Each year, the EUDiF team updates its global mapping of diaspora engagement policies and practices in over 120. The findings from 2024 suggest an increasingly activity worldwide, with Africa leading the way both in policies and initiatives.

The latest update of the EUDiF global mapping identified three diaspora engagement policies, 12 government institutions and over 100 practices – sure signs that the diaspora-development ecosystem continues to evolve and innovate.

These new additions and more are now available to explore via the interactive map, regional subpages and the library via which you can download the individual country factsheets.

Factsheet glow-up

In an effort to continuously improve our research and how we present it, this year we have made some modifications to the country factsheets. Firstly, we moved information on diaspora engagement policies directly into the legislative and policy framework section, rather than giving it prime front-page position. This reflects an ongoing internal discussion on the necessity of a specific diaspora engagement policy in comparison to mainstreaming diaspora across policies.

Secondly, we shifted statistics on emigration down, starting the facts section instead with terminology and political rights alongside data on remittances. The reason is twofold: Firstly, emigration serves as a proxy for diaspora numbers, but there is a risk in this being misleading about the size of any given diaspora as it only shows the movement of people in a given year and does not factor in those already in the diaspora, or subsequent generations. Secondly, the rights to dual citizenship and voting from the diaspora are more symbolic of a state’s approach to including its diaspora, whilst remittances offer an insight into the financial implication of the diaspora in the country.

Whilst the information remains the same as in previous editions, the order in which it is presented carries meaning and we hope these tweaks will help readers in their analysis of diaspora engagement by country.

New numbers

In 2024, UNDESA released an updated dataset on International Migrant Stock – the first full set since 2019. These figures have been updated across our country factsheets, along with the remittances data from the World Bank which is updated each year.

At the same time, to increase transparency, we included an important disclaimer highlighting that data on emigration is used as a proxy.

Novel policies

This year, two diaspora engagement policies were identified: the Seychelles National Diaspora Policy 2024-2029 and retroactively the 2014 Kenya Diaspora Policy. This brings the total number of countries with dedicated policies to 34, more when counting draft policies, such as those newly drafted in Bangladesh, Dominica and Mozambique.

In addition, 33 policies with diaspora-related elements were found (some from 2024, others from earlier but which had not been previously identified). These are broader national or sectoral policies that, while not solely dedicated to diaspora engagement, include provisions that directly shape relations with diaspora.

The introduction of these policies suggests a growing interest in structuring diaspora engagement. This seems to be particularly the case in Africa and Asia, where over 70% of the policies were identified in an evenly distributed manner. Nevertheless, it is also important to highlight that policies were still found, though to a lesser extent, in the Pacific, Central Asia and Latin American and Caribbean.

Growing institutionalisation

In 2024, we classified a further 12 governmental institutions with a mandate for diaspora affairs. These range from ministerial and sub-ministerial bodies to regional and local offices, reflecting the growing recognition of diaspora engagement at multiple levels of governance.

More than half of these institutions are in Africa, while the rest are distributed as follows: two in Central Asia, two in Asia and one in the Latin America and the Caribbean. This suggests an increasing institutionalisation of diaspora engagement, led by the African continent but present around the world.

It is also important to highlight that three of the institutions identified predated 2024 and were missed in our previous updates.

Beyond policies: into action

Policies and institutions are only part of the story. Each year, we also document spotlight initiatives, which are concrete actions taken by governments to engage their diaspora.

In 2024 alone, we identified over 100 new initiatives covering over 30 different sectors. The most frequent focus of the activities centre around three core objectives:

• connecting with and within the diaspora via digital means,
• promoting skills transfer and expertise exchange between diaspora and countries of heritage
• encouraging investments from diaspora in their countries of heritage

Nevertheless, the distribution across sectors was quite balanced, which portrays the diversity of possibilities of diaspora engagement worldwide.

In terms of geographical distribution, Africa once again leads with slightly fewer than half of the initiatives identified, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean with one quarter. The remaining are roughly equally split between Asia, Central Asia and the Pacific.

Where to go next?

It would be impossible to summarise developments across more than 120 countries in a short article, yet the findings from the 2024 update suggest increasingly activity in diaspora engagement worldwide, with Africa spearheading both in policies and initiatives. If you would like to take a deeper dive, we invite you to explore our interactive map and individual factsheets in our library.

Country factsheets are not exhaustive as state-led diaspora engagement is always evolving. We value your input and encourage you to get in touch if you see something is missing or consider there would be a better way to represent the reality of diaspora engagement in that country. You can always share suggestions, fresh developments or missed information via email at EU-diaspora@icmpd.org.