political conFlictS and Migration in the Mena StateS 163
the population of Algeria (2015: 38.1 million), the second-largest country
in the region. But there are a number of smaller population centres as
well – Morocco/Algeria with a total of 78 million inhabitants by 2015, Sudan
with 44 million and a hotbed of ethnic and religious conf lict, Saudi Arabia
with 30.8 million people in 2015, bordering on Iraq with some 30 million in
the North, and Yemen with 28.5 million in the South-West (2015).
5.2.2 Migration potential
The disparate distribution of income and wealth mentioned above, both
within and between the individual MENA countries, has had a clear effect
on the migration behaviour of the respective populations. Four phenomena
may be observed in the region. First, the ongoing tendency for internal
migration into urban regions, leading to a continual ruralisation thereof
(see, for example, Grim 2007). Such urbanisation has an effect on security
matters, especially the susceptibility to agitatory extremist religious ideolo-
gies (Belal 2012; Darif 2010).
Second, the tendency, especially of young adults, to migrate irregularly to
Europe or North America. The reasons behind this lie not solely in unemploy-
ment or a lack of proper jobs; a recent study of the Algerian Research Institute
CREAD showed that 63 per cent of all irregular migrants from Algeria (the
so-called haraggas) had, in fact, held a job in Algeria (Sebai 2007).
Third, the emigration of qualif ied personnel from MENA countries
because of the lack of skilled professionals in the countries of other regions.
Be they IT engineers, skilled energy workers, doctors or pilots (Amalou
2007) – the classical ‘brain drain’ is a signif icant migration phenomenon
that has a greater effect on the home country, the lower its natural economic
dynamics are.
Fourth, the immigration of both legal and illegal workers into the
oil-producing countries because of their high need for workers and their
‘Eldorado’ image. These persons stem both from the MENA states (Algeria,
Egypt, Jordan, Palestine etc.) and from neighbouring countries (sub-Saharan
Africa, Asia). For the smaller Gulf states and Saudi Arabia, the most impor-
tant countries of origin are still those in South and South-East Asia.^6 Open
discrimination and even assaults in the destination countries have, to date,
not resulted in any reduction in the inf low of migratory workers.
6 Despite national campaigns to raise the proportion of local workers, the number of foreign
workers is currently still very high (see the chapters by de Haas and by Zohry in this volume).
This will probably remain this way for some time to come.