To what extent do migrations bring benefits to both their origins and their destinations?

Responses should consider the benefits at both the point of origin and the final destinations and the strongest responses may refer to both voluntary/economic and involuntary/forced migrations. At the origin, benefits include: income derived from remittances and the alleviation of poverty; the reduction in population pressure and demand for resources.

Benefits for the receiving region or society include an increased availability of workers, often willing to work for lower wages, or in unpopular jobs, and with less stringent working conditions. Cultural mixing may also be seen as either a benefit or a disadvantage, depending on the example(s) discussed. Forced migrations generally benefit only the migrants themselves, through the better provision of food and shelter, and increased security.

It is possible for responses to include the costs of migration as the question is “to what extent”.

Responses must make use of examples and have an evaluation to reach markbands E and F.

While many responses are likely to conclude that the benefits at the destination outweigh the benefits at the point of origin, all conclusions/evaluations should be judged strictly on the merits of the arguments presented and of any example(s) chosen.

Marks should be allocated according to the markbands.

Most responses showed a good knowledge of the benefits and problems migration brings to the countries of origin and destination. At least some examples/case studies were presented by almost all. On the other hand though, very few evaluated more than one type of migration; most of the candidates focused solely on international/economic migration without expanding their answer onto internal or forced migration as well. Stronger responses provided a sound evaluation to the question posed. Candidates do however need to take care when making generalizations about particular migrations.