Last updated: 2026-10-19

Global migration in 2026: how many migrants, where they live and what is changing

About 304 million people lived outside their country of birth in 2024, or 3.7% of the world population. The United States hosts the most (52.4 million), followed by Germany and Saudi Arabia. Since 2024 several large destination countries have cut new arrivals or tightened rules, while displacement, remittances and demand for workers remain high.

This section covers the world picture and four country pages. All figures link to their source. Where a figure comes from a news report or a secondary summary instead of the agency itself, the text says so. Definitions differ between sources, so the notes at the end explain how to read the numbers.

Key figures

How many international migrants are there in the world?

The UN Population Division counted 304 million international migrants in 2024, up from 154 million in 1990. That is 3.7% of the world population, compared with 2.9% in 1990. The 2024 edition fully reassessed only 60 countries and areas; it extrapolated the rest from the 2020 edition.

A migrant in this count is anyone living outside their country of birth, usually for at least 12 months, regardless of legal status or reason. Where birth data are missing, citizenship is used instead.

By region of destination, Europe hosts 94 million, Northern America 61 million, and Northern Africa and Western Asia 54 million. Migrants make up 21% of residents in Oceania, 16% in Northern America and 13% in Europe, and under 1% in Central and Southern Asia and in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia.

Other UN DESA findings:

• Forty-eight per cent of migrants are women or girls.
• Forty-five per cent live in their region of origin.
• The largest corridor runs from Latin America and the Caribbean to Northern America, at 27 million people.
• 51.7 million migrants are forcibly displaced across borders, one in six migrants and the highest share since the 1950s.

The UN document does not rank individual origin countries, so this site does not publish a "top origin countries" list. Refugee origins are covered below.

Which countries host the most migrants?

The United States hosts the most international migrants, at 52.4 million in 2024, followed by Germany (16.8 million) and Saudi Arabia (13.7 million). The table lists the top 12 destinations in the UN DESA 2024 estimate.

Rankings by number differ from rankings by share of population. Small Gulf states and several European countries have much higher shares than the United States. The country comparison page sets out both measures side by side.

How many people are forcibly displaced?

UNHCR reports 117.8 million forcibly displaced people at the end of 2025, about one in 70 people. This is 5.4 million fewer (4%) than at the end of 2024 and the first fall in about a decade. The report covers January to December 2025.

Source: UNHCR Global Trends 2025.

More than seven in ten refugees and others in need of protection come from Afghanistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela. The largest host countries are Colombia (2.8 million), Germany (2.7 million), Türkiye (2.4 million), Uganda (1.9 million) and Iran (1.7 million). In 2025 the United States received 912,000 new asylum applications, the most of any country; UNHCR notes that US figures cover only part of the year.

Different organisations publish different totals, and they are not interchangeable. The IOM's World Migration Report 2026 says more than 120 million people were forcibly displaced by the end of 2024, including a record 83.4 million internally displaced. A secondary summary reports 129.4 million "displaced and stateless", which uses different counts and adds stateless people. Always check which definition and year a figure uses.

How much money do migrants send home?

The World Bank estimated that recorded remittances to low- and middle-income countries reached $685 billion in 2024, growth of 5.8%. It put global remittances at $905 billion and noted that informal flows are probably additional.

The top recipients in 2024 were India ($129 billion), Mexico ($68 billion), China ($48 billion), the Philippines ($40 billion) and Pakistan ($33 billion). Remittances were largest relative to the economy in Tajikistan (45% of GDP), Tonga (38%), Nicaragua (27%), Lebanon (27%) and Samoa (26%).

Other estimates differ. A Centre for Global Development matrix uses $695.1 billion for 2024, and UNCTAD gives $137.7 billion for India against the World Bank's $129 billion. The International Fund for Agricultural Development reported $729 billion in 2025; this site has not checked whether its definition matches the World Bank's, so the figure should not be compared directly.

How many people move to OECD countries each year?

New permanent migration to OECD countries was 6.2 million in 2024, down 4% from 2023 and 15% above 2019, according to the OECD International Migration Outlook 2025. The OECD describes this as historically high, not a record.

• By category: labour migration fell 21% and humanitarian migration rose 23%, according to the OECD. Family reunification remained the largest channel, at about 34% of permanent entries.
• By region: Europe fell 8% on average, the United Kingdom 41% and New Zealand 56%. The United States rose 20%, driven by humanitarian flows.
• Top destinations: the United States (1.42 million), Germany (586,000), Canada (484,000), the United Kingdom (436,000) and Spain (368,000), as reported by Anadolu Agency from the OECD report.
• Asylum: new asylum applications in the OECD reached 3.1 million in 2024, up 13%.
• Citizenship: acquisitions approached 3 million, with records in Germany (290,000) and the United Kingdom (270,000).

Is the world turning towards restriction on immigration?

Between 2024 and 2026 several large destinations reported falling arrivals, and many governments tightened rules, though the pattern is not universal. The figures below come from each country's statistics agency.

• United Kingdom: net migration fell from 944,000 to 171,000.
• Germany: net inflow fell from 1.46 million in 2022 to 235,000 in 2025.
• United States: the Census Bureau estimated net international migration fell 53.8%, to 1.3 million, in the year to June 2025.
• Australia: net overseas migration fell from 429,000 in 2023-24 to 292,100 in the year to March 2026.
• Europe: EU+ asylum applications were 822,000 in 2025, 19% fewer than in 2024 and the lowest since 2021. The EUAA attributes much of the fall to a 72% drop in Syrian applications.
• EU law: the Pact on Migration and Asylum began to apply in June 2026.

Policy tightening has taken different forms. Canada trimmed temporary arrivals, the UK moved to temporary refugee status, Germany suspended some family reunification, and Japan raised permanent-residency requirements. There are also exceptions: Spain ran a large regularisation, Canada kept permanent admissions near 380,000 a year, and Gulf foreign populations grew after 2021.

The IOM's 2026 report argues that limiting regular pathways shifts movement to irregular and more dangerous routes instead of stopping it. Governments that have tightened rules cite other aims, such as relieving pressure on housing and services or growing the domestic workforce. The sources reviewed do not settle which effect dominates.

What are the arguments about ageing, labour shortages and public services?

Supporters and critics of higher immigration cite different evidence. Both sets of arguments are summarised here with their sources, and neither is endorsed.

Arguments that immigration helps offset ageing and shortages

• UN projections say the world population will peak at about 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s. Population has already peaked in 63 countries, including China, Germany, Japan and Russia. Immigration is projected to be the main driver of population growth through 2054 in 52 countries, including Australia, Canada and the United States.
• Foreign-born workers fill 22% of doctor posts and 17% of nurse posts in the 30 OECD countries with data (2020-21).
• Foreign workers are 4.1% of Japan's employed people and 25.6% of those in healthcare and welfare, according to press summaries of ministry data.

Arguments for lower immigration or for caution

• Advocacy groups such as Migration Watch UK argue that high immigration strains public services and social cohesion. They are advocacy bodies, and their positions are their own.
• The UK government's white paper frames policy as growing the domestic workforce and ending reliance on overseas labour.
• Canada's levels plan aims to bring temporary residents below 5% of the population by the end of 2027, according to a law-firm summary. Secondary reports link this to pressure on housing and services; the government's own rationale was not reviewed.
• The UN notes that population change has several drivers. In countries whose populations have peaked, falling mortality, alongside immigration, is the main factor slowing decline.

Fiscal-impact studies from bodies such as the OBR, OECD and Australia's Productivity Commission are not part of the sources behind this section, so it does not weigh the two sides.

How do countries compare?

Among the countries covered here, UN DESA puts the foreign-born share at 2.8% in Japan and 74.0% in the United Arab Emirates. The country comparison page tables 15 countries by foreign-born share, number, net migration and asylum claims. It answers which country has the most immigrants, which has the highest share and which are cutting immigration.

What is happening in the United Kingdom?

UK net migration peaked at 944,000 in the year to March 2023 and fell to 171,000 in the year to December 2025, according to the ONS. The United Kingdom page covers small-boat crossings, asylum hotels, the 2024 Southport riots, the 2025 white paper, the temporary refugee status introduced in March 2026 and Reform UK's election results.

What is happening in Europe?

The EU+ area recorded 822,000 asylum applications in 2025, 19% fewer than in 2024, while the foreign-born population kept rising. The Europe page covers Germany, Sweden, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, return rates and election results for parties that campaign against immigration. For France see the France section and its Europe comparison.

What is happening in Canada, Australia, the Gulf and Japan?

Canada has cut temporary arrivals, Australia's net overseas migration has fallen, Gulf states have foreign-born majorities, and Japan has passed 4 million foreign residents. The Canada, Australia, Gulf and Japan page sets out the policy settings and statistics for each.

How should these numbers be read?

Definitions vary, so figures from different sources often do not match.

• Foreign-born versus foreign citizens: UN DESA counts people born abroad. National agencies may count citizenship or "immigration history", which gives different totals. The UK's ONS counted 13.1 million non-UK-born in June 2024, against 11.8 million in the UN series.
• Net migration: this is arrivals minus departures, and each country defines the period and the minimum stay differently. The UK's ONS estimates are provisional and revised, and the Migration Observatory notes the 2024 figure was cut by 100,000 in May 2026.
• Asylum: UNHCR, the OECD, Eurostat and the EUAA count different groups and areas, so totals differ.
• Remittances: estimates differ by source and method, as shown above.

Related pages

• Immigration by country: 15-country comparison
• Immigration in the United Kingdom
• Immigration in Europe
• Canada, Australia, the Gulf and Japan
• United States immigration
• France immigration
• Somali communities
• Frequently asked questions