Global Migration Report: India source & USA destination of most migrants
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 14, 2019
As per the International migrant stock 2019 report released recently by the UN, the share of migrants in the global population has slightly increased compared to 2015. India is the source & USA is the destination of most migrants in the world.
All through the known history,humans have been migrating to different places. Over the past few decades,advancements in transportation and communication have made global opportunitiesaccessible to a greater human population.
Whether it is the availability of better living options or escape from a turmoil in the country of origin, the number of people migrating to different countries has seen a remarkable increase over the last few decades.
However, the trends aren’t evenacross the globe with various factors influencing migration and population. Inthis story, we explore the numbers and the trends with respect to internationalimmigration.
Share of migrant population among
World’s population is on the rise
As per the data provided in International Migrant Stock 2019
report,published by United Nations Department of Economic and Social AffairsPopulation Division, the share of migrant population in the total worldpopulation is 3.5% in mid-2019. This is a noticeable increase from 2015 wherethe share was 3.4% and from 2010, when it was 3.2%.
While the increase of share appearsto be marginal, the growth rate of migrant population is higher than the globalpopulation growth rate.
What about the absolute numbers of
Migrant population?
As of mid-2019, the total World’smigrant population is 27.16 crores, whereas in 2015 it was 24.88 crores i.e. anincrease by 9.15%. Meanwhile, the Global population as of mid-2019 is 771.31crores while it was 737.97 cores in 2015 i.e. an increase by 4.52%. The highergrowth rate of migrant population contributes to the increased share of migrantpopulation. This trend of higher growth rate in migrant population compared toworld population growth rate is observed since 2000.
It can also be observed that there isa fall in migrant population growth rate compared to previous years, in linewith the falling growth rate of global population.
Increase in share of migrant
population in more developed regions
The UN report groups the countriesinto – ‘more developed regions (MDRs)’ and ‘less developed regions (LDRs)’.
As per International Migrant Stock 2019
report, 12%of the population in MDRs is migrant population. The share of migrantpopulation in MDRs has gone up compared to the previous years, wherein it was11.2%, 10.6% and 9.8% in 2015, 2010 and 2005 respectively.
On the other hand, the share ofmigrant population in LDRs is less with only 1.9% as of mid-2019. Earlier itwas 1.8%, 1.6% and 1.2% in 2015,2010 and 2005 respectively.
Over the years, there is a marginalincrease in the share of migrant population even in the less developed regions.There is a fall in the share of migrant population in Least Developed countrieswithin the Less developed regions and an increase in the share of migrantpopulation in other countries within this region. This indicates migration fromleast developed countries into countries comparatively better off than themalbeit being less developed themselves.
The World Bank categorizes thecountries as per income. As per UN’s data on migration, the share of migrantsin the population of High-Income countries is 14%, up from 13% in 2015 and 12.1%in 2010. This share has shown a constant increase over the decades.
Among the Middle-Income countries,the share of migrants among ‘Upper Middle-Income countries’ shows a marginalincrease with a corresponding decrease in ‘Lower Middle-Income Countries’.
Low Income countries have seen adecline in the migrant population share over the years.
It is remarkable to note that in 1990,migrant population was 7.5% of the total population in High-Income countrieswhich has nearly doubled (14%) in two decades (by mid-2019).
USA has the highest migrant
population followed by Germany and Saudi Arabia
As of Mid-2019, United States ofAmerica has the highest migrant population in the world with 5.07 crores. This accountsfor 15.4% of total population of USA. In 1990, the migrant population of USAwas 2.3 crores which accounted for around 9.2% of the US population.
Germany and Saudi Arabia have thesecond highest migrant population in the world with 1.313 crores and 1.312crores respectively as of mid-2019. They are followed by Russian Federation,United Kingdom, UAE, France, Canada, Australia and Italy completing the top 10countries.
These top 10 countries constitutehalf (50.36%) of the world migrant population.
While India ranks 13 with 51.54 lakh migrant population, it is negligible in context of overallpopulation of India where the migrants make up only 0.4% of the totalpopulation.
India is the country of origin for
the highest number of migrants
International Migrant Stock’s By destination and origin report indicates that the highest numberof migrant population has India as their country of origin followed by Mexico,China and Russian Federation.
A total of 1.75 crore migrants havetheir country of origin as India. Mexico, China, Russia have been mentioned asthe country of origin by 1.17 crore, 1.07 crore and 1.04 crore migrantsrespectively. Syria is the country of origin for 5 highestpopulation at 82.25 lakhs.
32.87% of the total migrantpopulation in the world belong to top 10 countries. Palestine which like Syriais another country amidst conflict is the origin of 38.9 lakh migrants makingit the 16 in the list of countries.
UAE, USA and Saudi Arabia are
destination countries for highest number of migrant Indians
As far as Indians are concerned, 34.19lakh Indian migrants have UAE as their country of destination followed by USAwith 26.61 lakhs.  Saudi Arabia has thethird highest Indian migrant population with 24.4 lakhs as of mid-2019.
Data from the UN report furtherindicates that Pakistan is the country with fourth highest Indian migrantpopulation with 15.88 lakh. Other Middle Eastern countries like Oman, Kuwaitand Qatar rank 5, 6 and 9 respectivelyin the list of destinations for Indian migrants.
UK, Canada and Australia make the restof top 10 countries with the highest Indian migrant population.  The Middle Eastern countries of UAE, SaudiArabia, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar have 51.44% of the total Indian migrantpopulation.
Influx of Migrants is into countries
with higher incomes & better opportunities
As per the data on internationalmigration, the trend clearly suggests that people are migrating to thecountries which have a higher income than their own.
At a Global level, USA with its vastopportunities is the country with the highest number of immigrants from acrossthe world. USA has migrants from 150 out of 232 countries enumerated in thereport.
Other top 10 destination countriesare also among the highest income countries in the world. Apart from being theglobal destinations, there are countries within a region which are profferedoptions for migration (like the Middle eastern countries for other Asiancountries especially South Asia).
A trend as highlighted earlier isthat people from least developed countries move to countries which arecomparably better off even though these countries are not themselves developed.
Overall trends suggest influx ofpeople towards countries with comparably better incomes & opportunities.