What explains the growing resentment towards migrants

Across Europe and beyond, national football teams feature immigrants prominently, while leaders of migrant or diasporic backgrounds hold public office in various countries. Aging populations, such as Japan's, rely on foreign workers to address labor shortages, and India's skilled workforce supports technological infrastructure worldwide. The World Migration Report 2026 advocates for well-managed migration, emphasizing migrants' contributions to innovation, economic stability, and social co-existence.

Despite migration's benefits, there's a growing resentment towards immigrants. Contemporary discussions of migration often portray migrants as outsiders draining resources and disrupting national culture. Populist politics exploit native concerns about jobs and welfare, promoting anti-immigrant nativism. This sentiment is fueled by a strict insider-outsider binary and the idea that migrants pose a threat to the country's social order.

However, the demographic and economic advantages of migration should be considered. Switzerland's geographer Ernst Ravenstein identified migration as primarily economic in the 1880s. Later, sociologist Everett Lee explained migration through push and pull factors, refining the economic nature of the phenomenon. Economist Michael Piore argued that developed economies depend on cheap migrant labor for low-wage jobs.

Sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein's world-systems theory views migration as a consequence of global capitalism, highlighting the exploitation of peripheral economies by core nations.

As countries age and face labor shortages, migrants increasingly fill essential roles in healthcare, technology, and manufacturing. Populist leaders exploit these trends, promising to protect native jobs and welfare. However, the economic and demographic necessity of migration must be balanced with the potential benefits it brings to host societies.