Last year saw 3G networks phased out in much of Europe, with 5G coverage being rapidly rolled out. 3G remains important in many countries, however, and recent research from King’s College London highlights how important it can be in driving migration.

The research shows that as access to 3G internet increases so does the desire of the population to emigrate. What’s more, it also seems to expedite people’s plans to do so such that they increasingly wish to emigrate over the following year.

Access to information

The researchers believe this change is largely as a result of the heightened access to information that improved mobile internet speeds gives people. The phenomenon was particularly pronounced among people in high-income countries and for people with above average income in lower-middle-income countries.

“The average increase in 3G coverage between 2008 and 2018 was 36 percent across the 2,120 subnational regions we examined,” the researchers explain. “Our estimates suggest that such an increase goes together with a 0.21 to 1.82 percentage point increase in the desire to emigrate permanently.”

This means that in a country with around 10 million adult inhabitants, a transition from zero 3G coverage to full 3G coverage would result in a rise in the number of people wanting to emigrate of over 50,000 (to nearly 500,000).

Mobile internet coverage also had a number of consequences in terms of people’s perceived wellbeing and trust in government, with the authors speculating that these factors may also contribute to one’s desire to emigrate.

Digitally connected

Such platforms are also crucial to the successful integration of refugees. Research from Flinders University shows how modern technologies help migrants do everything from learning the host language, accessing job opportunities, and maintaining connectivity with friends and family both in their homeland and their adopted home.

These digital tools can also help people to overcome some of the systemic challenges they might ordinarily face. For instance, gig economy platforms have long been used to help people provide their skills on a flexible basis, thus helping to assuage any childcare issues they may face.

These platforms also allow people to take their reputations with them, with these often as valuable, if not more so, than formal credentials. They also allow workers to tap into a global marketplace that can allow independence to be maintained as quickly as possible.