An IOM migration profile of Mauritania released today shows that
Mauritania remains a major destination and transit country for
migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa. 

According to the report, 84 per cent of the estimated 100,000
mostly irregular migrants currently living in Mauritania come from
neighbouring countries, particularly Senegal (38 per cent) and Mali
(28 per cent) but also in Gambia, Côte d'Ivoire and
Guinea-Bissau.

This number includes migrants working in the informal sector of
the Mauritanian economy as well as migrants transiting through
Mauritania on their way to Europe through the Canary Islands.

The report finds that 87 per cent of all migrants working in the
capital Nouakchott, in the commercial centre of Nouadhibou and in
the south-western border town of Rosso are employed in the informal
sector, mostly as domestic workers, petty traders and drivers or in
agriculture, fisheries or the food catering
industries.  

The migration profile notes that in 2008, an estimated 100,000
Mauritanians had emigrated abroad, mostly to West Africa (65.6%)
and to Europe (20.6 per cent) but also to  Central Africa (2.4
per cent), North America (2.5 per cent) and to the Gulf countries
(0.3 per cent).

More than half of Mauritanian emigrants have a poor level of
education, with highly skilled emigrants representing less than 12
per cent of all emigrants resulting in a minor
brain-drain.    

The emigration of Mauritanians is mainly due to dwindling
opportunities in the national economy and a saturated informal
sector, which drives increasing numbers of unskilled and unemployed
youth to emigrate.

The report underlines that fact that remittances play a crucial
role in improving the standard of living of families left behind
even if remittances we estimated at USD 2 million in 2008,
representing 0.1 per cent of the country's GDP.

It also underlines that key emerging migration issues, such as
the adequate management of foreign labour cannot be properly
addressed because of the existing legal framework and a persistent
lack of reliable data on current migration
trends.   

The IOM Migration Profile for Mauritania is available in French
at the IOM website: "http://publications.iom.int/bookstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=534"
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For further information, please contact:

Jobst Koehler

IOM Geneva

Tel: + 41.22 717 9260

Email: "mailto:jkoehler@iom.int">jkoehler@iom.int