Several factors contribute to the increase in the number of people living outside their country of origin. It is essential to know how migration has evolved over time in order to understand what migration will look like in the future.
As mobility and opportunities have greatly expanded throughout the world and living and studying abroad has become easier than ever before, we can surely expect to see these figures continue to rise.
Most migrants move to high-income countries, but they don’t necessarily go to one country in particular. Their hope is to benefit from the country’s economic strength and social stability.
Approximately half of the migrants move to Europe or Northern America, as you can see from the table. Northern Africa or Western Asia will be the home for almost 20% of those who remain.
As the infographic shows, no migrants chose to live in Oceania, other than migrants to Australia and New Zealand, which attract 3% of migrants.
At 18%, the US has the highest percentage of migrants among individual countries. Over 50.6 million migrants lived in the US in 2020.
Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the UK are the next four countries on the list, with a combined total of 50.2 million migrants. There has been an increase in migrants to the UK, Australia, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates since 1990.
What are the origins of these migrants?
Europe and Northern America account for 24% of all global migrants.
Despite the fact that these two areas attract the highest number of migrants, they also send the highest number of migrants abroad.
Next on the list is Central and Southern Asia, which accounts for 18% of the migrant population. The next largest source of migrants is in Latin America and the Caribbean, which account for 15% (attracting only 5%). Oceania accounts for 0% of migrants, while Australia/New Zealand makes up only 1%.
Among the reasons for migration are labor migration, family migration, and migration by students who have decided to study abroad.
The latter is often temporary, of course, with many students returning to their country of origin at some point.
