Policy brief

Rural-Urban Migration in West Africa: Contexts, Trends, and Recommendations

Author

Eva Dick and Benjamin Schraven

Date
February
2021
Abstract:

Rural-urban migration constitutes the principal pattern of internal and cross-border migration in West Africa. In alignment with environmental and health agendas, its drivers and effects need to be explicitly accounted for in migration and urbanization policies. For example, that households use rural-urban migration as a risk-diversification and livelihood strategy is a key consideration. Highly vulnerable migrant populations such as children, women, the elderly, or the forcibly displaced should receive particular attention.