The Strategist

Number of migrants grows to 272M people, makes up 3.5% of global population



09/18/2019 - 10:20



Growing number of international migrants in the world continues to outstrip the world's population growth. The figure has already amounted to 272 million people, continuing the upward trend in all regions of the world, the UN report says.



Number of international migrants in the world reached 272 million people in 2019, which is 51 million more compared to 2010.

Currently, international migrants make up 3.5% of the world's population, compared with 2.8% in 2000 according to new estimates published by the UN.

In 2019, Europe has the largest number of international migrants (82 million), followed by North America (59 million) and North Africa and West Asia (49 million).

At the country level, about half of all international migrants live in only 10 countries, with the United States accepting the largest number of international migrants (51 million), which is about 19% of the total number in the world.

Germany and Saudi Arabia take second and third places in terms of the number of migrants (13 million in each country), followed by the Russian Federation (12 million), Great Britain (10 million), United Arab Emirates (9 million), France, Canada and Australia (about 8 million in each country) and Italy (6 million).

A third of all international migrants come from ten countries, with India becoming the leading country of origin, with about 18 million people living abroad.

Migrants from Mexico made up the second largest diaspora in other countries (12 million), followed by China (11 million), the Russian Federation (10 million) and the Syrian Arab Republic (8 million).

The share of international migrants in the total population varies significantly across geographic regions, with the highest rates recorded in Oceania (including Australia and New Zealand) (21.2%) and North America (16.0%), and the lowest in Latin America and the Caribbean (1.8%), Central and South Asia (1.0%) and East and Southeast Asia (0.8%).

Most international migrants move between countries located in the same region. Most international migrants in sub-Saharan Africa (89%), East and Southeast Asia (83%), Latin America and the Caribbean (73%), and Central and South Asia (63%) came from regions in which they live.

In contrast, most international migrants who lived in North America (98%), Oceania (88%) and North Africa and West Asia (59%) were born outside their region of residence.

Forced movements across international borders continue to grow. Between 2010 and 2017 the total number of refugees and asylum seekers increased by approximately 13 million, representing almost a quarter of the increase in the number of all international migrants. North Africa and West Asia received about 46% of the total number of refugees and asylum seekers, followed by sub-Saharan Africa (21%).

source: un.org