Relevance: Mains: current affairs analysis
According to the International Migrant Stock 2019, Indian diaspora (at 17.5 million) is the largest in the world.
About:
- The International Migrant Stock 2019 is a dataset released by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).
- It provides the latest estimates of the number of international migrants by age, sex and origin for all countries and areas of the world.
Key findings for 2019:
- In 2019, the number of migrants globally reached an estimated 272 million. The top ten countries of origin account for one-third of all international migrants.
- India is the leading country of origin of international migrants in 2019 with a 17.5 million strong diaspora. Migrants from Mexico constituted the second largest diaspora with 11.8 million people followed by China (10.7 million), Russia (10.5 million) and Syria (8.2 million).
- 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, United States of America hosting the largest number of international migrants (51 million), with Germany and Saudi Arabia hosting the second and third largest numbers of migrants (13 million each).
- India hosted 5.1 million international migrants in 2019. The highest number of international migrants came from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal. International migrants as a share of total population in India was steady at 0.4 % from 2010 to 2019.
- In terms of the share of international migrants in total population, the highest proportion was recorded in Oceania region (including Australia and New Zealand) at 21.2%.
- The global number of refugees and asylum seekers increased by 13 million between 2010 and 2017. Northern Africa and Western Asia hosted around 46% of the global number of refugees and asylum seekers.
- The share of women and girls in the global number of international migrants fell slightly, from 49% in 2000 to 48% in 2019. The share of migrant women was highest in Northern America (52%) and Europe (51%).
- In terms of age, one out of every seven international migrants is below the age of 20 years.