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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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This is the official number of people, living in countries others than the countries they were born in. Although not very significant compared to the total world population, they represent more significant percentage of the world urban population. More than that, these 200 million make a difference for tens of countries because of their financial remittances. As a significant element of what's called globalization, they change the perception of the population as a rather static element in the economy, compared to more fluid elements like the goods, services, and capitals. In fact, global migration is the strongest tool of modernization for many countries, making millions of other people dependent on economic development in far away countries.

Officially, people that live in country other than the country they were born in are 200 million worldwide. In fact, they are significantly more than that. Most countries don't count illegal migrants. Others don't count as immigrants those who were born in families of former emigrants. If, for example, for any reason, a guy born in Lebanon but living in Canada decides to move back to Lebanon, this won't be considered as international migration by the Lebanese government. The children of this guy that were born in Canada and reported to the Lebanese authorities would also not be considered as international migrants because of their parents' Lebanese nationality. In fact, however, these people on their way back to Lebanon may experience all ordeals that international migrants usually experience. This means that the real numbers of international migrations are in fact more important than those officially reported.

International migrants aren't dispersed equally around the globe. In fact, they are concentrated in few key areas: Western Europe, North America, Persian Gulf, Australia, and Southeast Asia. Other areas of interest, such as Russia and South America, are now emerging as points of attraction. There are significant points of attraction within Africa too. Within these rather limited areas, international migration is concentrated in not too many urban areas. This is the reason why 200 million people or approximately 3 percent of the world population, represent up to a half of the population, if not more than a half in certain urban areas. Within these urban areas, international migration makes huge difference in many fields, beginning with the labor market, going through some social services, and ending up with the housing market. In North America and Western Europe migrants are actually keeping many cities in livable condition.

In some areas the international migrants make all the difference between emptiness and civilization. International migrants in fact populate some regions in the Middle East from A to Z. New cities are being built from the desert. The same process goes in the northern parts of some Canadian provinces. In these cases the rush for exploiting new resources is so big that importing foreign migrants is the only economic solution.

Yet much important is the impact of these international migrants for their close and far relatives and friends that remain back home. For some countries the financial remittances sent back home from international migrants are comparable, if not more significant, than all other sources of foreign currency, including foreign aid, exports, and foreign direct investments. In these countries remittances are tantamount to modernization. The money sent back home helps local people enter the money civilization in opposition to the simple barter exchanges; this money helps local people educating at least some of their children, thus making them more prepared for the modern life; this money, everything else being equal, helps easing the painful process of initial modernization. Just imagine how many social upheavals in the West would have been avoided in the past, had the poor people there been blessed with the same financial manna?

These and many other processes around the world aren't fully intelligible without taking note of the people's movement. For example, a sudden rise in real estate prices in country X may be entirely due to immigrants' remittances. A process in the opposite direction may also be possible. Fresh money can build cities out of the desert; redirection of money flows, and therefore of people, can leave entire cities and civilizations fall back into oblivion.