The latest World Migration Report from the UN’s migration agency IOM shows migration is continuing to increase at a faster rate across the globe but the orderly transfer of people has come under threat from rising nationalism and continuing conflicts.

There are currently 272 million migrants comprising 3.5 per cent pf the world’s population.

The report, which looks at the two largely pre-pandemic years up to 2020 says Europe and Asia continue to host the largest numbers of migrants with 87 and 86 million international migrants, or 61 per cent of the global number.

Next is North America, with almost 59 million international migrants in 2020 or 21 per cent of the global numbers, Africa at 9 per cent, Latin America and the Caribbean at 5 per cent, and Oceania at 3 per cent.

“When compared with the size of the population in each region, shares of international migrants in 2020 were highest in Oceania, North America and Europe, where international migrants represented, respectively, 22 per cent, 16 per cent and 12 per cent of the total population.

Australia, arguably has the highest proportion of migrants of any country with 30/1 per cent of the population born overseas. Only the UAE with 88 per cent and Saudi Arabia 38 per cent have more – but these are mostly foreign temporary workers who will never achieve citizenship.

The proportion of international migrants is relatively small in Asia and Africa – 1.8 per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively – and Latin America and the Caribbean at 2.3 per cent, the report says.

“However, Asia experienced the most remarkable growth from 2000 to 2020, at 74 per cent or around 37 million people in absolute terms. Europe experienced the second largest growth during this period, with an increase of 30 million international migrants, followed by an increase of 18 million international migrants in North America and 10 million in Africa, it says.

But the report points out that the vast majority of people continue to live in the countries in which they were born – only one in 30 are migrants.

The current global estimate is that there were around 281 million international migrants in the world in 2020, which equates to 3.6 per cent of the global population.

“Overall, the estimated number of international migrants has increased over the past five decades. The total estimated 281 million people living in a country other than their countries of birth in 2020 was 128 million more than in 1990, and over three times the estimated number in 1970,” the report says.

It says that most migrants do not travel across national borders; much larger numbers migrate within countries – an estimated 740 million internal migrants in 2009.

“But the increase in international migrants has been evident over time – both numerically and proportionally – and at a slightly faster rate than previously anticipated,” the report says.

Although there are only a small proportion of the world’s population overall who are international migrants, about 3.6 per cent, there is a wide variation at the country level. In some countries, such as United Arab Emirates, over 88 per cent of the population are international migrants.

The report says multiple factors have shaped migration “corridors” over the years.

“Long-term data shows that international migration is not uniform across the world but is shaped by economic, geographic, demographic and other factors resulting in distinct migration patterns, such as migration “corridors” developed over many years,” it says.

“Migration corridors represent an accumulation of migratory movements over time and provide a snapshot of how migration patterns have evolved into significant foreign-born populations in specific destination countries.”

The report also looked at remittances – financial transfers made by migrants directly to families or communities in their countries of origin.

World Bank data showed that in 2019, India, China, Mexico, the Philippines and France were the top five remittance recipient countries, although India and China were well above the rest, with total inward remittances exceeding $67 billion for each country.

“High-income countries are almost always the main source of remittances. For decades, the United States has consistently been the top remittance-sending country, with a total outflow of $71.6 billion in 2019, followed by the United Arab Emirates ($45 billion), Saudi Arabia ($31.2 billion), Switzerland ($28.2 billion), and Germany ($24.1 billion),” the report says.

Then report’s authors say that currently (pre-pandemic) we are in the midst of profound global transformations, and that the resultant changes to our daily lives are impacting the current environment in which migration occurs and is discussed.

“The world has witnessed historic change at the global level with United Nations Member

States coming together to finalize two global compacts on the international manifestations of migration and displacement: the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, and the Global Compact on Refugees,” the report says.

“The finalisation of the compacts is a result of decades-long efforts by States, international

organisations, civil society organizations and other actors to improve how migration is governed at the international level.

“The unfortunate reality is that there have been major migration and displacement events during the last two years; events that have caused great hardship and trauma as well as loss of life.

“Foremost have been the displacements of millions of people due to conflict (such as within and from the Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan), extreme violence (such as inflicted upon Rohingya forced to seek safety in Bangladesh) or severe economic and political instability (such as faced by millions of Venezuelans).

There has also been growing recognition of the impacts of environmental and climate change on human mobility (such as planned migration/relocation and displacement), including as part of global efforts and international policy mechanisms to address the broader impacts of climate change.

Highlights of the World Migration Report

• 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 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)
• 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
• 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
• 52 per cent of the global refugee population was under 18 years of age
• 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).

See the full report here: The World Migration Report 2020 (iom.int)