World Migration 2008
OCEANIA
• Oceania is host to five million international
migrants (UN DESA, 2005), representing 15.2 per
cent of its population, the largest share in any
region in the world, and accounting for 2.6 per
cent of the global migrant stock.
• Migration accounts for one-quarter of population
growth in Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Ocean
island countries, with the number of migrants in
the Oceania region increasing from 4.8 million
to five million over the period 1990-2005 (UN,
2005).
• Women migrants in Oceania have outnumbered
men since 2000, when they constituted 50.6 per
cent of international migrants. Their share has
since risen to 51.3 per cent of total international
migrants (UN, 2005).
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
more. While in Australia the migrant population
has increased since 1995, in New Zealand the
number of migrants decreased from 708,000 to
642,000 (UN DESA, 2005).
Figure 1:
Stock of migrants in Australia and New Zealand,
2000 and 2005
Part A: Total number of migrants
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
Part B: As a share of total population
• Migrants make up a fifth of the population of
Australia, the highest proportion for any country
in the world with a population of 20 million or
Oceania includes the following countries and territories: Australia, New
Zealand, Melanesia (Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon
Islands, Vanuatu), Micronesia (Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands,
Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau)
and Polynesia (American Samoa, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Niue,
Pitcairn, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Walis and Futuna Islands).
Source: UN DESA, 2005.
Only single countries and not sub-regions are referred to in this statistic.
Therefore, GCC countries are not included, although their total share of
migrants is higher than in Australia.
[481]
REGIONAL OVERVIEWS
• In both Australia and New Zealand the number
of migrants as a share of the total population
declined between 2000 and 2005 (UN DESA, 2005)
(see Figure 1). Three main factors may explain
this development. First, from 2000 to 2005, the
rules concerning migration for family reunion,
which in the past had accounted for a substantial
share of immigration to both countries, have been
tightened. Second, while skilled immigration
continued to grow significantly, much of it was,
in fact, of a temporary nature of between six
months and two years, and therefore does not
show up in some statistics. Third, though of less
immediate impact, particularly in Australia, the
numbers of the older post-World War II immigrants
are declining as old age takes its toll (Connell,
2007).
Australia and New Zealand are among the few
countries in the world to have active immigration
programmes and are the major destinations in the
region for both migrants and refugees
• The U.K. has traditionally been the leading country
of origin for immigrants in Australia. In 1996,
however, arrivals from New Zealand, outnumbered
British immigrants, reaching 25,000 in 2001. In
2003, the U.K. regained its first position until
2005, when the differential between these two
top groups of migrants decreased with 18,220 and
17,345 arrivals from the U.K. and New Zealand,
respectively (MPI, 2005).
• In 1996, China became the third country of
origin for migrants arriving in Australia, and has
maintained this position since (MPI, 2005) (see
Figure 2).
Figure 2:
Australia – leading countries of origin, by
country of birth, 1991-2005
U.K.
Source: MPI, 2005.
• The stock of foreign-born workers in Australia
increased steadily from 1995 to 2005, while, as
a proportion of the total labour force, it declined
slightly during the period 2003-2004 (OECD, 2007)
(see Figure 3).
Figure 3:
Stock of foreign workers in Australia
Source: OECD, 2007.
Family reunification has been the traditional
cornerstone of migration policies …
• During the period 1990-2002, family reunification
accounted for 37 per cent of immigrant entries to
Australia. For New Zealand, the share of admissions
for family reasons was lower and continued to
decline over the same period (UN, 2005).
… but many more highly skilled migrants are now
admitted under the “points system” …
Email communication with Professor John Connell, University of Sydney,
Australia.
[482]
• Between 2006-2007, 97,920 permanent residents
were granted permanent residence in Australia
under the skills programme, compared to 50,079
World Migration 2008
under the family
(DIAC, 2007).
reunification
programme
... and the student population remains large
• In 2006-2007, a total of 228,592 student visas were
granted, which represents a significant increase of
almost 20 per cent over the 2005-2006 figure of
190,674 visas. The two leading source countries
were China and India with 28,949 and 24,915 visa
grants, respectively (DIAC, 2007).
• In 2004-2005, foreign graduates of Australian
Universities accounted for 20 per cent of Australian
immigrants under the skills programme, led by
Chinese and Indians (Migration News, January
2006).
Temporary migration for work is gaining in
importance
• The number of temporary workers in Australia
has increased noticeably since 1996, when the
government introduced a new temporary business
entry visa that allows employers to sponsor skilled
workers from overseas for a stay of up to four
years (OECD, 2007) (see Figure 4).
Figure 4:
Inflows of foreign workers to Australia,
1995-2005 (thousands)
• Temporary migration also increased in New Zealand
over the last ten years (see Figure 5). In line with
this general trend, a pilot programme for seasonal
workers from Vanuatu was launched in April 2007
(IMF, 2007).
Figure 5:
Inflows of foreign workers into New Zealand,
1998-2005 (thousands)
Source: OECD, 2007.
Female migration
prominence
is
also
gaining
greater
• Recent data show that women are migrating to
Australia to take up managerial, professional and
other positions that cannot be filled locally. For
example, Australia is projecting nursing deficits of
40,000 during the next four to five years (UNFPA,
2006). According to the New Zealand nurse
registry figures for 2002, 23 per cent of nurses
were foreign-born.
The relatively high emigration levels from
Australia and New Zealand primarily reflect the
desire of educated young citizens to seek work
experience abroad
• Australia has an overall emigration rate of 1.75 and
New Zealand 10.7. The highly skilled emigration
rate is 3.68 and 17, respectively (OECD, 2005).
Source: OECD, 2007.
Permanent settlers: Skilled workers including the following categories
of visas: employer nominations, business skills, occupational shares
system, special talents and independent, including accompanying
dependants. Period of reference: Fiscal year (July to June).
Temporary workers: Skilled temporary resident programme, including
accompanying dependants. Includes Long-stay Temporary Business
Programme as from 1996-97. Period of reference: Fiscal year (July to
June).
The emigration rate is calculated by dividing the expatriate population
from that country by the total native-born population of the country
(native-born = expatriates + resident native-born) (OECD, Database on
Immigrants and Expatriates, 2005).
The emigration rate of highly educated persons is calculated by dividing
the highly educated expatriate population from that country by the
total highly educated native-born population.
[483]
REGIONAL OVERVIEWS
MELANESIA, POLYNESIA AND MICRONESIA
Figure 6:
and that more than 3,800 had a professional
or technical background (Mohanty, 2006) (see
Figure 7).
Part B: As a share of total population
Average annual
emigration rate
Total
Others
Emigration of Fijian citizens by ethnic group
and profession, 1987-2004
Indo-Fijians
Part A: Total number of migrants
Fijians
Figure 7:
Year
Stock of migrants in Melanesia, Polynesia and
Micronesia, 2000 and 2005
Professionals**
Total
Annual
average
19871999
3,926
57,159
3,124
64,209
4,939
6,869
528
20002004*
2,373
23,585
1,126
27,084
5,413
3,826
765
19872004*
6,299
80,744
4,250
91,293
5,070
10,695
594
Notes: * The figure for 2004 is from January to September.
** Includes professionals, technical and related workers.
Source: Mohanty, 2006.
Source: UN DESA, 2005.
• All sub-regions of Micronesia, Melanesia and
Polynesia experienced an increase in their migrant
population between 2000 and 2005 (see Figure 6).
Micronesia leads with 134,000, or 24 per cent of
its population (UN DESA, 2005).
Under the influence of globalization, Fiji has
become a source of temporary skilled migrants
in response to specific opportunities abroad,
especially in the Middle East and in other Pacific
countries
• Between 2000 and 2004, 27,000 Fijian citizens
emigrated. A breakdown of these figures reveals
that the vast majority were of Indo-Fijian origin
[484]
• In addition to continuing permanent IndoFijian emigration from the country, Fiji has also
witnessed new trends in temporary migration
of mostly indigenous Fijians, as members of
peacekeeping forces, security personnel, nurses,
sportspeople and students to distant parts of the
world.
- Fijian soldiers have been deployed to Iraq,
continuing a long-standing tradition of
Fijian soldiers working in multinational
peace-making and peace-keeping operations.
Many Fijians are also employed in security,
engineering and IT occupations in major cities
in Iraq.
- Estimates of the number of temporary
contractual workers recruited to the Middle
East from Fiji are variable but are as high as
20,000, though such figures relate to those
who applied and paid fees of more than
FJD 150 to private recruitment agencies,
World Migration 2008
rather than those who were finally selected
for employment overseas, which might be
about 2,500 (Connell, 2006).
- Niue is currently seeking immigration from
Tuvalu, as its population has declined sharply
after being hit by Cyclone Heta in 2004,
continuing a long-term “culture of migration”
(Connell, 2006). Niue’s declining population
has been of concern to successive governments
and currently stands at around 1,500. Over
20,000 Niueans live in New Zealand and
despite government attempts to encourage
them to return home, migration patterns
persist (Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade, Australian Government, 2007).
- Many, but by no means all, South Pacific
economies rely heavily on remittances from
migrants abroad. Tonga is among the Pacific
nations that have been identified since the
1980s as MIRAB economies, that is, sustained
principally by Migration, Remittances, Aid and
Bureaucracy. In 2006, Tonga was globally the
second main recipient country (after Moldova
and Liberia) of remittances as a share of GDP
(32.2%) (World Bank, 2008). According to
Small and Dixon (2004), in the case of Tonga,
“it is migration, along with the remittances
of cash and goods from migrants who live
and work overseas, that keeps the Tongan
economy afloat”. Remittances are its major
source of foreign exchange.
- On the other hand, Vanuatu experiences almost
no emigration and receives few remittances,
in marked contrast to Samoa and Tonga (IMF,
2007).
- Nurses from Fiji have also migrated to the
U.K. and to other Pacific countries such as the
Marshall Islands (Rokoduru, 2006).
Overseas remittances play a crucial role in Fiji’s
foreign exchange earnings
• Fiji’s economy has relied historically on sugar
and gold mining and, more recently, also on
tourism and garment manufacturing; but, in the
decade between 1994 and 2004, the amount of
remittances has increased to a level where they
bring in more foreign exchange than all other
sectors except tourism (Maclellan and Mares,
2006) (see Figure 8).
Figure 8:
Increase in foreign exchange earnings in Fiji,
1994-2004 (millions of Fijian Dollars)
All countries in this sub-region will experience an
oversupply of labour by 2015
Note: 1 Fiji Dollar (FJD) equals about 0.63 U.S. Dollar as of
August 2008.
Source: Maclellan and Mares, 2006.
• The small Pacific island states do not feature
prominently in an analysis of global migratory
processes, but they are nonetheless confronted
increasingly by migratory concerns
• According to World Bank projections, Melanesia,
Polynesia and Micronesia will register an excess
labour supply by 2015. This large increase (except
in Fiji, where the increase is expected to be more
The acronym was developed originally by Bertram and Watters (1985) in
relation to Pacific states linked to New Zealand, and expanded to include
other Pacific nations in similar economic situations.
[485]
REGIONAL OVERVIEWS
moderate) is driven by the strong growth rate
of the working-age population combined with a
low increase in jobs. Papua New Guinea, Solomon
Islands and Vanuatu are likely to be the most
affected (World Bank, 2007) (see Figure 9).
Figure 9:
Working-age population of Papua New Guinea,
Solomon Islands and Vanuatu not employed in
the formal sector, 2004 and 2015
Source: World Bank, 2007.
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World Migration 2008
[487]
REGIONAL OVERVIEWS
[488]
World Migration 2008
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1985
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[489]
REGIONAL OVERVIEWS
Rokoduru, A.
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[490]
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