Human Migration

1. UK long-term immigration by origin region, 2010–2019

EuropeAsiaAfricaAmericasOceaniaStateless

Europe and Asia supplied large parts of the immigration represented in this historical UK series. Their relative contributions changed over the decade, while Africa, the Americas and Oceania added smaller but persistent streams. The combined total therefore reflects several movements occurring together, rather than a single route into the country. A rise or fall in one region can be partly offset by changes elsewhere.

These flows helped connect the United Kingdom to a wide range of countries through employment, study and family relationships. They also brought people at different stages of life, with different plans for how long they would remain. Arrivals should not be confused with the number of migrants already living in Britain: the resident population also depends on departures and the passage of time. The regional balance is useful for understanding the breadth of these connections, while the changing total shows that immigration was not constant throughout the decade.

Historical series retained from the supplied page: year ending June, 2010–2019, thousands. Original detailed ONS table was not identified, so this series has not been independently revalidated. Asia, Africa and the Americas combine the component regions in the supplied data; no values are extrapolated.

2. Unauthorised residents in France and the UK, 2017

The estimated unauthorised population was larger in the United Kingdom than in France in 2017. Even the lower end of the UK range exceeds the upper end of the French range. The comparison concerns people living without an authorised residence status, excluding those waiting for an asylum decision. It does not describe all immigrants or all people who were born abroad.

The broad ranges also convey that these populations are difficult to count precisely. People can enter or leave a legal category without moving across a border, for example when a permit expires or a residence application is approved. The total is therefore shaped by administrative rules as well as migration itself. Both countries contain much larger populations of residents with authorised status, so unauthorised residence is only one part of their migration histories. The difference between them should be understood as a historical estimate of a specific population, rather than a complete comparison of their immigration systems.

Source: Pew Research Center, corrected estimates published March 2025. Thousands of residents in 2017, excluding pending asylum seekers: France 200–300; UK 700–900. Replaces the superseded UK calculation that omitted some lawful residents. Ranges are published estimate intervals, not formal confidence intervals.

3. Largest international migrant populations, 2024

The United States is the largest destination in this comparison, with more than fifty million international migrants. It stands well above the next group of major destinations, which includes countries in Europe, the Gulf and other parts of the world. The leading destinations consequently represent different economies, settlement histories and migration routes rather than one shared regional pattern.

A large migrant population can develop through decades of arrivals and settlement. It does not necessarily mean that a country recently experienced the largest inflow, nor that migrants make up the greatest share of its residents. Large countries can accommodate substantial migrant populations while still having much lower migrant shares than smaller destinations. The concentration at the top nevertheless shows how important a relatively small group of countries is to the global geography of migration. These places connect many countries of origin through families, employment, education and the movement of money and ideas across borders.

Source: World Bank, international migrant stock (UN estimates) and migrant share of population. 2024 estimates, retrieved October 2026. Migrant stock generally uses country of birth, with citizenship used where necessary; it is not annual arrivals. Countries and territories are included.

4. Nine major origins of US immigrants, 2019

Mexico is by far the largest origin among these nine populations living in the United States in 2019. India and China form the next tier, followed by the Philippines and several countries in Latin America and Asia. The difference between Mexico and the other origins is substantial, reflecting the importance of the long shared border and decades of movement between neighbouring countries.

The wider mix shows that US immigration also reaches well beyond its immediate neighbourhood. Family connections, education and employment link the United States to countries across the Pacific and throughout the Americas. Each origin population contains people who arrived at different times, so its size reflects accumulated settlement rather than one year’s arrivals. Smaller populations can also be highly visible in particular cities or occupations even when their national total is much lower. The comparison therefore highlights both the scale of the Mexican-born population and the broad geographical reach of American migration connections.

Historical 2019 origin counts retained from the supplied page; nine origins were supplied, despite its former “top ten” title. Counts are not presented as current estimates. See Migration Policy Institute, Census/ACS country-of-birth series.

5. Highest migrant shares among populations above one million, 2024

The countries and territories with the highest migrant shares look different from those with the largest migrant totals. Several Gulf destinations stand out because internationally recruited workers form a major part of their resident populations. Smaller destinations can consequently have a much greater migrant presence in everyday population terms than countries containing many more migrants overall.

This distinction changes how migration is understood. A destination with millions of migrants may still have a relatively small migrant share if its total population is very large. Conversely, a smaller place can be strongly shaped by migration even when its migrant count is modest by global standards. High shares can influence labour markets, housing demand and the balance between temporary residence and long-term settlement. They do not, by themselves, reveal migrants’ legal status, length of stay or opportunities to obtain citizenship. Those differences matter when comparing destinations whose migration systems and economic roles are otherwise very different.

Source: World Bank, international migrant stock (UN estimates) and migrant share of population. 2024 estimates, retrieved October 2026. Migrant stock generally uses country of birth, with citizenship used where necessary; it is not annual arrivals. Countries and territories are included. Selection is restricted to populations of at least one million using the World Bank 2024 total-population series. Rounded source percentages.

6. US states with the highest foreign-born shares, 2024

California has the highest foreign-born share among the states shown, with more than one-quarter of residents born outside the United States. New Jersey, New York and Florida also have large immigrant populations relative to their size. The leading states span both coasts and different regions, showing that international migration is concentrated in several distinct parts of the country.

These concentrations reflect longstanding settlement networks alongside employment, education and family connections. Once a community is established, it can help later arrivals find information, accommodation and opportunities, although individual experiences vary widely. State averages also conceal substantial differences between metropolitan areas, suburbs and rural counties. A high statewide share does not mean that every neighbourhood has the same population profile. The figures are useful for understanding where immigration has had the largest demographic presence, while leaving open the separate questions of when people arrived, their countries of origin and the circumstances in which they now live.

Source: Congressional Research Service R48940, 2024 American Community Survey; accessible report copy. Foreign-born includes naturalised citizens and noncitizens. Sample estimates; margins of error are supplied in the source.

7. Growth of the global international migrant population, 1990–2024

The number of international migrants increased substantially between 1990 and 2024. The upward movement shows that more people were living outside their country of origin at the end of the period than at the beginning. Growth continued across several decades, although the size of the increase differed between the available observation years.

This expanding population reflects many overlapping processes: people moving for work and education, families joining one another, and people leaving places affected by conflict or insecurity. Longer lives and continued residence also contribute to the number of migrants present at any one time. The total should therefore be understood as an accumulated population, rather than a count of journeys made during the year. Its growth makes migration increasingly important in absolute terms, but the global population has grown too. The following comparison places the migrant total alongside everyone else, showing why a large and growing number can still represent a small minority of humanity.

Source: World Bank, international migrant stock (UN estimates) and migrant share of population. 2024 estimates, retrieved October 2026. Migrant stock generally uses country of birth, with citizenship used where necessary; it is not annual arrivals. Countries and territories are included.

8. International migrants as a share of world population, 2024

International migrants — 3.73Other residents — 96.27

International migrants account for less than four per cent of the world’s population in this series. The overwhelming majority of people are therefore outside this category, even though migration is highly visible in public debate and concentrated in some destinations. A global minority can still amount to hundreds of millions of individuals and have a major influence on particular places.

The contrast between a small worldwide share and very high shares in some countries is central to understanding migration. People are not distributed evenly across destinations, and opportunities to move are shaped by distance, resources, family ties and admission rules. Many people also move within their own country, a form of mobility that is not included in this international total. Remaining outside the international migrant category consequently does not mean that a person has never moved. The global picture combines extensive mobility within borders with a smaller, unevenly distributed population living across national boundaries.

Source: World Bank, international migrant stock (UN estimates) and migrant share of population. 2024 estimates, retrieved October 2026. Migrant stock generally uses country of birth, with citizenship used where necessary; it is not annual arrivals. Countries and territories are included.

9. Where international migrants live, by destination region, 2024

Europe & Central Asia — 105627719North America — 61201057MENA, Afghanistan & Pakistan — 52262903East Asia & Pacific — 31344880Sub-Saharan Africa — 26297963Latin America & Caribbean — 17181477South Asia — 8344814

International migrants are distributed unevenly between the world’s broad regions. Europe and Central Asia, North America and the wider Middle Eastern region contain substantial destination populations, while other regions account for smaller shares of the covered total. These differences reflect both the number of countries within a region and their very different migration histories.

Regional totals bring together movements over short and long distances. A migrant counted in one region may have come from a neighbouring country within the same region, rather than from another continent. The figures therefore describe where migrants live, not the direction of every migration route. Regional groupings can also contain countries that act simultaneously as origins, destinations and transit points. The broad distribution is useful for seeing how migration connects several major centres of settlement, but individual countries within the same region may have sharply different migrant shares, labour markets and patterns of residence.

Source: World Bank, international migrant stock (UN estimates) and migrant share of population. 2024 estimates, retrieved October 2026. Migrant stock generally uses country of birth, with citizenship used where necessary; it is not annual arrivals. Countries and territories are included. Regional totals sum the 215 covered countries and territories, not a separately published world aggregate. World Bank regional classification, including its MENA–Afghanistan–Pakistan grouping.

10. Destination size and migrant population share, 2024

● East Asia & Pacific · ● Europe & Central Asia · ● MENA, Afghanistan & Pakistan · ● North America

The United States has the largest total population among these destinations, but it does not have the highest migrant share. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have much smaller populations and substantially higher migrant shares. Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan occupy different positions between these examples, illustrating the variety of destination profiles.

Population size and migrant share answer different questions. The first describes the scale of a country; the second describes how much of its resident population is included in the migrant stock. A large country can contain more migrants in absolute terms while having a smaller migrant share than a much smaller destination. These differences have practical implications for labour markets and public services, but they do not reveal whether migrants are temporary workers, long-term residents or citizens. The comparison separates the size of a destination from the relative presence of migrants, helping explain why rankings based on totals and percentages can tell very different stories.

Source: World Bank, international migrant stock (UN estimates) and migrant share of population. 2024 estimates, retrieved October 2026. Migrant stock generally uses country of birth, with citizenship used where necessary; it is not annual arrivals. Countries and territories are included. Seven selected destinations. X: total population (millions); Y: migrant share (%); bubble size: migrant stock (millions), adjusted for visibility rather than area-proportional. Colours identify World Bank regions.

11. Largest increases in migrant stock, 1990–2024

The largest increases are concentrated in a group of major destinations whose migrant populations expanded substantially over these three decades. The United States stands out in absolute growth, while European, Gulf and other destinations also added millions of residents to their migrant stocks. These gains show that the geography of migration has developed through several centres rather than one destination alone.

Absolute growth favours places capable of adding large numbers of people. A smaller destination can experience a dramatic proportional change without appearing near the top of this comparison. The increase also represents the difference between two resident populations, not the sum of every arrival between those years: departures and deaths matter too. Looking at change alongside current totals helps distinguish established large destinations from places whose migrant populations have expanded more recently. It also underlines the long timescale over which migration reshapes communities, as repeated movements accumulate into lasting demographic connections between countries.

Source: World Bank, international migrant stock (UN estimates) and migrant share of population. 2024 estimates, retrieved October 2026. Migrant stock generally uses country of birth, with citizenship used where necessary; it is not annual arrivals. Countries and territories are included.

12. International migration reference table

215 countries and territories. Scroll horizontally and vertically. Missing figures are labelled; percentage changes use the 1990 stock as denominator. Stocks and population denominators may use differing estimation procedures, so rounded shares need not reproduce exactly from displayed counts.