 085 40 170 58 250 104 405 124 165 187 075 168 570 844 185 EU15 52 425 61 395 52 925 75 075 62 875 81 955 141 395 163 165 209 010 191 560 1 091 780 EU13 2 825 2 640 535 2 045 2 475 5 820 2 485 6 370 1 805 1 245 28 245 Source: Eurostat (2018), own data processing Czech Republic 70 50 45 35 10 15 40 25 Hungary 2 765 1 415 5 890 575 30 Poland 20 Slovakia 80 305 90

Is this relation significant at the first sight? Relation Between Preconditions for better Economic Well-Being and Number of Asylum Applicants Is this relation significant at the first sight?

Source: Eurostat (2018), own data processing Average value for EU28 Source: Eurostat (2018), own data processing

Source: Eurostat (2018), own data processing Average value for EU28 Source: Eurostat (2018), own data processing

Source: Eurostat (2018), own data processing Average value for EU28 Source: Eurostat (2018), own data processing

Source: Eurostat (2018), own data processing Average value for EU28 Source: Eurostat (2018), own data processing

Source: Eurostat (2018), own data processing Average value for EU28 Source: Eurostat (2018), own data processing

Brief Summary In case of GDP p.c., median net income p.c., social benefits p.c., the largest number of asylum applicants is registered in countries with above EU28 average values of defined indicators, but not in countries with the highest values. In case of poverty, the largest number of asylum applicants is not registered in countries with the lowest risk of poverty. In case of activity rate, the largest number of asylum applicants is not registered in countries with the highest activity rates of their non-EU28 workers. At the first sight, relation between the number of asylum applicants and preconditions for better well-being is not so significant – further research of the relation between preconditions for immigrants´ aspirations for better well-being will be examined – and it will be opened with the examination of the immigrants´ integration frameworks existing within the social systems in hosting EU countries.

References: Introductory and final photo: UN Refugees and Migrants (2016). More than 28 million children „uprooted“ by conflict and face further dangers – UNICEF report [online]. [cit.2018-05-02]. Available at: https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/more-28-million-children-uprooted-conflict-and-face- further-dangers-%E2%80%93-unicef-report. Data: Eurostat (2017-2018). Statistics [online]. [cit.2017-9-22]. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database. Background studies for research motivation: Clemens, Michael (2014). Does Development Reduce Migration? Working paper No 359. Washington: Center for Global Development. De Hass, Hein (2010). Migration and Development: A Theoretical Perspective. International Migration Review, vol. 44, nr. 1, pp. 227-264. De Hass, Hein (2011). Development lead to more migration [online]. [cit.2017-05-06]. Available at: https://www.unrefugees.org/refugee-facts/what-is-a-refugee/. Ellis, Frank (2003). A Livelihoods Approach to Migration and Poverty Reduction. Paper commissioned by the Department for International Development (DFID), Norwich, UK.

Thank you for your attention. eva.kovarova@vsb.cz