By  Hein de Haas (2023)

Pages: 464, Final verdict: Must-read

Migration is at the center of political discussions and public opinion. We hear about it constantly in the news, in political debates, and across social media feeds. But beneath the shouting matches and clickbait headlines, how much do we actually know about the mechanics of migration?

After reading How Migration Really Works by Hein de Haas, you'll know a lot more. It’s a no-BS book that puts facts before factions and tells the reader what migration actually looks like.

The book is structured into 22 myths (chapters), each covering a common misconception about migration, such as "Migration is at an all-time high" or "Immigrants steal jobs and drive wages down." For every myth, Haas offers a "How it really works" section where he breaks it down—most often with hard data, often with studies, and occasionally through his personal experiences—showing how the evidence disproves the myth.

One of the characteristics that makes the book so compelling is that the myths come from both ends of the spectrum. Some, like those mentioned earlier, aim to convince readers that migration isn’t as bad as they might think. Others, like "We need immigrants to fix the problems of aging societies," challenge the idea that migration is inevitable or that smuggling causes illegal immigration.

What makes How Migration Really Works distinctive isn’t just the arguments but the way they’re grounded in data. Some of its charts are more than illustrations—they’re foundational. These five, in particular, stuck with me the most:

1/ The number of international migrants is growing, but not exponentially. International migrants represent approximately 3.6% of the world population.

2/ Similarly, the number of refugees is growing, but it's not at an all-time high (as a percentage of the population) and has remained mostly stable since 2015.

3/ Refugees are not economic migrants but political ones.

Each 'migrant explosion' corresponds to a significant crisis, such as the invasion of Afghanistan, the Rwandan Genocide, the Syrian Civil War, and, more recently, the Ukraine war. These events underline that refugee crises are primarily driven by wars, political instability, and large-scale violence rather than economic migration.

4/ Migration increases as a country becomes wealthier—up to a point.

Once a country reaches a level of prosperity where its citizens enjoy a good quality of life, the incentive to migrate decreases. Haas argues it’s a mistake to think immigrants primarily come from the poorest regions. In reality, the poorest people rarely migrate because they can’t afford the costs. Instead, migration rises as a poor country gets richer, allowing more of its citizens to afford the move. This trend is well illustrated by the Moroccan example: as Morocco developed, migration initially increased. But once the country reached a "rich-enough" threshold, migration slowed, as staying home became more appealing.

5/ It’s not true that conservative parties are stricter on immigration.

Haas argues that perception is different from reality. We might expect conservative parties to be harder on immigration when in power, but what actually happens is different. He cites a study he conducted that examined migration policies from 21 countries between 1975 and 2012. The results show that not only are left and right parties not that different, but both are trending toward more liberal migration policies.

Bottom Line

It’s been a long time since I gave a book the "must-read" stamp. How Migration Really Works deserves that stamp—not for the eloquence of its narrative or the pragmatism of its structure (it could probably be half the length) but because it has the potential do change your worldview.

For some, it will confirm your biases. For others, it might fuel your fears. But it does so with a critical eye, giving you plenty of evidence to draw your own conclusions. Hein de Haas has written a definitive guide to one of the most misunderstood topics of our time, and in doing so, he has given us something precious: clarity.

While How Migration Really Works is largely apolitical, my biggest critique is that Haas argues frequently that migration cannot be fully understood—or effectively managed—without addressing the political root causes. For example, that the housing crisis has nothing to do with migration (demand) but instead with public housing supply, which requires public sector solutions. Or that migration cannot truly be reduced, as it is a deeply ingrained and complex phenomenon. Despite dedicating only a brief section to Japan—a prosperous country with historically low immigration (3% of its population, mostly growing in the last decade)—you come away with the sense that the only solutions are public solutions. This focus on public policy as a solution is one of the book’s most thought-provoking yet least explained arguments.

Further learning: