Last May 31, a report issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on the economic and social impact of migration flows on Africa, revealed that intra-African migration flows are higher than international migration from Africa

Entitled “Migration for structural transformation”, the study showed that out of the 36 million Africans who left their countries in 2017, 19 million (about 53%), moved to another African country while 17 million left the continent. Meanwhile Africa welcomed 5.5 million people from other continents.

The top five African destinations are, in order, South Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Kenya and Libya. Migrants’ average age is 31 with 47% women. According to the document, main reason for leaving is "the hope of finding better paid work".

UNCTAD's study has also shown that migrants contribute to economic growth in host countries. In Côte d’Ivoire, migrants accounted for 19% of GDP in 2008, 13% in 2012 in Rwanda and 9% in 2011 in South Africa.