International Migration

People move across national borders for various reasons, including the pull of family and economic opportunity, and the push of violence or the threat thereof.  The following five facts offer a quick take of current migration dynamics and trends worldwide.    

Thanks to Learning Life intern Samantha MacFarlane for her assistance in researching and writing these facts.  

Top five immigrant countries

The five countries with the largest number of immigrants in 2015 were:

United States: 47 million

Germany: 12 million

Russian Federation: 12 million

Saudi Arabia: 10 million

United Kingdom: 9 million

Source: United Nations Population Division.  International Migration 2015.

USA tops illegal immigration

The USA has 5% of the world’s population, but 20% of the world’s migrants, and is the only industrialized nation in the world where over 25% of its migrants are illegal.

Source: Population Reference Bureau.  Global Migration Trends Infographic.

Three trends spurring immigration

Since World War II, substantial improvements in communications (especially the internet, social media and cell phones) and transportation as well as the expansion of human rights have facilitated international migration.

Source: Population Reference Bureau.  Global Migration Trends Infographic.

Historic world refugee crisis

The number of refugees, those displaced by war, or seeking asylum has reached an all-time high: nearly 60 million people worldwide at the end of 2015, compared to 51 million in 2013, and 38 million in 2005.

The main cause of the growth is the war in Syria. Those fleeing conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia comprised 53% of refugees worldwide in 2014.  Lebanon, Jordan and Nauru (an island nation in the Pacific) were the top host countries for refugees in 2014, by proportion of their countries’ populations.

Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).  Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2014.

Half of Refugees Are Children

Children 18 and under constituted 51% of refugees worldwide in 2014, up from 41% in 2009, and the highest percentage in a decade.

Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).  Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2014.