The global challenge of managing migration

The global challenge of managing migration

Published Jan 2013

Author

P. Martin

Publisher

Focus themes

Focus regions

Focus countries

Open full report

The number of international migrants more than doubled between1980 and 2010, from 103 million to 220 million. In 2013, the number of international migrants was 232 million and is projected to double to over 400 million by 2050.

The most significant recent change in international migration patterns is rising South-North migration. Between 1990 and 2010, the share of all international migrants in industrialized countries rose from 53 percent to 59 percent. The largest South-North migration corridor is Mexico-United States: Over 13 million Mexicans have moved to the United States since 1990. Large South-South migration corridors include Bangladesh to India (over 3 million migrants) and India to the United Arab Emirates (nearly 3 million migrants).

This Population Bulletin explains why people cross national borders, the effects of international migration on sending and receiving countries, and the struggle to improve migration management. The Bulletin examines international migration by region: North America and South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Africa, and Oceania, and highlights major migration and development issues, including whether remittances, the money sent home by migrant workers abroad, speed development in migrant-sending countries.

The report highlights that although most migrants do not move far from home, every one of the world’s 200 countries participates in the international migration system as a source or destination for migrants or a country through which migrants transit. Many countries participate in all three ways. Each of the world’s continents has a migration system with unique characteristics:

  • there is a large number of unauthorised migrants in the United States
  • the unexpected settlement of guest workers in Europe
  • the high shares of foreign workers in the private sector of oil-exporting countries
  • in addtirion,Africa has one of the highest shares of refugees among international migrants. Oceania has high shares of  migrants among residents and Pacific Island nations are threatened by climate change

  1. How good is this research?

    Assessing the quality of research can be a tricky business. This blog from our editor offers some tools and tips.

    Read now

Related website content

Related content

  • Document

    Benefits and costs of nitrogen fertilizer management for climate change mitigation: focus on India and Mexico

    Climate Change Agriculture Food Security, 2016
    This report contributes to the project “Financing Low Emissions Agriculture,” led by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). The project aims to analyze financial options and gather empirical evidence to build business cases for supporting transitions to low emissions agriculture in developing countries.
  • Document

    New developments in Social Investing by public pensions

    A.H. Munnell, A. Chen / Center for Retirement Research, Boston College, 2016
    Social investing is the pursuit of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals through investment decisions. Public pension funds have been active in this arena since the 1970s, when many divested from apartheid South Africa. They have also aimed to achieve domestic goals, such as promoting union workers, economic development, and homeownership.
  • Document

    Achieving Mexico's climate goals: an Eight Point Action Plan

    World Resources Institute, Washington DC, 2016
    In recent years, Mexico has developed and implemented a range of policies and targets to address climate change, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and transition toward a low-carbon and climate-resilient society.
  • Document

    Climate change threatens Hawaiian forest birds

    Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment, 2016
    In Hawai'i, geograpahic isolation has prevented the natural establishment of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and many insect species, such as biting mosquitoes. Isolation has also facilitated the spectacular evolutionary radiation of Hawaiian honeycreepers from a single small flock of North American finches into more than 50 species and subspecies of endemic forest birds.
  • Document

    Health care facility climate change resiliency workshop

    Pan American Health Organization, 2015
    In addition to their primary roles in treating illness and injuries, health care facilities provide a first line of defence in protecting individuals and communities from the impacts of climate change.
More like this