GHANAIAN CITIZENS MIGRATION (Historical Figures)

25.08.2014 18:01

Ghana: Searching for Opportunities at Home and Abroad

 "The pages of Ghana's international migration story are filled with contrasts. According to the country's 2000 census, the population of 19 million is composed of a mosaic of ethnic groups, virtually all of whom claim to have migrated to Ghana from other regions of Africa.

The Castle of St. George d'Elmina and other infamous abodes of the "doors of no return" mark the paths of slaves destined for the Americas. The current Ghanaian government has swung these "doors" back open, hoping to persuade American and Caribbean descendents of the slave trade to live in Ghana.

Meanwhile, Ghanaian citizens continue to emigrate to North America, Europe, and other parts of Africa. The economic, political, and social woes of the past three decades have created a new diaspora of Ghanaians searching for opportunities elsewhere. As a result, Ghana is often highlighted as a nation struggling with the effects of brain drain." (Taken from Migration Policy Institutes www.migrationpolicy.org/article/ghana-searching-opportunities-home-and-abroad)

HISTORICAL IMMIGRATION FIGURES 

By the mid 1990s, it was estimated that between two and four million Ghanaians, or 10 to 20 percent of Ghana's approximately 20 million people, were living abroad (see Figure 1). Skilled workers and professionals dominated early flows from Ghana, but, by the 1980s, many semiskilled and unskilled workers chose to leave as well.

Although Ghanaians continued to migrate to other West African nations, greater numbers left the region than in the past. In West Africa during the 1990s, Ghanaians were mainly found in Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, and Nigeria, despite the expulsions. Today, smaller numbers of Ghanaians are present throughout Africa. Exact figures are unavailable, but researchers have confirmed a smaller presence of skilled Ghanaians working at universities and in other professions in South Africa.

The size and characteristics of the Ghanaian population residing in European nations have been documented to a greater extent. Perhaps the most obvious destination is the United Kingdom. Due to colonial ties, Ghanaians represent the UK's largest and longest-standing African migrant community.

The number of Ghanaians immigrating to the United Kingdom has grown steadily during the past 15 years. Results of the 2001 census of England and Wales identified 55,537 people who were born in Ghana, having increased 72 percent from 32,277 in 1991. This growth can be attributed in part to steady growth in the number of Ghanaians who received student visas, work permits, and refugee status throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium.

Most of the Ghanaians arrived in Germany between the late 1970s and the early 1990s, a time when Germany had relatively liberal asylum and work authorization procedures. After 1993, Germany put in place a more restrictive migration policy, and the number of Ghanaians entering the country dropped significantly.

Table 2. African Foreign Population in Germany on December 31, 2004, by Country of Origin

Country Total Born abroad Born in Germany Algeria 14,480 13,199 1,281 Ghana 20,636 17,939 2,697 Morocco 73,027 58,300 14,727 Tunisia 22,429 18,615 3,814 Africa, total 276,973 238,338 38,635 Source: Federal Statistical Office, Germany

Ghanaians are a relatively new migrant group  in the Netherlands. In contrast to more established Moroccan and Turkish migrant groups, which were welcomed to the Netherlands in the 1960s as guest workers during a period of economic growth, most Ghanaian migrants in the Netherlands have informal status. The growth of the Ghanaian population was a product of the turmoil in Ghana and Nigeria in the early part of the 1980s.

According to Statistics Netherlands, the country was home to 18,000 Ghanaians in 2003. However, researchers indicate that a more reliable figure is approximately 40,000, based on the number of Ghanaians residing in the Netherlands who registered to vote for Ghana's presidential elections in 2000.

In Italy, as in the Netherlands, Ghanaians began to settle permanently in the 1980s in their effort to escape turmoil at home. The 2004 Ghanaian population was 32,754 — almost three times the size of the 1990 population of 11,443. Most Ghanaians in Italy entered illegally or became illegal by overstaying visas but were able regularize their status by taking advantage of the numerous immigration amnesties the Italian government has passed in the last 20 years. As of January 2004, more than 3,600 Ghanaians had regularized their status under the 2002 amnesty, known as the Boss-Fini law. 

Flows to Canada began in the early 1980s and intensified through the 1990s. The first arrivals included professionals, who gained entry because of their skills and education, and later asylum seekers, whose application numbers peaked in 1990 at 1,149. A 1999 survey of Ghanaians in Toronto showed that over 65 percent of Ghanaian asylum seekers came from a third country. Once accepted as permanent residents, Ghanaian residents took advantage of Canada's family-reunification policy to sponsor spouses, dependent children, and parents.

According to the 2001 census, 16,985 Ghanaians were living in Canada. Data from Citizenship and Immigration Canada show that an average of 960 Ghanaians gained permanent residency each year from 1995 to 2004 (see Table 3).

 Taken from the articule of Migration Policy Institue (www.migrationpolicy.org/article/ghana-searching-opportunities-home-and-abroad); "Ghana: Searching for Opportunities at Home and Abroad"