Denied Departure: Mapping Emigration Bans in Asia and Africa 1960–2023

Abstract

Origin-state restrictions on legal exit play a crucial role in shaping international mobility but remain largely undermeasured in migration governance research, which has focused primarily on destination-country immigration control. This paper introduces the Emigration Ban Indicator (EBI), the first time-varying, disaggregated measure of documented prohibitions on legal exit, covering 25 Asian and African countries from 1960 to 2023. The EBI records the presence and population coverage of six ban types—occupation bans, military conscription, women-specific, men-specific, general, and other—while its bilateral version captures destination-specific restrictions. Our analysis shows that, contrary to widespread belief, emigration bans have not become less common; rather, broad population-wide bans have given way to more targeted restrictions, especially on specific occupations. Patterns vary sharply by region: occupation bans, particularly those on domestic workers, concentrate in South and Southeast Asia, while military conscription bans dominate North Africa and the Horn of Africa. Different ban types are embedded in distinct political, gendered, labor market, and geopolitical contexts, and emigration bans should not be equated with immobility or the achievement of stated policy objectives. The EBI provides a new empirical basis for studying origin-state exit control and speaks to debates on migration governance, mobility inequality, and the right to leave.