Senegal may be the country of Teranga (hospitality in Wolof), but its inhabitants are also candidates for migration. And contrary to the migratory trend of Africans in general, and West Africans in particular, who prefer to move within their continent, Senegalese migrate mostly to France. And the various studies conducted from 2013 to 2020 show that the choice of this destination has not changed for Senegalese.

According to the United Nations Population Division, which provides an estimate of the number of international migrants  around the world (origin and destination, countries, major regions, continents, age, gender, etc.), the number of Senegalese living abroad was estimated at more than 533,000 individuals in 2013, including 265,000 residing in Europe (49.7%),  251,000 in Africa (47%) and 16,000 in North America (3%). In Europe, France was the first country of residence with nearly 116,000 Senegalese established, followed by Italy (79,000) and Spain (59,000).

The working age group of 25-54 years, the most represented

As far as Senegalese are present in  the hexagon, the French agency specializing in the processing of demographic data and statistics, Statista, provides a figure lowerthan the projections of the above-mentioned office of the United Nations (UN).

Indeed, according to the June 2021 publication of this French research department, in total, the France welcomed nearly 72,700 Senegalese expatriates on its territoryin 2018.  Statista goes further by dividing the Senegalese community present in the country of Marianne, according to four age groups: under 15, 15-24, 25-54 and over 55.

According to the table presented by the French structure, more than half (39 392) of Senegalese living in France are between 24 and 54 years old. A very active age group in the professional and academic environment.

The second most represented age group of Senegalese in France is 55 years or older. There were 12,961 elderly citizens from Senegal. Then comes the very young. There were 12,339 under-14s in 2018. The 15-24 age group was the least represented with 8003 people.

WAEMU countries with the most nationals in Europe in 2020

From 2013 to 2020, the figures on the destinations of Senegalese abroad have evolved. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports that United Nations estimates indicate that around 700,000 Senegalese emigrants will reside in all countries of the world in 2020. But France remains the first choice of Senegalese who migrate. “France is by far the OECD country favoured by Senegalese emigrants: about 160,000 Senegalese emigrants resided in France in 2020. Then comes Italy, with 110,000 Senegalese emigrants, Spain with about 57,000 people, and the United States, with more than 32,000 Senegalese emigrants,” reports the official OECD website.

The same source indicates that Senegal is the WAEMU country with the largest number of emigrants (400,000) residing in OECD countries. The country of Teranga comes ahead of Côte d’Ivoire (about 240 000 emigrants) and Mali (about 170 000 emigrants). Since 2000, the number of Senegalese emigrants in OECD countries has increased significantly. They were about 140,000 in 2000, 258,000 in 2010 and 330,000 in 2015. Between 2000 and 2020, their overall workforce in OCDE countries increased by 185%.

 The Gambia, the first African destination for Senegalese migrants

Of the 700,000 Senegalese expatriates in the world, listed by the United Nations office specializing in population data, about 33% reside in a West African country, a workforce of about 230,000 emigrants, more than half of whom (133,000) is in The Gambia, a country almost landlocked in Senegal. According to these estimates, the other main West African destination countries for Senegalese emigrants in 2020 were Côte d’Ivoire (30 000 persons), Mali (24 000 persons), Mauritania (19 000 emigrants) and Guinea-Bissau (9 000 emigrants). Outside the West African region, Gabon (30,000 emigrants) and Congo (13,000 emigrants) are also significant destination countries for Senegalese emigrants.

According to the same source, Central Africa is the second African destination region for Senegalese migrants (42,000), settling mainly in Gabon (29,000), Congo (10,000) and the Central African Republic (3,000). North America has nearly 16 000 Senegalese, mainly between the United States (13 200) and Canada (3 000).

It is important to stress the difficulty of collecting reliable and up-to-date data from WAEMU governments in terms of the migration of their nationals. An observation shared by the EU, according to which “data on Senegalese emigrants outside OECD countries are incomplete and less precise than those available for OECD countries”. In Senegal, for example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, contacted by Dialogue Migration for an update on Senegalese staff abroad, did not wish to answer questions on the subject.