Togo - Migration

There is a steady migration of laborers from rural to urban areas. Members of the Ewe group migrate to and from Ghana. Formerly, an estimated 100,000 workers went to Ghana from Togo each year, but because of Ghana's declining economy, this number has probably decreased. There is also much movement of Ouatchi, Adja, Kabré, and Losso peoples to and from Benin. Some of the aliens expelled from Nigeria in 1983 were Togolese; moreover, Togo suffered the disruptive effect of the hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians who returned home from Nigeria via the Togolese coastal roads. Foreign refugees in Togo, including Ewe dissidents in exile from Ghana, are entitled to employment and free medical treatment, although they retain the status of aliens. About 7% of the population consists of non-citizens. As of 1999, there were 11,964 refugees, including 11,208 Ghanaian refugees in northern Togo, of whom 43% were children and 55% were women. The remaining 756 were urban refugees, mainly Rwandan, Nigerian, Burundi, and Sierra Leonean. In 2000, the net migration rate was 6.1 migrants per 1,000 population. This was a significant change from -6.7 per 1,000 in 1990. The total number of migrants in Togo in 2000 was 179,000 including refugees. The government views the migration levels as satisfactory.