Honduras international migration trends

Abstract

Migration has been always present in Honduran society, whilst having changes in its trends, which can be historically delimited since the age of discovery and conquest, passing through the times of the Republic and into the mining and banana enclave as immigration, and later became emigration starting from the search of opportunities by Garifuna and Mestizo population connected to the enclave economy, headed to the east coast ports of the United States of America. In time, migration even became the highest in the region, while the country started transforming into an attractive place to immigrate in the seventies to the people of El Salvador who searched lands and jobs, and equally during the seventies and eighties due to the armed conflicts between Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, as a refugee. Finally, the current migratory trend in Honduras is emigration, which was generated during the nineties with the introduction of neoliberal politics which depressed several economic sectors, such as agriculture, and generate a large mass of young people without employment or freelancers very inclined to find new opportunities in more developed areas of the country yet mostly overseas, like in the United States of America. Moreover the devastation caused by natural disasters (Hurricane Mitch) further caused that from that moment emigration was entrenched in Honduran population reaching important dimensions, destinations are diversified and a wave of remittance is produced, introducing the country into the global ranking of higher proportions with respect to the Gross National Product.