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Remittance Markets in Africa
Table 8.4 Principal Destinations of Senegalese International Migrants, 2008 Countries of destination Africa Gambia, The Mauritania Côte d’Ivoire Gabon Mali Guinea Bissau Other Africa OECD France Italy Spain United States Other OECD Other
Number of migrants
Percent
339,984.98 177,306.41 64,556.94 33,250.24 21,959.42 11,895.00 9,806.73 21,210.24 255,463.39 91,446.44 81,423.63 51,671.57 16,745.31 14,176.45 41,184.79
53.40 27.85 10.14 5.22 3.45 1.87 1.54 3.33 40.13 14.36 12.79 8.12 2.63 2.23 6.47
Source: World Bank and CRES 2011. Note: OECD = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
official statistics,2 France had almost 91,446 Senegalese immigrants in 2010—36 percent the population of Senegalese migrants in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Senegalese migrants choose their destinations no longer based only on economic, historic, or linguistic factors but also on the immigration policies of the host countries. Since the 1980s, the migrants’ regions of origin have also become more diverse, with the Dakar and Diourbel regions well represented (31 percent and 19 percent, respectively) and the Senegal River valley (historically, the main departure region) no longer dominant (Saint-Louis 4.7 percent). The Senegalese Migration and Remittances Survey (World Bank and CRES 2010) showed that in more than half out of the households (52 percent), at least one member had emigrated.
Internal Migration and Remittances The third general population and housing census (Recensement General de la Population et de l’Habitat, RGPH-III 2002) conducted by the National Agency of Statistics and Demography described internal migration in Senegal as the most important form of migration because