In 2022, the number of Colombians who left the country exploded with half a million emigrants

In an analysis published on Saturday February 18 by the Spanish media, The country, titled: “Colombian emigration breaks all records”, more than half a million people have left the country not to return in 2022. This was warned by the Spanish publication, which in turn quoted a report from Resource Center for Conflict Analysis, Cerac.

This exodus was described by the media as a milestone that ended up breaking all historical records, since the flow of people exceeded half a million emigrants last year.

To get this number, This number was 2.7 times the average number of nationals who emigrated each year since 2012, which is slightly less than 200,000 Colombians per year. And it also implies that one out of 100 Colombians left the country in a year.

“Although Colombia is a country in which there is a flow of emigrants every year, except for 2020, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and travel restrictions, it has reached a level of more than 547,000 emigrants last year. (. ..) This migratory wave, observes Cerac, “began in March 2021 and then coincided with greater availability of vaccines against covid-19 and levels contagion of the disease weaker in the population”, he relates The country.

He will then point out that from this kind of starting point, the number increased almost every month, until the arrival of 2022, when it exploded. In fact, he will allude to how emigration between 2021 and 2022 practically doubled, with a 95% increase.

“The migration of Colombians abroad in 2022 is the highest since records were kept and much higher than what was presented in 1999, 2000 and 2001”, during an acute economic and security crisis during the four-year term of Andrés Pastrana, the report points out, which immediately adds that 23 years ago, 282,000 Colombians emigrated (in 2000 and 2001), and today c It’s a painful memory that Colombians still associate with the recession.

What is going on? As a first step, the media reported that, unlike the national scene 22 years ago, GDP has grown 7.5% so far in 2022, the fastest growth in the region, although all observers are bracing for a sharp downturn in the economy in 2023.

In this order of ideas, makes the hypothesis of Cerac, a scenario of slowdown would lead to an increase in the migratory flow.

“I would say, with certainty, that the only variable that can be said to influence that is the devaluation of the peso, because that makes it very profitable to earn abroad compared to what someone with the same skills can win in Colombia”, says to The country Jorge Restrepo, director of Cerac and professor of economics at Javeriana University of Bogotawho added that “Other factors are a bit speculative.”

Nevertheless, he referred to the social discontent that has been manifested in the protests of recent years, especially among young people, who are those who emigrate the most, and he also pointed out to EL PAÍS the lack of social mobility that generally affects all of Latin America.

“The paradox is that in Colombia there is no security crisis, nor an economic crisis, like the one that occurred in 1999, 2000 and 2001”, Restrepo pointed out to the already referenced media.

Finally, the text drew attention to another fact, even if it is not taken into account by Cerac: Colombia is a great receptacle for migration, and by far the main destination of the Venezuelan diaspora, with 2 .9 million citizens of the neighboring country settled. on their territory at the court last October. However, the report excludes the emigration of those who do not have Colombian nationality.