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Migration is arguably the most
politically important topic in many of
the developed countries in the world.
Scenes of refugees risking their lives
crossing the Mediterranean as they seek
asylum in Europe from the Middle East
and Africa are common features on our
television news stories. Similar stories
happening in Asia where The United
Nations Refugee Agency estimates
there are 3.5m people seeking asylum
largely from Afghanistan and Myanmar.
Economic migration into Europe, and
within Europe, across Asia and into the
United States is an even bigger factor,
and driving some of the political shocks
of 2016, notably Brexit and the election
of Donald Trump.
The number of people living outside
of their home country in 2015 due to
economic migration was 243m people
(3.3% of the world’s population), whilst
refugees accounted for less than
20m. In 2015, two-thirds (67%) of all
international migrants were living in just
20 countries. The largest number of
international migrants (47m) resides in
The United States of America, equal to
about a fifth (19%) of the world’s total.
Germany and the Russian Federation
host the second and third largest
numbers of migrants worldwide (12m
each), followed by Saudi Arabia (10m)
and The United Kingdom (nearly nine
million).
International migrant stock at mid-year
2010
2015
Change Between
(2010-2015)
World
221,714,243
243,700,236
9.9%
Developed regions
132,560,325
140,481,955
6.0%
Developing regions
89,153,918
103,218,281
15.8%
Africa
16,840,014
20,649,557
22.6%
Asia
65,914,319
75,081,125
13.9%
Europe
72,374,755
76,145,954
5.2%
Latin America and the
Caribbean
8,238,795
9,233,989
12.1%
Central America
1,749,940
2,040,151
16.6%
South America
5,143,123
5,826,431
13.3%
North America
51,220,996
54,488,725
6.4%
Oceania
7,125,364
8,100,886
13.7%
Table 2:
International Migration
MOVING BY THE MILLIONS
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