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Heavy out-migration underlines economic conditions in Marshall Islands

Posted on 30 November 2022

The Marshall Islands had its highest-ever sustained out-migration over the past five years, according to a statistical report released earlier this week.  

The Marshall Islands Fiscal Year 2021 Statistical Appendices, shows that out-migration doubled in the five-year period from 2017-2021 compared to the 2007-2011 period. 

A stagnant economy with few new jobs in recent years, consistently poor results in public school education, and medical care needs of a population riddled with diabetes have combined to spur out-migration to the US. Marshall Islanders, like citizens of the other freely associated states in the north Pacific, enjoy visa-free travel to the United States.