OccupierEdge_Ed.4_US 5_17

MOVING BY THE MILLIONS

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

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