An African Perspective on Immigration

Bruce P. Corrie, PhD corrie@csp.edu Sometimes it helps to have a global perspective on our challenges else we end up ”falling in love with our sad luck story”…this data is particularly relevant to people who complain about the “costs” of immigrants. Below is data of the number of “refugees” accepted into a country in relation to the per capita GDP of countries. Africa shines! North America Per capita GDP: $38,256 Refugees: 853,300 Africa Per capita GDP: $879 Refugees: 4,861,400 Europe Per capita GDP: $19,423 Refugees: 4,429,900 Asia Per capita GDP: $2,549 Refugees: 6,899,600 Oceania Per capita GDP: $22,251 Refugees: 82,400 Latin America & Caribbean Per capita GDP: $3,576 Refugees: 2,070,800 Source: http://www.unhcr.org/statistics/2005_gdp_eng.pdf