In this week's 6 Minute English, Rob and Jennifer talk about why people move around the world to find work. These people are known as global migrants.
Some 214 million people are international migrants, living in a different country from the one in which they were born. There are plenty with high-level skills who end up working for at least part of their careers outside their home country.
Some take work they are overqualified for, because it still pays better than what is available at home. This has led to a brain drain from some developing countries.
Find out what this means as well as some other vocabulary associated with migration.
This week's question:
According to figures from the United Nations, which one of these countries has the largest number of immigrants as a percentage of its national population? Is it:
a) United States of America
b) Qatar
c) Turkey
Listen to the programme to find out the answer.
Vocabulary
- global migration
the movement of people around the world
- emigrate
leave your home country to permanently live somewhere else
- economic migrants
people who go to work in another country because there is better work and/or pay
- a brain drain
a situation where many highly-skilled people leave a country to go and work somewhere else
- qualified
having the correct training to do a specific job
- overqualified
having too much training and knowledge for the job you are doing
- remittances
an amount of money that is sent to someone
- to uproot
(in this context) to leave your home and move somewhere else
- a working visa
a stamp in your passport, or piece of official paper, allowing you to work in a country
- the streets are paved with gold
(an idiomatic description of) a place where people think they will easily become rich