Germany has become one of the major target zone of international migration, without having experience or significant tradition in this filed. This happened in a period when the scale of migration has become much greater than before due to the economic and social crises in the Third World and East Europe.

Perhaps the most important impact of globalisation is that it increases insecurity within society. The history of post-war welfare states come to an end. Ideologies of capitalism with a human face have turned out to be naive.

The paper is based upon a survey in 1998, and it shows a significant difference in the migration potential of women in different countries. The main motivation for migration is the presence of friends in other countries. Unemployment particularly encourages women to migrate. The article was first published in Ost-West Gegeninformationen.

Approaching the accession of the East Central European countries to the EU more and more experts attempt to estimate the likely migration potential of the transition countries. The results of available reasearch demonstrates that we cannot expect substantial immigration from Hungary to the EU.