Migration Is Helping Africa in Many Ways

移民从很多方面向非洲提供了帮助

 

It is good for development and democracy, as well as helping people improve their lives

移民有利于发展和民主，也能够帮助人们改善生活

 

“What’s Nigeria’s second city?” asks Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, an irrepressible economist and former finance minister of Nigeria, before chuckling: “London!” She is exaggerating (about 200,000 people who were born in Nigeria live in Britain) but she has a point: one of the most powerful trends shaping Africa, and the wider world, is migration.

 

如果你问尼日利亚前财政部长恩戈齐·奥孔约-伊维拉（一位劲头十足的经济学家），“尼日利亚的第二大城市在哪里？”她会笑着说道：“是伦敦！”这种说法确实有些夸张了（大约有20万尼日利亚人生活在伦敦），但也表达了她的一个观点：移民正在给非洲乃至世界带来巨大的影响。

 

There are three different types: to the West, within Africa and from countryside to city. All are helping make the continent richer and better educated.

 

非洲移民主要分为三类，向西方国家移民、在非洲内部移民以及从农村移民至城市。所有这些移民都在让非洲变得更富有，让非洲人的文化程度变得更高。

 

Although many talk about waves of African migrants crossing into Europe, the numbers are still modest. Just 2.5% of Africans, or about 36m people, live abroad, compared with a global average of about 3.4%. Of those, less than half leave the continent.

 

虽然涌入欧洲的非洲移民浪潮引发了人们的热议，但非洲移民人数并不算多。只有大约2.5％的非洲人生活在国外，而全球平均水平约为3.4％。并且只有一半的非洲移民离开了非洲大陆。

 

Even so, African migrants generate a disproportionate share of headlines in rich countries. This is partly because nearly half of those who died crossing the Mediterranean during the height of the “migrant crisis” of 2015 were sub-Saharan Africans.

 

即便如此，非洲移民仍然在许多发达国家上了新闻头条。这在一定程度上是由于，在2015年“移民危机”最为严重的时期，穿越地中海途中丧命的人中有一半是来自撒哈拉以南的非洲人。

 

But it is also because populist politicians have stoked fear of migration in many countries. In South Africa, which is home to about 2.2m mostly African migrants, politicians accuse foreigners of taking jobs and committing crimes. This rabble-rousing has led to repeated bouts of anti-foreigner rioting.

 

但另一方面的原因是，许多国家的民粹主义政治家激起了人们对移民的恐惧。在南非，移民人口达220万，其中大部分都来自非洲，南非的政客们指责外国人抢走了工作，并且增加了犯罪率。这种煽动性行为导致南非国内反外国人情绪的不断爆发。

 

Matteo Salvini, a former deputy prime minister of Italy, banned rescue ships carrying migrants from Italian waters, and Donald Trump has severely restricted immigration from several African countries including Nigeria.

 

意大利前副总理马泰奥·萨尔维尼禁止运载移民的救援船只从意大利水域通行，而唐纳德·特朗普也对来自尼日利亚等几个非洲国家的移民采取了严格的限制措施。

 

But it is also because of concerns that the numbers of African migrants will rise dramatically. In 2017 the Pew Research Centre asked people in several African countries whether they would move to another country if they could. About three-quarters in Ghana and Nigeria said they would. So did more than half of Kenyans and South Africans.

 

但这也正是由于人们担心，非洲移民的数量会急剧增加。2017年，皮尤研究中心对非洲多个国家的人们展开了调查，问他们，如果可以的话，是否愿意移民至另一个国家。在加纳和尼日利亚，大约四分之三的人表示愿意。而在肯尼亚和南非，也有超过一半的人表示愿意。

 

The reason is simple. The average earnings of African migrants to Europe is $1,020 a month, three times the pay back home, says the UNDP. One reason more people do not move is the high cost charged by people smugglers – on average about $2,400 for men and $3,900 for women – up to 20 times median monthly earnings in the countries they leave.

 

原因很简单。据联合国开发计划署称，前往欧洲的非洲移民平均月收入为1020美元，是国内收入水平的三倍。很多人之所以没有选择移民，一个重要的原因是，偷渡费用太过高昂（平均而言，男性要花2400美元，女性要花3900美元），这相当于是他们所离开国家平均月工资的20倍。

 

Over the decade to 2017 about 1m Africans migrated to Europe. As Africa grows richer more people will be able to move, and migration will probably increase, argues Sir Paul Collier, a development economist.

 

在截至2017年的十年间，大约有100万非洲移民去了欧洲。发展经济学家保罗·科利尔认为，随着非洲变得越来越富裕，更多的人将有能力离开，非洲移民人数或将增加。

 

Even if Africa’s migration rates were simply to rise to the global average, its fast-growing population would mean tens of millions of people would be on the move. This would be no bad thing.

 

即使非洲的移民率仅上升至全球平均水平，但由于其快速增长的人口，这也意味着将有数以千万计的非洲人选择移民。这并非是一件坏事。

 

Though more rich countries seem to be putting up barriers, without migration Europe’s population is forecast to fall by about 10% by 2050. It is also ageing: for every 100 people of working age, there would be 118 retirees and children by 2060. Germany alone would need 500,000 migrants a year to offset its demographic decline.

 

虽然越来越多的发达国家似乎正在给移民设置障碍，但如果没有移民，欧洲人口预计到2050年将下降10％。而人口老龄化也在加剧：到2060年，欧洲劳动力人口与老年人和儿童的比例将达到100比118。仅就德国而言，每年就需要50万的移民来弥补人口的下降。

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