Rural communities in North Africa and the Middle East are confronted with a myriad of context-specific challenges. While food security is rising on the global and regional agendas, countries are experiencing a demographic decline in rural areas, important shortcomings in rural development and environmental degradation resulting from resource overexploitation and climate change. For concerned communities, the conjunction and intensification of these trends raises serious questions as to their ability to cope now and in the near future. This study is devoted to the analysis of the migration phenomenon in the South Mediterranean’s rural areas. It focuses on identifying and explaining rural trends of migration, including incoming and returning flows. To do so it draws on a multi-disciplinary and synthetic examination of the situation in five countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. The results and recommendations arising from the study are meant to consolidate knowledge on migration in the Euro-Mediterranean region in line with the target 10.7 of the UN sustainable development goals to achieve safe, orderly and regular migration.
Policy by percentage: Rethinking the return rate
Released 10.03.2026
Policymakers in the EU are quick to assert that migrant return rates are too low, calling for new measures to return those with no right to stay. However, this sole focus on the return rate is counterproductive because it can overlook important operational and procedural realities that shape return outcomes. This calls for a broader set of policy responses, including the better tracking of departures, closer monitoring of post-return outcomes, and greater attention to national practices in issuing return decisions.
