International Migration Report 2017: India tops world in number of migrants abroad

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) on 18 December 2017 released the International Migration Report 2017 on the occasion of International Migration Day.

As per the report, there are an estimated 258 million people living in a country other than their country of birth. This reflects an increase of 49 per cent in the number of migrants since 2000.

The data presented in the report are based on national statistics, population censuses as well as population registers and nationally representative surveys.

International migration makes an important contribution to population growth in many parts of the world and even reverses population decline in some countries or areas.

Region-wise highlights
• The report states that over 3 per cent of the world’s inhabitants today are international migrants, an increase from 2.8 per cent in 2000.

• Between 2000 and 2015, migration contributed 42 per cent of the population growth in Northern America and 31 per cent in Oceania.

• In Europe, the size of the total population would have declined during the period 2000-2015, if there have been no migration.

• In 2017, around 74 per cent of all international migrants were of working age or between 20 and 64 years of age.

• In Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the impact of migration on population growth is negative in most countries but the impact is less in comparison to other population changes.  

• More than six of every ten international migrants reside in Asia or Europe that host 80 million and 78 million migrants, respectively.

• Northern America hosts the third largest number of migrants (58 million), followed by Africa (25 million), Latin America and the Caribbean (9.5 million) and Oceania (8.4 million).

• In 2017, Asia and Europe were the regions of origin for the largest numbers of international migrants that is 106 million and 61 million respectively.

Migration in low and high income economies
• In 2017, high-income countries hosted 64 per cent that is 165 million migrants worldwide.

• The number of migrants residing in high-income countries mounted up from 9.6 per cent in 2000 to 14 per cent in 2017. High-income countries host 64 million of the 85 million migrants that were added since 2000.

• International migrants includes 26 million refugees or asylum seekers. Low and middle-income countries host nearly 22 million or 84 per cent of all refugees and asylum seekers.

Female migrants
• In 2017, 48.4 per cent of international migrants were women.

• Female migrants outnumbered males in all regions except Africa and Asia.

• In some countries of Asia, male migrants outnumbered females in the ration of three to one.

Top 5 hosts of international migrants
• The largest number of international migrants reside in the United States which hosts 19.8 million of international migrants.

• Saudi Arabia, Germany and the Russian Federation host the second, third and fourth largest numbers of migrants worldwide with around 12 million each.

• United Kingdom comes fifth in terms of hosting international migrants by hosting nearly 9 million migrants.

India tops world in number of migrants abroad
India has largest Diaspora in the world with more than 16.6 million people from India living overseas. The number of Indian-born persons residing abroad was 15.9 million in 2015.

Russia, China, Bangladesh, Syria, Pakistan and Ukraine have large migrant populations living abroad, ranging from 6 to 11 million each.

International Migrants Day 2017 observed globally

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