John Simpson is the BBC’s World Affairs Editor. If ever a self-made man revered his maker, it’s John Simpson.
He’s finally got himself a viral post. 2.4 million people viewed his post disparaging the events earlier this week in Dublin. But, true to form it wasn’t the distressing scene of children being stabbed but the reaction of the local riff-raff that got his goat.
You might think Simpson, being the BBC’s World Affairs Editor, would be pretty well clued up on what drives emigration from Africa. Is it war and global warming or something altogether more mundane?
Migrating from Africa or anywhere else is an expensive business. Generally, it’s not the poor that emigrate but the middle and professional classes. For every migrant crossing the channel in a small boat, 40 other migrants arrive by plane.
A fascinating study of the hopes, dreams and concerns of young Africans has been produced by the Ichikowitz Family Foundation, a market research company based in South Africa. Its African Youth Survey 2022 provides one of the few comprehensive analyses of the key drivers of African migration. The study involved 4,500 face to face interviews with 18-24 years olds across 15 African countries.
The study found that 69% of young Africans wanted to migrate within the next five years with most wanting the move to be permanent. Since 2020 there has been an 11 percentage point drop in ‘Afro-optimism’, which the authors identify as one of the key drivers in the wish to emigrate.
The study identifies the main reasons for them wishing to emigrate as:
- Economic reasons 44%
- Education opportunities 41%
- Want to experience something new and different 25%
- Corruption in my country 18%
- Political reasons 12%
- Security reasons 9%
- Reuniting with family members living abroad 9%
- Lack of personal freedoms in my country 9%
- Religious reasons 7%
It may come as a surprise to John Simpson but neither climate change nor war got a look in (though “security reasons” might include conflict fears). Neither did discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The latest data on this I could find related to a U.K. Government study that showed 6% of asylum claims were based on discrimination in the claimants home country.
A further finding of the African Youth Survey was that young Africans see the consequence of infectious diseases being the biggest change in the last five years that has affected both their personal circumstances and that of their nation. Indeed, such was the severity of this, that what in 2019 had been quite an optimistic outlook had reversed and was now far more pessimistic.
The study found that the decline in Afro-optimism can likely be attributed to the global Covid response. Nearly half (45%) of African youth say that deaths from infectious diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola, tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS is the event that has had the largest impact on the continent in the past five years, an increase of 19% since the 2020 African Youth Survey. The researchers comment that this deterioration is likely caused by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The question is, where did the youth of Africa get the idea that Covid posed a threat to them? The data show that deaths from Covid in Africa, cumulatively since 2020 at 181 per million were 15 times lower than the rate of 2,799 per million across Europe.
This miniscule death rate came about despite the vaccination rate across Africa being about one third of the rate in Europe.
However, we only have to look at where these young Africans get their news to begin to understand why they were misled into believing that they faced an existential threat from Covid. Apparently, 69% of them believe that the BBC is a very, or somewhat trustworthy source of information. We’re back with John Simpson and his ilk and misleading information.
Exactly who benefits from migration is hard to determine. Some economists argue that we need more migrants and that they drive up GDP, though the recent sluggish growth during years of record migration make that hard to credit. Whether there are any winners is debatable. However, there’s definitely a loser, and that’s the country from which they migrate.
Covid in Africa was effectively a confected panic, confected by the BBC and other international broadcasters and by global institutions such as the WHO. It looks very much like it has led directly to yet another unforeseen consequence, that of the young, middle-class, well educated, motivated Africans wishing to leave their home countries in ever greater numbers.
John Simpson does a huge disservice to Africa by portraying it as a continent of war and apocalyptic climate change. I’d encourage you to read the study for yourselves; the views of the young people don’t reflect Simpson’s characterisation at all. Rather they come across as entrepreneurial with so much get up and go that increasingly they’ve got up and gone.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
You can scroll through the Our World in Data page below but this tiny country with 2.64 million people, 372 dead *from* Covid ( so that’ll be an over-estimation no doubt ) and only approx 25% have had at least 1 death jab, therefore if the intention in locking down was to get injections into as many arms as possible, TPTB failed miserably in their agenda here didn’t they? WTF were they thinking locking down and predictably decimating a country such as this, or any African nation come to that?? Absolutely crazy and demonstrably no benefits have been shown as a result, only devastation for these poor people who were barely scraping by as it is.
https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/gambia
I am sure you will understand my response Mogs.
Then there is Burundi – current death toll from the ‘rona at 38. This hasn’t changed since August 2021.
All going nicely to plan.
The ‘theft of the commons’ (see Iain Davies) starts by enforcing indebtedness on countries. Once the debts prove to be unserviceable the country effectively belongs to the lenders and the real looting can begin.
Exactly the same process is occurring in Ukraine and many other countries will go the same way. The ridiculous spending during lockdowns such as Track and Trace, Nightingales, Eat out to Help Out, Furlough etc were simply ways of ensuring we ratcheted our debt levels. Now this unserviceable spending is being replaced by the blatant importation of economically useless migrants which are costing £6-7 million per day and fighting a war which has nothing to do with us and clearly with money the country cannot afford. At some point Fishy and Chunt will “sadly” have to declare the country bankrupt and then we will no longer be sovereign and that’s it. The pretence of democracy will be removed and everyone will do as they are told.
There will be no recovery from this scenario short of revolution and bloodshed.
If you are correct, remember that crossbows do not require a licence
Great post.. I agree with every word..
Thanks George.
Isn’t it great how souvereign all these pseudonations became after decolonization had happened? One could almost believe this was an early outburst of neoliberalism — Shrink the state! Privatize Africa!
Whilst we make aid reliant on Net Zero, China will offer aid them regardless of that – it’s obvious which way they will jump.
Sky News segment on bombing in Odessa & the clearing up of bomb damage in the aftermath. Sure wish that I had the super strength powers of the women clearing away the huge blocks of damaged building….
https://news.sky.com/video/ukraine-war-what-do-we-know-about-the-latest-attack-on-odesa-12926106
Lockdowns lovers and Net Zero maniacs don’t care about Africans.
They’ll let them die on the altar of Net Zero
These posters should be proof read at least three times. There is no excuse for errors of grammar or syntax.
Just as well the WHO and our Governments acted so swiftly to “save” the lives of very elderly people, some of whom got an extra few months of life …. but with no quality of life whatsoever.
Tragedy! This is obviously set to get worse if the new WHO proposals and International Health Regulations are implemented.
And you have not yet discussed the toll on education- without laptops….
Collateral Global has highlighted these issues for a few years now.
Unfortunately when I mentioned any of this to people in the U.K. their eyes glazed over.