system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How did one who was going to immigrate determine whether the country had a high quality of life before 1990?

The Human Development Report is published every year. The Human Development Report 1990 has a list of countries by whether the country has high human development and whether the country has high-income and whether the country is industrial. A country which has high human development and has high-income and is industrial is a good country to live in. One who was going to immigrate could read the Human Development Report 1990 to determine which country to live in or whether the country had a high quality of life. The first Human Development Report was published in 1990. How did one who was going to immigrate determine whether the country had a high quality of life before 1990? Was there a list of countries which had high quality of life before 1990? How did one know that Japan had a higher quality of life and was a better country to live in than Niger before 1990?
gpt
Do you think people were completely ignorant about the world before 1990, when the Human Development Reports were published? Do you think many migrants even read those?

People in migrant-sending countries are not stupid, especially not the ones who have the means migrate thousands of kilometers across the world. They can see in every form of media what the world looks like, what the western countries look like. There's a reason for strong migration links between colonial powers and there former subjects. People prefer to go to what they already know about. 

Then, once the first migrants arrive, they create networks between each other in the receiving country and between their folks back home. This in turn creates additional migration from their home country. It makes after all more sense to go to a country where you've got relatives living and working, than to go to one where you don't know anyone.

Some reading on the subject:

* Portes, A. (Ed.). (1995). The Economic Sociology of Immigration: Essays on Networks, Ethnicity, and Entrepreneurship: Essays on Networks, Ethnicity, and Entrepreneurship.

* Granovetter, M. (2000). The economic sociology of firms and entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship: The social science view, 244-275.

* Massey, D. S. (1999). Why does immigration occur?: a theoretical synthesis (pp. 34-52). na.
* Portes, A., & Böröcz, J. (1989). Contemporary immigration: Theoretical perspectives on its determinants and modes of incorporation. International migration review, 606-630.