Dinazalda “Didi” Diogo is a fish monger in the small town of Neves in São Tomé and Príncipe (STP), an island nation off the western coast of Central Africa. Didi is also a worried mother. Her 19-year-old daughter, Joana (pseudonym), left for Portugal about a year ago with the hope to study at the university. Joana’s plan was to finance her living expenses and support her family back home by working on the side, but without any prior professional experience, she has not been able to secure a job in Portugal and is struggling financially. This has left Didi very worried: “I am actually the one thinking about sending money to her now,” she said.
Joana’s story is not unique. According to the National Youth Council, 68 percent of young Saotomeans say they are considering leaving the country to secure better opportunities abroad. The island economy is not currently creating sufficient quality jobs and social protection remains limited. A third of the working age population who is not at school is economically inactive. Unemployment is 10 percentage point higher than in other lower middle-income countries, and particularly acute among youth (21 percent). With almost two thirds of the population under the age of 35, STP is currently facing significant emigration pressures.
The prospects of migration
As highlighted in the 2023 World Development Report, migration can significantly contribute to socioeconomic development in both origin and destination countries, including through knowledge transfers and financial remittances. However, the drivers and impacts of migration have been little studied in the STP, and there is a general sense that the country may not be significantly benefiting from it.
To address this gap, in a recently published paper, we gathered and analyzed a broad range of data on migration and remittances in STP, including from local emigration records, the national social registry, the latest household budget survey, estimates of migrant and remittance flows from the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD), as well as interviews with migrant families.
Trends and challenges in STP
The findings confirmed that emigration from STP is both significant and growing. Nearly one in five Saotomeans (almost 40,000 individuals) now resides abroad, with the share growing rapidly. Travels out of the country are twice as high as pre-COVID-19 levels and increasingly dominated by young people. Migration has been more and more concentrated on Portugal, where half of the diaspora now lives. Portugal’s popularity can be explained by shared linguistic and cultural ties, which make integration easier, but was also boosted by a new mobility agreement within the Community of Portuguese Language Countries.
However, unlike in many other countries, increased labor mobility has not translated in meaningful economic gains. The volume of remittances contributed by Saotomean migrants is small and has actually been decreasing over the past decade, despite increasing emigration. By mean of comparison, while a Saotomean migrant sends an average of US$266 per year, a migrant from Cabo Verde (another Portuguese-speaking lower middle-income island country) manages to send US$1,525.
Remittance inflows as share of GDP in selected African low and lower middle-income countries
Mixed experiences
What may explain this difference? First, the majority of Saotomean migrants do not seem well prepared for migration. Many take a long time to secure employment once abroad, and often end up in precarious jobs without any form of social protection, which limits their ability to send money home. For instance, Portuguese immigration data shows that Saotomeans have the fourth lowest median base salary among foreign workers in Portugal, at just 731 euros per month. Second, options to send remittances back to STP are currently limited, expensive, and inaccessible to many households. Most migrants resort to informal channels, which lack regulation and practicality.
Socially, migration can also profoundly impact household dynamics. When a parent migrates, the responsibility to care for children is often transferred to other family members or friends. This can lead to emotional challenges for children, with potential consequences on their social and cognitive development, as our interviews with Saotomean migrants confirmed.
Towards a more beneficial migration model in STP
Global evidence provides valuable lessons that could help address these challenges:
1. Improving employability: There is a need to equip young Saotomeans with globally relevant skills to access jobs both at home and abroad, focusing on priority sectors in STP as well as industries with high demand in destination countries. Opportunities from the global digital economy – such as online gig jobs – could also open up new pathways for youth employment.
2. Establishing labor mobility partnerships: Legal migration agreements with countries like Portugal could help better align the skills of migrants with the needs of destination labor markets. For example, Global Skill Partnerships help ensure that migrants are well equipped to contribute, while maximizing their earnings.
3. Strengthening migration support systems: Effective migration requires robust systems to support migrants and their families. This could include intermediation services to connect migrants with employers abroad or a mobilization of the diaspora to encourage contributions to national development.
4. Enhancing remittance infrastructure: Innovations in digital payment services, such as Dobra Digital, should be encouraged and supported, to make remittance channels more accessible and affordable. Governments and financial institutions can then incentivize migrants to adopt these services.
5. Supporting families left behind: Migrant family members who remain in the country should be protected through social assistance, such as through the World Bank-financed Vulnerable Family Program (VFP), with special attention to children and adolescents.
A path forward
Adopting some of these recommendations could help STP better leverage migration as a driver of development while minimizing its social costs. This could go a long way to help families like Didi’s. With better preparation, her daughter Joana could secure a stable job abroad, while continuing her studies and supporting her family. As she reflects on the challenges, Didi remains optimistic: “I hope my daughter will finish her education, become a strong woman, and later return to São Tomé to look after me.”
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