Data Insights
Bite-sized insights on how the world is changing, published every few days.
MigrationJune 25, 2025
Transfer fees for money sent home by international migrants were nearly as high as US foreign aid in 2023
If you live in the same country as your family, you don’t usually have to pay a fee when you send them money. International migrants face a harsher reality: they pay hefty transaction costs when supporting family back home. Globally, the average fee in 2023 was 6.3%, more than double the UN Sustainable Development Goal's target of getting this down to 3%.
This may not sound like much, but migrants send large amounts home to help with schooling, medical bills, house maintenance, and food. The total sum was nearly three times larger than global foreign aid in 2023. (Here, foreign aid consists of net development assistance from national governments and private philanthropy that meets the necessary conditions.)
Although 6.3% might seem modest, when applied to large volumes of money, these transfer fees amount to tens of billions of dollars.
The chart shows that migrants lost $51 billion in transaction fees in 2023, which is not far from the $66 billion the US gave as foreign aid. That's $51 billion paid by migrants but never received by their families.
With the new US administration projected to cut aid by more than half, aid experts from the Center for Global Development suggest reducing fees could help fill some of the gap. They recommend promoting cheaper transfer options, increasing competition between services, and linking banking systems across countries.
While money sent home by migrants isn’t as targeted to vulnerable groups as aid, most of it flows directly to families in low- and middle-income countries who can use it for what they need most.
June 18, 2025
Money sent home by international migrants is almost three times as much as global foreign aid
When we think about money flowing from richer to poorer countries, foreign aid is one of the first things that comes to mind.
However, another major channel receives far less attention in mainstream conversations: the money international migrants send back to their families or bring home after working abroad. Unlike aid, which is publicly funded and often targeted at structural development, these private transfers typically aim at family support to cover critical needs such as food, healthcare, and education.
This chart shows how big that contribution is: in 2023, migrants sent or brought back $822 billion, almost three times the $288 billion provided through global foreign aid. Global foreign aid refers to net development assistance from national governments, with a very small portion coming from private donor philanthropy that meets the criteria for development assistance.
While this gives us a good sense of the size of these different flows, it’s important to note that the distribution of where each goes tends to differ. Most of the money sent home by migrants goes from high-income to middle-income countries, but low-income countries also rely on them relative to their GDP. When it comes to foreign aid, low-income countries receive almost as much money as middle-income countries.
January 27, 2025
The most frequent international migration journeys are between neighboring countries
One way to understand how far international migrants move is to measure the shortest distance between the borders of their origin and destination countries.
The chart above shows these distances for all international migrant populations worldwide. It includes the total number of people living outside their home country rather than yearly migration flows.
Most migration journeys are short, with neighboring countries (shown as “0 km” on the chart) the most common destinations. Nearly half of all migrants — about 47% — move less than 500 kilometers, roughly the distance from the Netherlands to Switzerland. The median distance between origin and destination countries is just under 600 kilometers.
24% of migrants travel over 3,000 kilometers, about the distance from Ukraine to Portugal. Only a small fraction — less than 4% — move more than 10,000 kilometers, roughly equivalent to a journey from Madagascar to the United Kingdom.
Read our full article on how far migrants travel from their home countries →
January 20, 2025
Most migrants stay in the continent where they were born
Moving between continents is less common than moving to another country within the same region. For most people, international migration means crossing a nearby border, rather than a very long distance or even an ocean.
Consider Asia, the world's most populous continent.
When an Asian emigrant leaves their home country, they can either move to another Asian country or head to one of the other five continents.
Data from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs shows that six out of ten Asian emigrants remain within Asia. In other words, more Asian emigrants move to other Asian countries than to all other continents combined.
European and North American emigrants show an even stronger tendency to stay in their continent, at 70% and 87%, respectively. This share is smaller in Africa and South America, at around half.
While this data aims to include illegal migrants, experts acknowledge the challenges in fully measuring these populations.
Read our full article on how far migrants travel from their home countries →
January 15, 2025
Countries differ sharply in how many refugees they host
Some countries take in far more refugees than others relative to their population.
A refugee is defined by the UN as someone needing international protection, who has fled their home country and whose home country’s government cannot or will not protect them.
This chart shows the cumulative number of refugees per 1,000 people in the country where they live as of 2023.
There are huge differences between countries: Lebanon hosts 137 refugees for every 1,000 residents — over four times as many as Germany (31) or Poland (25). Those numbers are still much higher than the Netherlands (13) and France (10), far above the United States at just 1.2 refugees per 1,000 residents.
These differences reflect conflicts in neighboring regions and national policies welcoming or deterring refugees.
Explore the number of refugees per 1,000 people for more destination countries →
January 07, 2025
Almost half of people born in Syria have left. Where have they gone?
Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, many people have left the country. By 2020, around 8.5 millions had emigrated, representing nearly half (48%) of all people born in the country.
As you can see on the chart, most Syrian emigrants have stayed close to home. Two-thirds of Syrian emigrants now live in Turkey, Lebanon, or Saudi Arabia, with Turkey alone hosting over 40%.
Political obstacles have made it difficult for Syrian migrants to move beyond neighboring countries and reach Europe. In 2016, the European Union and Turkey made a deal to curb migration by keeping migrants in Turkey in exchange for 6 billion euros in aid.
The Syrian case is part of a larger global pattern: most individuals who leave their country stay in the same continent.
Read our full article on how far migrants travel from their home countries →
December 26, 2024
The share of immigrants in high-income countries doubled between 1990 and 2020
In international statistics, immigrants are people who have lived for more than one year in a country other than the one where they were born.
Between 1990 and 2020, the share of immigrants in high-income countries doubled, rising from around 7% to 14%. This means that today, one in seven people in high-income countries was born in a different country.
High-income countries often attract migrants with better living conditions, including higher wages, stable political environments, and better public services. In turn, migration has become a crucial driver of population growth in these countries: without migration, the population of high-income countries would have declined since 2020.
This growth is much quicker than in other parts of the world. In contrast, the global share of migrants increased only slightly, with less than one percentage point.
Explore the percentage of immigrants in all countries →
November 08, 2024
British people see immigration as a major concern for the country, but not in their own lives
Ipsos surveyed British people about the most critical issues facing the country and the most important issues they face personally.
The chart shows the answers across nine different issues. Immigration stands out for having the largest difference between national and personal concerns. 32% see it as a top issue for Britain, but only 4% feel it is one of the most important issues they face personally.
For other topics like healthcare and crime, people also show more concern for Britain than themselves, but the difference is much smaller.
See how immigration numbers compare across countries →
November 04, 2024
Most immigrants in high-income countries have legal status
Immigrants without legal status are only a small fraction of the total immigrant population in most rich countries.
For example, just 7% of immigrants in the United Kingdom lack legal status. It’s 4% in Germany and less than 2% in the Netherlands. The United States stands out, with 22% of its immigrant population lacking legal status — that’s about one in five.
The estimates of immigrants without legal status come from the Measuring Irregular Migration (MIrreM) project and are for one specific year between 2017 and 2023. The total immigrant numbers are from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2020).
October 29, 2024
Without migration, the population of high-income countries would shrink
In recent years, migration has prevented population decline among high-income countries.
The World Bank defines high-income countries as those with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of over $14,000 in 2023. It includes countries like the United States, Chile, and Poland.
The chart shows annual population growth with and without migration in these countries.
The green line, which includes migration, shows that populations in high-income countries are still growing.
What would this have looked like without migration? The blue line gives you the answer — it shows the annual population growth only considering births and deaths in the country. It has been falling for decades and went negative in 2020.
Note that these figures apply to high-income countries as a group; in some countries, such as Italy or Japan, the total population is shrinking, even when considering migration. This data comes from the World Population Prospects dataset published by the United Nations.
October 24, 2024
Many people overestimate the percentage of immigrants in their country
People tend to think there are more immigrants in their country than there really are.
In the United States, for example, the average person believes that 33% of people were not born there. However, official estimates from government agencies show that the figure is just 15% — less than half as many.
In Japan, people guess that 10% of the population are immigrants, but the accurate figure is around 2%. For every 5 immigrants people think exist, there is only one in reality.
As the chart shows, this mismatch is common everywhere. The data comes from the 2023 Ipsos Perils of Perception report.
Explore the immigrant population share for all countries →
October 21, 2024
Less than 4% of the world's population are international migrants
The vast majority of people in the world — over 96% — live in the country where they were born. Only a small minority are international migrants.
International migrants are people who have lived in a country other than where they were born for more than one year. In contrast, natives live in the country where they were born.
Since 1990, the absolute number of international migrants has risen sharply, but their share of the global population has remained relatively unchanged due to population growth.
This data comes from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).
Explore the immigrant population share for all countries →
September 12, 2024
Venezuelan migration: a major demographic shift in South America
The chart shows net migration trends for Venezuela, Peru, Chile, and Colombia from 1950 to 2023. This is the net difference between immigrants coming into a country and emigrants leaving. This data published by the UN World Population Prospects shows how significant this demographic event is in the region’s recent history.
Starting around 2015, Venezuela's net migration dropped sharply, with a record 1.36 million people emigrating in 2018. The timing of this shift, accelerating from 2015 onwards, coincides with Venezuela's worsening economic and political instability.
At the same time, wealthier countries like Peru, Chile, and Colombia experienced significant increases in net migration, which suggests they have become major destinations for Venezuelan migrants. This trend is even clearer when visualizing where immigrants from Venezuela moved to.
Explore net migration patterns in other countries →