hankyoreh

Shin Gi-sub

By Shin Gi-sub, senior staff writer

One of my main complaints about being a reporter on the world desk is that the developing world doesn’t get much attention until tragedy strikes, often in the form of war or famine. That’s true not only of the Korean media but also, to varying degrees, of the major newspapers in the English-speaking world and the international wire services that set the tone of world news.

One consequence is that many readers tend to associate Africa with poverty and hunger and the Middle East with sectarian conflict and terrorism. It’s probably not realistic to expect the average reader to picture big cities in the developing world as having sophisticated lifestyles, trends, and cutting-edge technology.

Stories that focus on the difficulties faced by the developing world do have a positive side. They help reinforce the need for support and solidarity for underdeveloped countries worse off than the US and wealthy countries in Europe and Asia.

In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that we’re not just onlookers when it comes to the suffering of the developing world. The Delta variant of the coronavirus is surging around the world, echoing what happened back in India, a poster child of the developing world, back in April and May.

If richer countries keep ignoring poorer ones, there’s nothing to stop the Lambda variant, which is currently rampaging through Peru, in South America, from having a similar impact to the Delta variant.

The world has become so interlocked that what happens in other countries has a direct bearing on our own.

While the phrase “the Third World” has negative connotations, a word whose connotations are much worse is “migrant.” Many see migrants as inconvenient and dangerous troublemakers. Such feelings are reinforced by the personal experience of those who occasionally come into contact with them. Many people feel bothered and uncomfortable with migrants in brief encounters in restaurants or the subway.

Recently published statistics may help change these sentiments in Europe, where there’s very severe hostility to migrants and a fierce debate over migrant policy. Data released by Eurostat on July 7 shows that the educational level of migrants in the EU isn’t much lower than that of the local population.

As of 2020, university graduates accounted for 35.6% of EU migrants aged 25-54 born in another EU member state. That was just 1.1 points lower than the percentage of those living in their country of birth at 36.7%.

That cuts against the stereotype that most migrants who have moved to other countries of the EU are from poorer countries and work in agriculture or other kinds of manual labor. In short, most migrants aren’t uneducated and impoverished members of the lower class who have made their way to rich countries.

A similar tendency is seen among people who have migrated to the EU from countries outside of Europe. Among those migrants, 29.6% have a tertiary education — which may sound surprisingly high, considering that most of them are from countries in the developing world.

Indeed, Koreans’ past emigration practices are quite similar. A large number of Korean immigrants to the US and other countries since the 1960s have been members of the middle class, with a high level of education.

There was even a time when Koreans in Los Angeles were spreading the unsubstantiated rumor that graduates from Seoul’s best-known universities had teamed up to compete with each other.

Migrants’ level of education is a critical factor in them finding a way to contribute to the societies in which they settle. That was echoed by Eurostat in its announcement of the educational data: “An important dimension of migrant integration into host societies is the level of educational attainment.”

Highly educated migrants are more likely to quickly master the local language, and resolving the language barrier clears the way for becoming talented workers.

In short, countries with a low birth rate have a very practical need to view migrants without prejudice.

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]