Africa-EU migration in perspective

Migration from Africa to Europe has been relatively limited until now, but will likely increase in the next thirty years. This, however, will not result in the “invasion” that several casual observers fear, because starting levels are small, and because trends do not remain constant over time: most phenomena, including migration, may expand rapidly at a certain point, but then stabilize. Migration is almost unstoppable: transportation is becoming cheaper, information on opportunities abroad are more and more easy to obtain, migratory chains are already in place and standards of living differ too much between the two continents. Besides, migration is needed on both sides of the Mediterranean: Europeans are declining and getting older, while Africans are increasing (too much) and are still very young. A non-trivial migration flow can be beneficial to both parties. How to manage it, and keep it within reasonable limits is, however, a highly complex matter.