INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION

Introduction:

• Mobility is a basic human condition and throughout history a

certain share of the population has always migrated.

• The long-term and growing body of evidence on migration and

mobility shows that migration is in large part related to the
broader global economic, social, political and technological
transformations that are affecting a wide range of high-priority
policy issues.

Data and information on migration and migrants:

• The number of international migrants globally in 2019: 272 million

(3.5% of the world’s population).

• 52 per cent of international migrants were male; 48 per cent were

female

• 74 per cent of all international migrants were of working age (20–

64 years).

• India continued to be the largest country of origin of international

migrants

• India had the largest number of migrants living abroad (17.5

million), followed by Mexico and China (11.8 million and 10.7
million respectively).

• The top destination country remained the United States (50.7

million international migrants).
• The number of migrant workers declined slightly in high income
countries while increasing elsewhere.

• Between 2013 and 2017, high-income countries experienced a

slight drop in migrant workers (from 112.3 million to 111.2
million). Upper middle-income countries observed the biggest
increase (from 17.5 million to 30.5 million).

• Globally, male migrant workers outnumbered female migrant

workers by 28 million in 2017. There were 96 million male migrant
workers(58%) and 68 million female migrant workers(42%).

• International remittances increased to USD 689 billion in 2018.

• The top 3 remittance recipients were India (USD 78.6 billion),

China (USD 67.4 billion) and Mexico (USD 35.7 billion).

• The United States remained the top remittance-sending country

(USD 68.0 billion) followed by the United Arab Emirates (USD 44.4
billion) and Saudi Arabia (USD 36.1 billion).

• The global refugee population was 25.9 million in 2018.

• 20.4 million refugees were under the mandate of the United

Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and 5.5 million
were refugees under the mandate of the United Nations Relief
and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Near
East.

• 20.4 million refugees were under the mandate of the United

Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and 5.5 million
were refugees under the mandate of the United Nations Relief
 and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Near
East.

• The number of internally displaced persons due to violence and

conflict reached 41.3 million

• This was the highest number on record since the Internal

Displacement Monitoring Centre began monitoring in 1998.

• The Syrian Arab Republic had the highest number of people

displaced (6.1 million) followed by Colombia (5.8 million) and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (3.1 million).

• The number of stateless persons globally in 2018 was 3.9 million

• Bangladesh had the largest number of stateless persons (around

906,000). It was followed by Côte d’Ivoire (692,000) and Myanmar
(620,000).

• A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her

country because of persecution, war or violence. A refugee has a
well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social
group. Most likely, they cannot return home or are afraid to do
so. War and ethnic, tribal and religious violence are leading causes
of refugees fleeing their countries.

• 69% of those displaced across borders come from just five

countries: Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South
Sudan and Myanmar.

• An internally displaced person, or IDP, is someone who has been

forced to flee their home but never cross an international border.
 These individuals seek safety anywhere they can find it—in nearby
towns, schools, settlements, internal camps, even forests and
fields. IDPs, which include people displaced by internal strife and
natural disasters, are the largest group that UNHCR assists.

• Unlike refugees, IDPs are not protected by international law or

eligible to receive many types of aid because they are legally
under the protection of their own government.

• Countries with some the largest internally displaced populations

are Colombia, Syria, Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Yemen.

• A stateless person is someone who is not a citizen of any country.

Citizenship is the legal bond between a government and an
individual, and allows for certain political, economic, social and
other rights of the individual, as well as the responsibilities of
both government and citizen. A person can become stateless due
to a variety of reasons, including sovereign, legal, technical or
administrative decisions or oversights.

• Asylum Seeker: When people flee their own country and seek
sanctuary in another country, they apply for asylum – the right to
be recognized as a refugee and receive legal protection and
material assistance. An asylum seeker must demonstrate that his
or her fear of persecution in his or her home country is well-
founded. 

Major sources of International migration data:

• United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN

DESA),
 • the International Labour Organization (ILO),

• the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),

• United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees

(UNRWA)

• the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC)

• the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and

• the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

(OECD),

Drivers:

War, Civil War and Conflict:

• Sudden and large-scale flows of refugees and asylum seekers, but

also of irregular migrants, are almost exclusively caused by violent
events such as war, civil war or other internal violent conflicts.

• In 2018, some 57 percent of all refugees worldwide came from

Syria, Afghanistan or South Sudan.

• The number of refugees, i.e. displaced persons residing outside

their home country, increased between 1993 and 2018 by 14.1
percent – from a total 17.8 million to 20.4 million.

• During the same period, the number of Internally Displaced

Persons (IDPs) increased by more than nine times, from a total of
4.2 million to 41.3 million (UNHCR 2019).
 • • Today most conflicts are internal to a state. They cause less
casualties than inter-state conflicts, but result in increased
displacement.

Demography and Migration:

• By 2015, the world’s population had reached 7.4 billion. Based on

projected fertility levels, the world’s population is projected to
grow to 9.1 billion by 2050 (UNDESA 2018).

• Today, 60 percent of all persons aged 60 or above live in countries

of the Global South, a share expected to increase to 79 percent in
2050 (UNDESA 2017).

• The share of persons aged 60 or above among the total

population in these countries will increase from 8 percent to 20
percent over the same period.

• These projections are particularly important with regard to

migration. The need to financially support parents and other
economically dependent family members back home is one of the
main motives for migrants.

• Demographic ageing is not exclusive to the Global North. In all

world regions, it creates opportunities, pressures and demands
that will drive migration more than in the past.

Urbanisation:

• Growing urbanisation will increase the number of people who

have experienced internal mobility and are prepared to move
abroad.
 • In the mid-1970s, approximately 38 percent of the world
population lived in cities; today this share is about 55 percent -
and in 2050, it is expected to be 68 percent.

Socio-Economic Development:

• It is commonly acknowledged that it is not poverty which causes

migration but economic and social development – and
development brings fundamental changes within a society.

Income Disparities:

• Labour migration is largely driven by wage gaps and these trends

imply that with regard to relative earning opportunities a move
from a number of African, but also Asian, regions to Europe is
becoming more attractive.

• • The growing need to cater for elderly relatives will pressure

more people into migrating to world regions with better earning
prospects.

Revolutions in Technology, Communications and Transport:

• A young, global elite has the know-how and means to move

quickly between world regions and adapt swiftly to new
environments.

• Values, views and aspirations have become truly global in the

process and have produced a global community able and willing
to move and live wherever opportunities are most promising.

Climate Change and Environmental Migration:

 • Environmental factors and climate change are generally not
singular causes of displacement and migration. Their impact
comes in conjunction with other drivers such as exclusion,
poverty, inequitalities, land issues, demographic developments,
inter-group tensions and conflict.

• Environmental factors drive internal rather than international

migration. Increased internal displacement, however, might also
increase the potential for cross-border mobility.

Historical trends:

• Between 1500 and 1800, during the mercantile period, Europe

accounted for the majority of global migratory flows, which were
the result of processes of colonisation and economic growth
under mercantile capitalism.

• Europeans occupied large parts of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and

Oceania over the course of three centuries.

• Considering their primitive technology, plantations needed a lot of

inexpensive labour. Indentured labourers from East Asia helped
fill this need, but the most crucial source of labour was the forced
migration of African slaves.

• Over three centuries, nearly 10 million Africans were imported

into the Americas, where they radically altered the social and
demographic makeup of the continent alongside European
colonists.

• Early in the nineteenth century, the second wave of emigration,

known as the industrial period, started as a result of the
 industrialization of Europe and its extension to former colonies in
the new world.

• Between 1800 and 1925, more than 48 million people left

industrialized countries
Europe in search of a new life in the Americas and Oceania. Of
these migrants, 85 percent went to five destination: Argentina,
Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States (the only
one to receive60 percent). 

• The main sending countries are the United Kingdom, Italy,

Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, of which exported a large
portion of their potential population during their
industrialization. 

• U.S. immigrants between 1820 and 1920, 88 percent were from

Europe, 3 percent were from Asia, and 8 percent came from the
Americas.

• The era of large-scale European migration ended with the

outbreak of World War I.

• The emigration of Europeans came to a sudden halt and ushered

in a period of limited migration that lasted four decades. 

• Nevertheless migration had increased somewhat in the early

1920s, by which time several important receiving countries had
through restrictive immigration laws.

• The onset of the Great Depression virtually stopped all

international movement in 1929, and except for a small amount
of return migration.
 • During the 1940s, international migration was checked by the
Second World War.

• The mobility that occurred largely comprised the movements of

refugees and displaced persons.

• Post-industrial migration appeared in the 1960s.

• Immigration has become a truly global phenomenon as the

number and diversity of both sending and receiving countries has
increased and the global supply of migrants has shifted from
Europe to developing countries. 

International migrants: numbers and trends:

• UN DESA produces estimates of the number of international

migrants globally.

• In 2020, almost 281 million people lived in a country other than

their country of birth, or about 128 million more than 30 years
earlier, in 1990 (153 million), and over three times the estimated
number in 1970 (84 million).
International migrants, 1970–2020

• Europe is currently the largest destination for international migrants, with

87 million migrants (30.9% of the international migrant population),

• followed closely by the 86 million international migrants living in Asia

(30.5%).

• Northern America is the destination for 59 million international migrants

(20.9%),

• followed by Africa with 25 million migrants (9%).

• Over the past 15 years, the number of international migrants in Latin

America and the Caribbean has more than doubled from around 7 million
to 15 million, making it the region with the highest growth rate of
international migrants and the destination for 5.3 per cent of all
international migrants.
• Around 9 million international migrants live in Oceania, or about
3.3 per cent of all migrants.

• Oceania has the largest share of international migrants as a proportion of

the total population, with 22 per cent of the population having been born
in another country.

• Northern America has the second largest share of international migrants at

15.9 per cent, followed by Europe at 11.6 per cent.

• Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia have international
migrant shares of 2.3, 1.9, and 1.8 per cent respectively.
• United States of America remains the primary destination for
migrants, at over 51 million international migrants.

• Germany has become the second most prominent destination,

with nearly 16 million international migrants,

• while Saudi Arabia is the third largest destination country for

international migrants, at 13 million.

• The Russian Federation and the United Kingdom round out the
top five destination countries, with about 12 million and 9 million
international migrants respectively.

• With nearly 18 million people living abroad, India has the largest
emigrant population in the world, making it the top origin country
globally.

• Mexico is the second most significant origin country at around 11

million.

• The Russian Federation is the third largest origin country,

followed closely by China (around 10.8 million and 10 million
respectively).

• The fifth most significant origin country is the Syrian Arab

Republic, with over 8 million people living abroad, mainly as
refugees due to large-scale displacement over the last decade.
• Most international migrants (around 78%) were of working age
(between 15 and 64 years of age).

• Since 1990, the share of international migrants age 19 and

younger has dropped from 18.9 per cent to 14.6 per cent, while
international migrants older than 64 have remained steady at
around 12.2 per cent.

• There is currently a larger number of male than female

international migrants worldwide, and the gap has increased over
the past 20 years.

• In 2000, the male to female split was 50.6 to 49.4 per cent (or 88

million male migrants and 86 million female migrants).

• In 2020 the split is 51.9 to 48.0  per  cent, with 146 million male
migrants and 135 million female migrants.

• The share of female migrants has been decreasing since 2000,

while the share of male migrants has increased by 1.4 percentage
points.
Migrant workers

• The latest available estimates indicate that there were roughly

169 million migrant workers around the world in 2019, accounting
for nearly two thirds (62%) of the (then) 272 million global stock
of international migrants.

• In 2019, 67  per  cent of migrant workers were residing in high-

income countries – an estimated 113.9 million people. An
additional 49 million migrant workers (29%) were living in middle-
income countries, and 6.1 million (3.6%) were in low-income
countries.

Figure: Migrant workers by destination country income level 2013,

2017 and 2019
 • Male migrant workers outnumbered female migrant workers by
28.8 million in 2019, with 98.9 million males (58.5%) and 70.1
million females (41.5%), in a context where males comprised a
higher number of international migrants of working age (128
million or 52.1%, compared with 117.6 million or 47.9% females).

• In terms of geography, 102.4 million or almost 61 per cent of all

migrant workers resided in three subregions: Northern America;
the Arab States; and Northern, Southern and Western Europe.

Figure : Geographic distribution of migrant workers by sex (millions),

2019
International Remittances:

Table: Top 10 countries receiving/sending international remittances

(2005–2020) (current USD billion)
Refugees and asylum seekers:
• By the end of 2020, there was a total of 26.4 million refugees
globally, with 20.7 million under UNHCR’s mandate and 5.7
million refugees registered by the United Nations Relief and
Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Near East.

• There were also approximately 4.1 million people seeking

international protection and awaiting determination of their
refugee status, referred to as asylum seekers.

• Of the refugees under UNHCR’s mandate at the end of 2020, the

top 10 countries of origin – the Syrian Arab Republic (6.7 million),
Afghanistan (2.6 million), South Sudan (2.2 million), Myanmar, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, the Sudan, the
Central African Republic, Eritrea and Burundi – accounted for
more than 80 per cent of the total refugee population.

• In 2020, for the fifth consecutive year, Turkey was the largest host
country in the world, with over 3.6 million refugees, mainly
Syrians. Reflecting the significant share of Syrians in the global
refugee population.

• Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran were also among the top
10 refugee-hosting countries, as the two principal hosts of
refugees from Afghanistan, the second  largest origin country.

• According to UNHCR, the least developed countries – such as

Bangladesh, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan, the Sudan, the United Republic of
Tanzania, Uganda and Yemen – hosted 27 per cent of the global
total (6.7 million refugees).