Voluntary migration, which is undertaken primarily for economic improvement, is abetted by households having enough private wealth to afford the migrate. One form of migration that is almost entirely dependent on household wealth is international education at the college and even high school level. Vacation travel abroad is almost entirely dependent on household wealth.

The chart below shows the growth of global houseold liquid assets (such as bank accounts) and home ownership since 1990. Home ownership is in part an investment with potential to fund other spending by home loans. Note the huge growth of  household assets, driven by the entrance of Asians into the middle class and the global rise of home ownership and home prices. Note that this trend greatly exceeds the trend in global gross domestic product.

The growth of household assets and GDP was interrupted by the COVID pandemic. Today, with the reduction in inflation and expected reduction in interest rates, we should expect a high rate of growth in discretionary temporary migration and demand for permanent migration (the latter severely constrained by immigration caps).