THE global SOCIETY
al migrants now make up 3.5 per cent of the global population - a record high
THE number of international migrants around the world reached an estimated 272 million people this year, according to the United Nations (UN). The number of people who are living in a country other than where they are from has increased by 99 million since 2000, when there were 173 million migrants across the world.
It means that international migrants now make up 3.5 per cent of the global population - compared to 2.9 per cent 19 years ago.
The increase has partly been driven by a rise in the number of asylum seekers and refugees.
Separate figures show that between 2010 and 2017 - the latest data available - the number of refugees and asylum seekers around the world increased by about 13 million. That accounts for more than 10 per cent of the increase in the total number of all international migrants.
Northern Africa and Western Asia hosts the largest proportion of refugees and asylum seekers, at 46 per cent, followed by sub-Saharan Africa (21 per cent).
The estimates of the total number of international migrants are based on official national statistics of foreign populations gathered from censuses.
A migrant is defined as “anyone who changes their country of usual residence”.
At a world regional level, Europe hosts the largest number of international migrants (82 million), followed by Northern America (59 million) and Northern Africa and Western Asia (49 million).
At a country level, about half of all international migrants reside in just 10 countries, with the USA hosting the largest number of international migrants (51 million), equal to about 19 per cent of the world’s total.
Germany and Saudi Arabia host the joint-second largest number of migrants (13 million each), followed by the Russian Federation (12 million), the United Kingdom (10 million), the United Arab Emirates (9 million), France, Canada and Australia (around eight million each) and Italy (six million).
A third of all international migrants originate from only 10 countries, with India as the lead country of origin, accounting for about 18 million persons living abroad.
Migrants from Mexico constituted the second largest “diaspora” (12 million), followed by China (11 million), the Russian Federation (10 million) and the Syrian Arab Republic (eight million). According to the UN, most international migrants move between countries located within the same region.