The net migration rate for Barbados in 2000 was -0.9 migrants per 1,000 population. To meet the problem of overpopulation, the government encourages emigration. Most emigrants now resettle in the Caribbean region or along the eastern US coast. As of 1999, Barbados did not host any refugees. However, the country's lack of a national refugee law has become a cause for concern as Barbados is expected to receive greater numbers of asylum-seekers in the future due to recent extra-regional migration to and migrant trafficking through the Caribbean.