Changing patterns of Ghanean Migration

Schans, Djamila [Maastricht University] Mazzucato, Valentina [Maastricht University] Schoumaker, Bruno [UCL] Flahaux, Marie-Laurence [UCL]

Migration has been part of people’s experience in many parts of Africa throughout history (De Bruin et al. 2001) and Ghana is no exception. Migration flows were typically regional due to commerce, forced labor and circulatory nomadic routes. Over the last decades however, migration patterns extended geographically with larger shares of migrants moving to Europe and North America. Even within these regions, African migrant flows have been diversifying (Grillo & Mazzucato 2008). Yet little comparative empirical data exist on migration flows between Africa and Europe and many of the characteristics and changes of these flows are still largely unknown. The objective of this chapter is to first describe international migration patterns from Ghana using the quantitative MAFE household data collected in Kumasi and Accra, Ghana, and second to focus on migration from Ghana to Europe, and back, specifically as it concerns flows between Ghana, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. This second focus uses the MAFE biographic data collected both in Ghana and in Europe.