The impact of the Internet on migration aspirations and intentions

Abstract This study investigates the relationship between Internet access and migration aspirations and intentions in Africa. While empirical evidence on the role of telecommunications in shaping migration flows is increasing, the relationship between aspirations (desire to migrate) and intentions (migration preparation) has been paid little attention. The analysis is based on the nationally representative 2014 and 2015 surveys of Gallup World Poll in 29 African countries. We modelled migration desire and migration preparation through Probit and Heckman Probit models. The results indicate that having Internet access is positively associated with the desire to move abroad and preparations to migrate once controlling for the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents. The association is higher in the case of migration preparation than in the case of migration desire. Slightly diverse effects are documented in low- and lower-middle-income countries, where the effect of Internet access on migration desire is somewhat higher than in the sample as a whole.