Why Welcoming Immigrants Advances Social Progress and Prosperity
With the recent launch of the Social Progress Index, the Skoll Foundation and other leading institutions have introduced a fresh lens through which to measure our advancement as a society and as nations. The Index provides a snapshot of countries’ progress across nearly 60 indicators, going beyond traditional measures like GDP to look at measures like access to knowledge and inclusion. It might come as a surprise to some that “tolerance of immigrants” was among these leading indicators of social progress. After all, with so many portrayals of immigrants in the media as dangerous threats, why would Skoll and others have chosen to prioritize their receptivity and welcome? The answer lies in a simple metaphor that speaks to why migration is increasingly being recognized as a force for positive development by the UN and other global institutions.