What Is the Link Between Hunger and Migration?

The research finds that economic growth is the strongest driver of reduced international migration, while there is no discernible direct relationship between hunger levels or agricultural productivity alone and migration flows. The authors argue that to reduce migration, investments must move beyond farm-level productivity to create broader economic opportunities and off-farm activities in rural areas.

• Economic growth is the most significant factor in reducing international migration, both globally and specifically in Africa. An increase of 1 per cent in GDP per capita is estimated to reduce the number of migrants by 0.2 to 0.5 per cent.
• GDP growth does not always reduce migration if the growth is driven by sectors that do not benefit poor households, such as oil, gas, or mineral revenues. For instance, between 2000 and 2005, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria saw per capita GDP and migration levels both increase by over 30% and 60% respectively.
• There is no clear or discernible relationship between hunger levels and international migration when controlling for political stability and economic development. Consequently, interventions that only address hunger, such as food stamps or cash transfers, are unlikely to directly reduce migration.
• Increasing agricultural productivity at the farm level, whether measured by physical yields or production value, does not have a discernible relationship with migration. In some instances, boosting productivity alone can actually increase migration by reducing the number of available farm jobs.
• To effectively reduce migration and end hunger, investments must be linked to broader economic growth and the development of rural economies beyond the farm level, specifically through off-farm activities and agricultural value chain integration.
• Between 1990 and 2015, nearly 90 million people migrated from their birth countries. Migration from Africa and the Middle East more than doubled between the 2000–2005 and 2010–2015 periods, while migration from Latin America was halved during the same timeframe.

APA

Laborde, D., Bizikova, L., Lallemant, T., & Smaller, C. (2017). What Is the Link Between Hunger and Migration? International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/sites/default/files/publications/link-between-hunger-migration.pdf

Chicago

Laborde, David, Livia Bizikova, Tess Lallemant, and Carin Smaller. What Is the Link Between Hunger and Migration? International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2017. https://www.iisd.org/sites/default/files/publications/link-between-hunger-migration.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Laborde |first1=David |last2=Bizikova |first2=Livia |last3=Lallemant |first3=Tess |last4=Smaller |first4=Carin |title=What Is the Link Between Hunger and Migration? |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=2017 |url=https://www.iisd.org/sites/default/files/publications/link-between-hunger-migration.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{laborde2017what, author = {Laborde, David and Bizikova, Livia and Lallemant, Tess and Smaller, Carin}, title = {{What Is the Link Between Hunger and Migration?}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2017}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/sites/default/files/publications/link-between-hunger-migration.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }