Glossary
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HIGH-INCOME COUNTRIES
In accordance with World Bank country classification, high-income countries are identified on the basis of gross national income (GNI) per capita. In this report, high-income countries refer to all economies that had a GNI per capita of USD12,276 or more in 2010. High-income countries have the highest GNIs per capita of any World Bank income group, the others being (in descending order) upper-middle-income, lower-middle-income, and low-income countries. For the purposes of the current report, high-income countries are referred to as “the North”.
HOST COUNTRY
The country in which a migrant is living. See also: Country of Destination and Receiving Country.
IMMIGRATION
A process by which non-nationals move into a country for the purpose of settlement.
INFORMAL SETTLEMENT
Areas where groups of housing units have been constructed on land that the occupants have no legal claim to or occupy illegally. Unplanned settlements and areas where housing is not in compliance with current planning and building regulations (unauthorized housing).
IN-MIGRATION
Move or settle into a different part of one’s country or home territory.
INTERNAL MIGRATION
A movement of people from one area of a country to another for the purpose or with the effect of establishing a new residence. This migration may be temporary or permanent. Internal migrants move but remain within their country of origin (as in the case of rural to urban migration). See also Internally Displaced Persons.
INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSON (IDP)
Person or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, particularly as a result, or in order to avoid the effects, of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights, or natural/human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border (para. 2, Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1998/53/ Add.2).
IRREGULAR MIGRANT
A person who, owing to unauthorized entry, breach of a condition of entry, or the expiry of his or her visa, lacks legal status in a transit or host country. The definition covers, inter alia, those persons who have entered a transit or host country lawfully but have stayed for a longer period than authorized or subsequently taken up unauthorized employment.
IRREGULAR MIGRATION
Movement that takes place outside the regulatory norms of the origin, transit and destination countries.
LABOUR MIGRATION
Movement of persons from their home state to another state or within their own country of residence for the purpose of employment.