Migration is not a new phenomenon – it has existed throughout history in practically all parts of the world. Since 1970, however, the number of people living outside their countries of origin as international migrants has jumped from 82 million to 200 million. This is equivalent to 3 percent of the world's population. Around half of these migrants are women; migration today is by no means male-dominated.

About 60 percent of migrants live in industrialised countries. Most of them are still involved in the economic, cultural, social or political life in their countries of origin and thus contribute to development in those states. The best known example of the pro-development migrant activities are the remittances they send home to their families, and the support of a wide variety of projects in their regions of origin (in the education, health and infrastructure sectors for instance). In 2006 these remittances came to a total of USD 300 billion – three times as much as official development assistance (ODA) in the same year.

German Development Cooperation has recognised the potential represented by migrants, and aims to help scale up the positive effects of migration. At the same time, it is working to mitigate negative impacts of migration on the development of the countries of origin.