Migration in Oceania is significant, with almost six million international migrants in the region in 2000. It shows the highest percentage per regional population globally and one of the highest rates of migration, growing at a rate of 2.1 per cent annually (International Organisation of Migration 2005). As seen elsewhere, there are more female than male international migrants in the Oceania region (Global Commission on International Migration 2005: 83).

The immigrant countries of Oceania, such as Australia and New Zealand, have experienced large emigrant flows in recent years. For example, during 2002–03, 50,463 people left Australia permanently, with most going to the UK, the USA and Asia. Similarly, New Zealand had a permanent emigration of 62,300 people during 2003–04 (International Organisation of Migration 2005: 130). Australasia (Australia and New Zealand), however, remains one of the major labour markets in Oceania, attracting more skilled immigrants worldwide including from Fiji and the other Pacific Island countries. In 2000, there were 5.8 million migrants in Australia alone (Global Commission on International Migration 2005).

Many small island countries in the Pacific region, such as Tonga and Samoa, have gained from the outflow of human capital resources largely to the Pacific Rim metropolitan countries, through the generation of foreign exchange from remittances sent by emigrants. According to Small and Dixon (2004), in the case of Tonga, ‘it is migration, along with remittances of cash and goods from [those] who live and work overseas, that keeps the Tongan economy afloat’. Remittances are its major source of foreign exchange, accounting for about 50 per cent of GDP in 2002. About 75 per cent of all Tongan households reported receiving remittances from overseas and in some villages, remittances accounted for as much as 50 per cent of all household income. The inflow has helped in economic growth and development in the Pacific MIRAB economies (Bertram and Watters 1985).