By Agencies
The International Migrant Stock 2019, a dataset released by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), provides the latest estimates of the number of international migrants by age, sex and origin for all countries and areas of the world.
India was the leading country of origin of international migrants in 2019
with a 17.5 million strong diaspora, according to new estimates released by the
United Nations, which said the number of migrants globally reached an estimated
272 million.
The estimates are based on official national statistics on the foreign-born
or the foreign population obtained from population censuses, population
registers or nationally representative surveys.
The report said that the top 10 countries of origin account for one-third of
all international migrants. In 2019, with 17.5 million persons living abroad,
India was the leading country of origin of international migrants.
Migrants from Mexico constituted the
second largest diaspora (11.8 million), followed by China (10.7 million),
Russia (10.5 million), Syria (8.2 million), Bangladesh (7.8 million), Pakistan
(6.3 million), Ukraine (5.9 million), the Philippines (5.4 million) and
Afghanistan (5.1 million).
India hosted 5.1 million
international migrants in 2019, less than the 5.2 million in 2015. International
migrants as a share of total population in India was steady at 0.4 per cent
from 2010 to 2019.
The country hosted 207,000 refugees,
the report said adding that refugees as a share of international migrants in
the country was four per cent. Among the international migrants in the country,
the female population was 48.8 per cent and the median age of international
migrants was 47.1 years. In India, the highest number of international migrants
came from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal. (garlandpediatricdental.com)
In 2019, regionally, Europe hosted
the largest number of international migrants (82 million), followed by Northern
America (59 million) and Northern Africa and Western Asia (49 million).
At the country level, about half of
all international migrants reside in just 10 countries, with the United States
of America hosting the largest number of international migrants (51 million),
equal to about 19 per cent of the world’s total.
Germany and Saudi Arabia host the
second and third largest numbers of migrants (13 million each), followed by
Russia (12 million), the United Kingdom (10 million), the United Arab Emirates
(9 million), France, Canada and Australia (around 8 million each) and Italy (6
million).
The share of international migrants
in total population varies considerably across geographic regions with the
highest proportions recorded in Oceania (including Australia and New Zealand)
(21.2 per cent) and Northern America (16.0 per cent) and the lowest in Latin
America and the Caribbean (1.8 per cent), Central and Southern Asia (1.0 per
cent) and Eastern and South-Eastern Asia (0.8 per cent).
A majority of international migrants
in sub-Saharan Africa (89 per cent), Eastern and South-Eastern Asia (83 per
cent), Latin America and the Caribbean (73 per cent), and Central and Southern
Asia (63 per cent) originated from the region in which they reside.
By contrast, most of the
international migrants that lived in Northern America (98 per cent), Oceania
(88 per cent) and Northern Africa and Western Asia (59 per cent) were born
outside their region of residence.
UN Under-Secretary-General for DESA
Liu Zhenmin said that “These data are critical for understanding the important
role of migrants and migration in the development of both countries of origin
and destination.
Facilitating orderly, safe, regular
and responsible migration and mobility of people will contribute much to
achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
The report added that forced
displacements across international borders continues to rise.
Between 2010 and 2017, the global
number of refugees and asylum seekers increased by about 13 million, accounting
for close to a quarter of the increase in the number of all international
migrants.
Northern Africa and Western Asia
hosted around 46 per cent of the global number of refugees and asylum seekers,
followed by sub-Saharan Africa (21 per cent).
Turning to the gender composition,
women comprise slightly less than half of all international migrants in 2019.
The share of women and girls in the
global number of international migrants fell slightly, from 49 per cent in 2000
to 48 per cent in 2019.
The share of migrant women was
highest in Northern America (52 per cent) and Europe (51 per cent), and lowest
in sub-Saharan Africa (47 per cent) and Northern Africa and Western Asia (36 per
cent).
In terms of age, one out of every
seven international migrants is below the age of 20 years.
