A/71/285 migrants per year, more than any other geographical region in the world, 1 and is on track to overtake Europe as the area hosting the largest number of migrants in the near future. Women make up 48 per cent of all international migrants. In Europe and North America, the majority of migrants are female, while in Africa and Western Asia, the majority of migrants are male. Approximately 15 per cent of all international migrants are younger than 19 years of age. 9. Ageing populations have caused a shift in demographics that has led to labour shortages. In 2010, for the first time, more workers were retiring from the European labour market than joining it. By 2030, if trends continue, the labour shortage in Europe is likely to rise to 8.3 million workers. At the same time, many member States of the European Union have fertility rates below the rate of replacement. Similarly, by 2020, large economies such as Canada, China, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation will also face labour shortages. 10. These demographic shifts will add pressure and impetus to the need to balance labour supply and demand. Currently, 72 per cent of migrants are of work ing age, a factor that could contribute to bridging the gap in “ageing economies”. To meet employment targets, States could harness the capacity of these migrants by employing a complex migration policy mix and reconsidering how they utilize their skills (see A/70/59). Employers could embrace diversity and rely on recruitment from a global labour force, as migrants with all kinds of skills will be required for many sectors of the economy. 11. Many migrants move voluntarily in a safe and regular manner and live and work in conditions in which their labour and human rights are respected. In some circumstances, families are reunified. Others are forced to migrate as a result of push factors, including poverty, discrimination, violence, conflict, political upheaval and poor governance, and pull factors, including official or unacknowledged labour needs, as explained above, or for family reunification. Children are disproportionately represented among those forcibly displa ced. In the context of natural disasters and climate change, migration is increasingly seen as an adaptation measure ensuring resilience through planned mobility. In the process of migration, many face exploitation, discrimination, abuse and other human ri ghts violations. 12. Putting up a barrier between push and pull factors to prevent mobility without responding to the need to leave and the need for workers creates conditions for the creation of a flourishing underground labour market. Any attempt at “sealing” borders without offering more accessible, regular, safe and affordable avenues for migration will continue to fail on a massive scale. 13. It is paradoxical that, in the name of securing their borders, some States have actually lost control of them owing to the fact that flexible and opportunistic smuggling rings are often ahead of the game. Prohibitive and repressive policies, without regular migration channels for asylum seekers and much -needed low-wage migrants, only entrench smuggling operations and underground labour markets, resulting in more deaths at sea and more human rights violations. 14. The militarization of border control, which includes “push-backs” at land and sea, creates unnecessary suffering and violations of human rights and humani tarian law at borders: the vast majority of migrants are innocuous. “Fighting the __________________ 1 4/24 Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, International migrant stock 2015 (see www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/data/estimates2/estimates15.shtml). 16-13509