Around the world, an estimated 272 million migrants are residing outside of their home countries, two-thirds of them migrant workers. Since the 2009 global recession, international migration has become more complex, its push and pull factors intersecting with other issues including external economic dependence, large informal economies, crime and violence, poor rule of law, and natural disasters and climate change.
In turn, migration has increased, become more geographically dispersed and driven primarily by youth. Many countries, including those in Latin America and Caribbean, both send and host migrants, adding another layer to migration flows.
Migration is intertwined with these and other development challenges and cannot be viewed as a standalone issue. Through its programs and thought leadership, Creative takes a systemic and contextualized approach to migration, promoting development solutions that are sensitive and responsive to the needs of migrants, communities and governments.
In 2019, Creative commissioned an expansive research study into the factors that contribute to migration from Central America’s Northern Triangle. The study, titled “Saliendo Adelante: Why migrants risk it all,” provided a geographically nuanced and in-depth look at what motivates migrants from high-migration areas of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.