258m migrants, UN says

UNITED NATIONS — An estimated 258 million people have left their birth countries and are now living in other nations — an increase of 49 percent since 2000, said the United Nations in a report.

The biennial study released on Monday, said the percentage of the world’s people who are international migrants has increased from 2.8 percent in 2000 to 3.4 percent this year.

But the report from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs said the percentage living in high-income countries rose from 9.6 percent in 2000 to 14 percent in 2017.

“Reliable data and evidence are critical to combat misperceptions about migration and to inform migration policies,” said Undersecretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Liu Zhenmin.

In September last year, all 193 UN member states adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants.

The countries agreed to implement well-managed policies and committed to sharing more equitably the burden of hosting refugees. They also agreed to protect the human rights of migrants and to counter xenophobia and intolerance toward migrants.

However, this month the United States said it was withdrawing from the pact.

This year, two-thirds of migrants were living in just 20 countries, the report said. The largest number, 49.8 million, or 19 percent of the global total, live in the US. Saudi Arabia, Germany and Russia are hosting the second, third and fourth largest amounts, at around 12 million, while the United Kingdom is fifth with nearly 9 million.