Migration aspirations in Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic: A social media analysis

This paper explores trends in migration conversations on social media from three African countries – Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria – to determine what these can tell us about migration aspirations. Our analysis of social media posts has shown that migration aspirations peaked midway through the COVID-19 pandemic – likely due to the pandemic-induced economic downturn – with increased interest in student visa applications, job opportunity searches and emigration procedures. We conclude that migrants from Africa use social media to inform their migration decisions, and to facilitate exchange of goods and services among transnational communities.

Our authors explain

In this video, Amir Abdul Reda highlights a key takeaway from the research done for this paper, focusing on the impact of (mis)information.

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