Publication:
São Tomé and Príncipe - Unpacking Migration Dynamics: Critical Issues and Policy Recommendations

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2025-01-07
ISSN
Published
2025-01-07
Author(s)
World Bank
Editor(s)
Abstract
Migration is a global phenomenon that significantly affects individuals, families, and the broader society, offering prospects for socioeconomic development in both origin and destination countries. Africa is experiencing many of the factors that drive migration and is anticipated to be the origin of the largest share of the world’s migrants in the forthcoming years. Similar to many African nations, São Tomé and Príncipe (STP) is affected by migration, especially emigration pressures related to its small island characteristics. STP faces substantial economic hurdles common to small island developing nations, including limited land area, a small domestic market, and heavy reliance on imports, which together constrain opportunities for economic diversification and growth. Furthermore, the country’s economy is highly susceptible to external shocks, particularly those related to climate change, as extreme weather events and rising sea levels threaten its agricultural productivity and fishing industries. The island nation also faces mounting pressure on its job market and public services, exacerbating unemployment and underemployment issues. This study seeks to advance the understanding of the dynamics of migration and remittances in STP and their socioeconomic impacts for vulnerable families, and provide recommendations to foster a better migration model.
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank. 2025. São Tomé and Príncipe - Unpacking Migration Dynamics: Critical Issues and Policy Recommendations. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/42621 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    São Tomé and Príncipe - Unpacking Migration Dynamics
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16) Monsalve Montiel, Emma Mercedes; Kroll, Guillaume; Barros Barbosa, Barbara; Mawete, Delfim Mampassi E. Martins; Boly, Mohamed
    São Tomé and Príncipe (STP), a lower-middle-income small island nation, is undergoing a significant wave of emigration, primarily driven by limited job opportunities and economic prospects, particularly among younger generations. This paper explores migration's drivers, dynamics, and impacts on the country’s economy and social fabric, drawing on a combination of primary and secondary data sources. These include local emigration records, the national social registry, the latest household budget survey, global estimates of migrant stocks and remittance flows, and focus group discussions with migrant families. The findings reveal that at least 18 percent of STP’s population now resides abroad, with numbers growing rapidly. Migration is increasingly dominated by young individuals moving to Portugal, attracted by shared linguistic and cultural ties and facilitated by a recent Community of Portuguese Language Countries mobility agreement. However, migration currently delivers limited economic benefits to STP, as remittances are low, irregular, and constrained by high transfer costs, inadequate financial infrastructure, and migrants’ precarious employment abroad. Socially, migration may also disrupt family structures, particularly affecting children who face challenges in care and emotional wellbeing. Policy recommendations include enhancing migrants’ employability, exploring bilateral migration partnerships, strengthening migration management systems, improving remittance services, and supporting families who remain in the country through social assistance.
  • Publication
    Cambodia - Poverty and Social Impact of the Global Economic Crises : Using the Past to Plan for the Future
    (Washington, DC, 2011-04) World Bank
    This paper discusses the progress made by Cambodia from the early 90s to 2007, in reduction of poverty incidence. Reduced poverty occurred in both urban and rural areas, and was experienced by rich and poor, and by men and women. Households, including those in the poorest groups, have improved their housing quality, increased ownership of motorbikes, televisions, and mobile phones, and are better able to access and afford schools and healthcare. However, the study warns about complacency, because poverty is still pervasive in the rural areas, and a multi-dimensional approach is needed to tackle it. The gap in income and opportunities remains wide between the rich and the poor, the urban and rural regions and more importantly, within the rural areas themselves. The report concludes that it is clear that Cambodia has made substantial improvements in the information systems available to guide public policy. The next step is to improve coordination among the information sources and develop a national information system that allows for the combined use of information and the setting of priorities based on an assessment of needs and existing gaps in the country. To address these problems, an evaluation of the quality, relevance and use of information produced in Cambodia is necessary in order to establish standards and identify areas of improvement.
  • Publication
    Migration and Economic Development in Kosovo
    (Washington, DC, 2011-05-25) World Bank
    Kosovo has one of the largest international migration flows in the world. Much emigration has been for economic reasons and to escape armed conflict in the late 1990s; resolution of the conflict does not appear to have offered migrants enough incentive to return. Even though migration slowed with the global economic crisis, a reported 3.5 percent of the working population aged 15 and above have expressed interest in emigrating in the next 12 months. The first objective of this study is to illustrate the importance of migration and remittances for Kosovo, drawing on data from recent surveys. The second is to identify policies implemented in other countries that the Kosovan authorities might find useful for maximizing the benefits from its large migrant population. The study does not specify policies the Kosovan authorities should adopt; instead, it sets out policies and instruments the authorities could consider if they wish to more tightly link migration to development. The study has two parts. The first describes migration and remittances trends in Kosovo and links them to labor outcomes, poverty, and investment. The second presents migration policies other countries have introduced, including some countries that are, like Kosovo, small, post-conflict, developing countries with a large diaspora in developed countries.
  • Publication
    Leveraging Migration for Africa : Remittances, Skills, and Investments
    (World Bank, 2011-04-26) Mohapatra, Sanket; Ratha, Dilip; Plaza, Sonia; Ozden, Caglar; Shaw, William; Shimeles, Abebe
    International migration has profound implications for human welfare, and African governments have had only a limited influence on welfare outcomes, for good or ill. Improved efforts to manage migration will require information on the nature and impact of migratory patterns. This book seeks to contribute toward this goal, by reviewing previous research and providing new analyses (including surveys and case studies) as well as by formulating policy recommendations that can improve the migration experience for migrants, origin countries, and destination countries. The book comprises this introduction and summary and four chapters. Chapter one reviews the data on African migration and considers the challenges African governments face in managing migration. Chapter two discusses the importance of remittances, the most tangible link between migration and development; it also identifies policies that can facilitate remittance flows to Africa and increase their development impact. Chapter three analyzes high-skilled emigration and analyzes policies that can limit adverse implications and maximize positive implications for development. Chapter four considers ways in which Africa can leverage its diaspora resources to increase trade, investment, and access to technology.
  • Publication
    Albania - Urban Growth, Migration and Poverty Reduction : A Poverty Assessment
    (Washington, DC, 2007-12-03) World Bank
    This sector report claims that in the three years between 2002 and 2005 alone, almost 235,000 people have moved out of poverty in Albania. Strong economic growth and large inflow of remittances are at the center of this impressive achievement. However, low productivity of predominantly small family farms has put a drag on rural growth prospects. Moreover, Ndihma Ekonomike (NE) program, the means-tested income support program is small in scale, and has a low coverage so that it has had only a modest impact on poverty reduction. As a result of these developments, the poor are mostly rural residents, low skilled (measured as years of schooling completed) and large families. The main conclusion of this report is that as Albania looks ahead it faces the challenges of consolidating and sustaining these improvements in living conditions and narrow the widening rural and urban differences. To tackle these challenges, Albania needs to maintain the high growth path, raise rural productivity and improve the targeting performance of its NE program

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Poverty and Equity Assessment for El Salvador 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-12) World Bank
    This report proposes an agenda for building on gains to re-accelerate poverty reduction among Salvadorans. The last World Bank Poverty Assessment for El Salvador, from 2015, proposed two key policy recommendations: (a) effective pro-poor spending and (b) reduction of crime and violence through better access to jobs and education. Nine years later, the authorities have managed to achieve a substantial reduction in crime and violence and have indicated an intent to build on such progress to establish a path toward an El Salvador where shared prosperity is achievable. In this report, we propose a three pillar structure to address poverty and inequality reduction: jobs, services, and social protection, with a cross-cutting set of primary conditions that articulates this structure.
  • Publication
    Global Economic Prospects, January 2025
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16) World Bank
    Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.
  • Publication
    The Markets and Competition Policy Assessment Toolkit
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-09) World Bank
    The markets and competition policy assessment toolkit (MCPAT) is a guide for understanding how policy can positively shape markets and address market failures that ultimately affect micro- and macroeconomic development issues. The MCPAT aims to support policymakers, competition authorities, and development finance institutions in realizing the advantages of competitive and well-functioning markets by setting the right conditions for firms to improve their economic performance and for markets to allocate resources efficiently. Competitive and well-functioning markets do not just benefit consumers, - they benefit entire economies as they promote productivity, innovation, efficiency, and consumer choice. The goal is not simply to increase the number of firms in a market or to restrict market power but to create an environment where competition can thrive, firms can innovate, and markets can function optimally. The structure of this toolkit follows the steps to conduct an MCPAT analysis in a specific sector or market. Part I provides an overview of key concepts that set the basis for conducting the MCPAT analysis and covers the first step of the MCPAT. Part II focuses on diagnosing market issues. Part III is about how to fix markets.
  • Publication
    At Your Service?: The Promise of Services-led Growth in Uzbekistan
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-07) World Bank
    In Uzbekistan, the services sector accounts for more than half of all jobs and has been central to the process of structural transformation over the past three decades. In the past decade, the growth of Uzbekistan’s services exports has lagged behind its manufactures' exports while FDI greenfield announcements to both sectors have been even. The growth of the services sector in the past five years was driven by social services, mostly reflecting increased public spending. This report groups the services sector into four categories based on their skill intensity, the extent of their linkages with other sectors, and their tradability in international markets: low-skilled consumer services, low-skilled enabling services , global innovator services. Of these groups, social services accounted for three-fourths of employment growth in the services sector between 2017–2022. These services also experienced relatively high rates of labor productivity growth, which was largely driven by higher public spending on wages and salaries.
  • Publication
    Services Unbound
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-09) World Bank
    Services are a new force for innovation, trade, and growth in East Asia and Pacific. The dramatic diffusion of digital technologies and partial policy reforms in services--from finance, communication, and transport to retail, health, and education--is transforming these economies. The result is higher productivity and changing jobs in the services sector, as well as in the manufacturing sectors that use these services. A region that has thrived through openness to trade and investment in manufacturing still maintains innovation-inhibiting barriers to entry and competition in key services sectors. 'Services Unbound: Digital Technologies and Policy Reform in East Asia and Pacific' makes the case for deeper domestic reforms and greater international cooperation to unleash a virtuous cycle of increased economic opportunity and enhanced human capacity that would power development in the region.