Politically stable with a growing economy – so why are so many Bangladeshis fleeing to Europe?

More Bangladeshis have arrived in Europe this year than any other nationality, despite the country enjoying relative political stability, record-breaking economic growth and an increase in disposable income.

By the end of June 2021 over 3,300 Bangladeshis had crossed the Mediterranean, mostly travelling via Libya. It is the first time since the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began documenting arrivals in 2015 that Bangladeshis have constituted the largest group by nationality.

While the overall number of Bangladeshis crossing the Mediterranean has fallen compared to previous years due to the Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, this decrease has been far smaller compared to other nationalities.

So far this year, the number of Bangladeshi arrivals into Europe has exceeded the combined number of those travelling from the conflict-ridden nations of Syria and Afghanistan, and also from transit nations in North Africa – including Tunisia and Morocco.

Infamously labelled a “bottomless basket case” in 1972 by then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Bangladesh’s economy is now one of the world’s fastest-growing.

And, whilst the country’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government are accused of multiple human rights violations, they have succeeded in allaying the threat posed by Islamic terror groups.

Indeed, while superpower-in-waiting and neighbour India will see its gross domestic product (GDP) contract by 10.3 percent in 2020-21 due to the pandemic, Bangladesh’s GDP will rise by 3.8 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund. Dhaka says it is aiming to become a high-income country by 2041.

On the hunt for better opportunities

So why, when crossing the Mediterranean is so fraught with danger, are Bangladeshis taking such huge risks to reach Europe?

This year alone over 1,000 migrants have died or disappeared en route, according to the UNHCR. At least 60 Bangladeshis died in July when two boats traveling to Italy capsized off the coast of Libya and Tunisia. Human trafficking and extortion are also rife.

Some had speculated that climate change could be behind the migration. Few countries are considered as vulnerable as Bangladesh, where two-thirds of its 166 million citizens live less than five metres above sea level.

It is estimated that by 2050 one in every seven people in Bangladesh will have been displaced by climate change, largely due to tidal flooding caused by sea level rise.

Already, several thousand displaced people are said to be arriving in Dhaka every day from Bangladesh’s remote, rural areas. Many are citing the changing environment as their reason for migrating.

But, experts say this climate-driven movement is currently limited to domestic migration, as these typically poorer Bangladeshis can’t afford to send themselves and their families abroad.

Shariful Islam Hasan, the programme head for migration at BRAC in Dhaka, the world’s largest development organisation, suggests economic factors are still driving international migration.

Mr Hasan has been tracking the recent influx of Bangladeshi migrants to Europe, and says the majority of those travelling to Europe are economic migrants aged between 30 and 35 who travel via Libya – where ongoing conflict means its borders are porous – in pursuit of better-paid jobs.

“There is a dream in some Bangladeshi districts like Sylhet [a city in the north east], that if you go to Europe then all of your problems will be solved. We are trying to tell the youth that it is not a journey of dreams but often it can be a journey to death,” said Mr Hasan.

Alfai Ali Hossain Shojib, 23, from Chattogram, has one such horror story.

He paid a Bangladeshi trafficker more than £6,000 for a promised construction job in Croatia. After arriving in Zagreb, he was imprisoned in a room with other South Asian migrants.

“The traffickers asked my family in Bangladesh to send another £2,500. Every day, they tortured me, beat me and withheld food,” said Mr Shojib.

He was eventually rescued by the International Organization for Migration.

Bangladesh’s previously stunted economy means it has long been a migrant-sending nation, something that remains embedded in Bangladeshi culture.

By 2021, Bangladeshis constituted the sixth-largest group of migrants worldwide. They form one of the largest populations by nationality in the UK, Italy and Greece.

More middle-class families can afford the expensive trip

Bangladesh’s dramatic recent economic growth is now facilitating even more migration to Europe, with those travelling coming from the middle class, rather than impoverished families, according to BRAC.

“Everyone has heard of a success case and they see the big houses built by migrants who have gone to Europe and sent money home,” says Mr Hasan.“Nobody hears about the cases where they die en route or they are not able to get a job once they arrive.”

Many families in Bangladesh’s burgeoning middle-class are still able to afford to pay traffickers upwards of £7,000 to reach Europe, unlike other nations that are enduring much greater economic downturns during the pandemic.

“Migration to Europe is quite costly and more Bangladeshis now have disposable income, say compared to those in Pakistan or Nepal. Rather than investing in their land or housing, they are now investing in a trip to Europe for a family member,” explains Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak, a professor of economics at Yale University.

“For many policymakers, they believe creating economic opportunities in the origin country is the best way to deal with migration pressures. But, in Bangladesh, we are seeing that more families can afford the trip and so they are sending more migrants, rather than less."

Organisations like BRAC are now urging the Bangladeshi government to explore bilateral deals with European countries, so that its nationals can migrate legally and fill existing labour shortages creating a far better outcome than for migrants like Mr Shojib.

“More awareness is needed among Bangladeshis looking to migrate, they need to be aware of the case studies where it goes wrong. And, Europe and Bangladesh should be working together to identify traffickers, we shouldn’t be playing a blame game” said Mr Hasan.

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