Out of Africa: What drives the pressure to emigrate?

Who intends to leave Africa and what drives people to emigrate? For the cases of Ghana, Senegal, Morocco and Egypt, we examined peoples' stated intentions to emigrate. The large majority wants to move "out of Africa", and the typical potential migrant was found to be young, male, displaying relatively modern values and optimistic about the net benefits of emigration. Signs of positive self-selection were clearly evident in Ghana and Egypt, particularly among women. However, negative self-selection was apparent among Moroccan men. The network effects of potential migrants were found to be fairly important in Ghana and Egypt, but in Senegal and Morocco, such ties play no role in triggering emigration intentions.

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