Migration is easy to argue about and hard to measure. This page separates the series people usually mix up: net migration (arrivals minus departures in one year), foreign-born stock (residents born abroad), refugees (UNHCR protection status), and EU detections (people found illegally present — not a global stock).
Largest net inflow
🇺🇦 Ukraine
Largest net outflow
🇵🇰 Pakistan
Largest refugee host
🇩🇪 Germany
Largest foreign-born stock
🇺🇸 United States
1. Who moves — net migration
Immigrants minus emigrants in a year. Teal countries gained people on net; copper lost them. A small net can hide large flows both ways.
Net migration over time
Play the timeline. Hover a country for the figure.
Copper = net out · Teal = net in
Source: World Bank · 2025 · 217 countries · people
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Top destinations (net inflow)
| # | Country | Net migration | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇺🇦Ukraine | 1.7M | 2025 |
| 2 | 🇺🇸United States | 1.2M | 2025 |
| 3 | 🇸🇾Syrian Arab Republic | 421.7K | 2025 |
| 4 | 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 389.9K | 2025 |
| 5 | 🇨🇦Canada | 326.2K | 2025 |
| 6 | 🇸🇩Sudan | 291.5K | 2025 |
| 7 | 🇲🇾Malaysia | 166.6K | 2025 |
| 8 | 🇦🇪United Arab Emirates | 158.6K | 2025 |
| 9 | 🇿🇦South Africa | 146.4K | 2025 |
| 10 | 🇯🇵Japan | 140.6K | 2025 |
Top origins (net outflow)
| # | Country | Net migration | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇵🇰Pakistan | -1.2M | 2025 |
| 2 | 🇮🇳India | -495.8K | 2025 |
| 3 | 🇧🇩Bangladesh | -402.1K | 2025 |
| 4 | 🇳🇵Nepal | -364.7K | 2025 |
| 5 | 🇩🇪Germany | -334.1K | 2025 |
| 6 | 🇵🇱Poland | -330.8K | 2025 |
| 7 | 🇯🇴Jordan | -303.3K | 2025 |
| 8 | 🇨🇳China | -268.1K | 2025 |
| 9 | 🇹🇷Turkiye | -258.2K | 2025 |
| 10 | 🇷🇺Russian Federation | -251.8K | 2025 |
All countries — net migration table
2. Who lives abroad — foreign-born stock
Share of residents born in another country. This is a stock (people already there), not this year’s arrivals.
Foreign-born share of population
Darker = higher share. Gulf states and small high-income hubs often lead.
2024
Source: World Bank / UN DESA · 2024 · 216 countries · %
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Largest foreign-born populations (people)
| # | Country | Foreign-born | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇺🇸United States | 52.4M | 2024 |
| 2 | 🇩🇪Germany | 16.8M | 2024 |
| 3 | 🇸🇦Saudi Arabia | 13.7M | 2024 |
| 4 | 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 11.8M | 2024 |
| 5 | 🇫🇷France | 9.2M | 2024 |
| 6 | 🇪🇸Spain | 8.9M | 2024 |
| 7 | 🇨🇦Canada | 8.8M | 2024 |
| 8 | 🇦🇪United Arab Emirates | 8.2M | 2024 |
| 9 | 🇦🇺Australia | 8.1M | 2024 |
| 10 | 🇷🇺Russian Federation | 7.6M | 2024 |
3. Refugees & asylum-seekers
UNHCR end-year stocks by country of asylum — where people are hosted, not where they fled from. Not the same as foreign-born or net migration.
Refugee stock by country of asylum
Play the years. Neighbours of conflict zones and a few large European hosts dominate.
Source: UNHCR · 2025 · 177 countries · people
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Largest refugee stocks
| # | Country | Refugees | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇩🇪Germany | 2.7M | 2025 |
| 2 | 🇹🇷Turkiye | 2.4M | 2025 |
| 3 | 🇺🇬Uganda | 1.9M | 2025 |
| 4 | 🇹🇩Chad | 1.5M | 2025 |
| 5 | 🇧🇩Bangladesh | 1.2M | 2025 |
| 6 | 🇵🇰Pakistan | 1.2M | 2025 |
| 7 | 🇪🇹Ethiopia | 1M | 2025 |
| 8 | 🇵🇱Poland | 990.5K | 2025 |
| 9 | 🇸🇩Sudan | 809.8K | 2025 |
| 10 | 🇫🇷France | 788.4K | 2025 |
| 11 | 🇮🇷Iran, Islamic Rep. | 770.5K | 2025 |
| 12 | 🇰🇪Kenya | 617.1K | 2025 |
| 13 | 🇸🇸South Sudan | 601.8K | 2025 |
| 14 | 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 581.1K | 2025 |
| 15 | 🇱🇾Libya | 552.5K | 2025 |
Largest asylum-seeker stocks
| # | Country | Asylum-seekers | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇺🇸United States | 3.7M | 2025 |
| 2 | 🇪🇬Egypt, Arab Rep. | 878.3K | 2025 |
| 3 | 🇵🇪Peru | 556.8K | 2025 |
| 4 | 🇨🇦Canada | 314.5K | 2025 |
| 5 | 🇩🇪Germany | 297.5K | 2025 |
| 6 | 🇪🇸Spain | 248.7K | 2025 |
| 7 | 🇮🇹Italy | 234.1K | 2025 |
| 8 | 🇰🇪Kenya | 218.6K | 2025 |
| 9 | 🇨🇷Costa Rica | 178.2K | 2025 |
| 10 | 🇲🇽Mexico | 173.5K | 2025 |
| 11 | 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 144.7K | 2025 |
| 12 | 🇧🇷Brazil | 119.7K | 2025 |
| 13 | 🇵🇰Pakistan | 119.5K | 2025 |
| 14 | 🇪🇹Ethiopia | 113K | 2025 |
| 15 | 🇱🇾Libya | 106K | 2025 |
Refugees as share of migrant stock
| # | Country | Share | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇲🇷Mauritania | 153.9% | 2025 |
| 2 | 🇹🇩Chad | 118.3% | 2025 |
| 3 | 🇺🇬Uganda | 94.1% | 2025 |
| 4 | 🇮🇶Iraq | 86.9% | 2025 |
| 5 | 🇪🇹Ethiopia | 86.5% | 2025 |
| 6 | 🇳🇪Niger | 85.9% | 2025 |
| 7 | 🇲🇩Moldova | 79.3% | 2025 |
| 8 | 🇩🇿Algeria | 69.6% | 2025 |
| 9 | 🇸🇸South Sudan | 65.8% | 2025 |
| 10 | 🇨🇲Cameroon | 63.6% | 2025 |
| 11 | 🇰🇪Kenya | 62.2% | 2025 |
| 12 | 🇱🇾Libya | 61.5% | 2025 |
| 13 | 🇨🇫Central African Republic | 58.5% | 2025 |
| 14 | 🇵🇱Poland | 56.9% | 2025 |
| 15 | 🇲🇱Mali | 52.6% | 2025 |
All countries — refugee stock table
4. EU detections — who was found illegally present
Eurostat only. Annual counts by citizenship of third-country nationals detected by authorities in the EU-27. Not a world map, not a stock of unauthorised residents — use it to see how origin mix shifted since 2008.
EU-27 · 2008–2024
Found illegally present in the European Union
Third-country nationals found to be illegally present in the EU-27 — annual counts by citizenship. Administrative detections only; not an estimate of the total unauthorised population. Each year's figures fly in and stay — the cloud builds through the period.
· each figure ≈ 1,383 people
Year
2008
507,270
Cumulative detections · all shown years through 2008
507.3K this year
Top origins · 2008
- 01Albania72,005
- 02Afghanistan43,765
- 03Morocco39,380
- 04Iraq33,610
- 05Eritrea17,400
Source: Eurostat migr_eipre. Not a stock of unauthorised residents — only people detected by authorities that year.
5. More Europe — returns, work, borders
Enforcement and labour series for EU/EFTA reporters. Useful for Europe; not a global ranking.
Citizens leaving and coming home
Nationals who emigrated vs returned, per 1,000 citizens — EU and EFTA bubble chart from Eurostat citizenship tables.
Orders to leave & returns
Return rate is returns ÷ orders in the same year — not a matched cohort.
Most ordered to leave
Most returned after order
Lowest return rates
| # | Country | Return rate | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇧🇪Belgium | 0.0% | 2018 |
| 2 | 🇧🇬Bulgaria | 0.0% | 2016 |
| 3 | 🇨🇾Cyprus | 0.0% | 2015 |
| 4 | 🇨🇿Czechia | 0.0% | 2015 |
| 5 | 🇩🇰Denmark | 0.0% | 2017 |
| 6 | 🇫🇷France | 0.0% | 2022 |
| 7 | 🇬🇷Greece | 0.0% | 2018 |
| 8 | 🇭🇷Croatia | 0.0% | 2017 |
| 9 | 🇭🇺Hungary | 0.0% | 2020 |
| 10 | 🇮🇹Italy | 0.0% | 2014 |
| 11 | 🇱🇺Luxembourg | 0.0% | 2017 |
| 12 | 🇱🇻Latvia | 0.0% | 2011 |
| 13 | 🇵🇹Portugal | 0.0% | 2020 |
| 14 | 🇸🇰Slovak Republic | 0.0% | 2017 |
| 15 | 🇩🇪Germany | 5.1% | 2020 |
Labour-force participation by citizenship
Activity rates for nationals vs foreign citizens aged 15–64. Citizenship ≠ foreign-born.
Nationals
| # | Country | LFPR | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇮🇸Iceland | 87.5% | 2025 |
| 2 | 🇳🇱Netherlands | 86.4% | 2025 |
| 3 | 🇨🇭Switzerland | 84.8% | 2025 |
| 4 | 🇸🇪Sweden | 84.0% | 2025 |
| 5 | 🇩🇪Germany | 82.1% | 2025 |
| 6 | 🇪🇪Estonia | 81.0% | 2025 |
| 7 | 🇳🇴Norway | 80.7% | 2025 |
| 8 | 🇫🇮Finland | 80.5% | 2025 |
| 9 | 🇨🇾Cyprus | 80.0% | 2025 |
| 10 | 🇦🇹Austria | 79.5% | 2025 |
| 11 | 🇩🇰Denmark | 79.5% | 2020 |
| 12 | 🇱🇹Lithuania | 79.5% | 2025 |
| 13 | 🇭🇺Hungary | 78.7% | 2025 |
| 14 | 🇵🇹Portugal | 78.5% | 2025 |
| 15 | 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 78.1% | 2019 |
Foreign citizens
| # | Country | LFPR | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇮🇸Iceland | 90.9% | 2025 |
| 2 | 🇱🇹Lithuania | 85.8% | 2025 |
| 3 | 🇸🇰Slovak Republic | 85.3% | 2025 |
| 4 | 🇪🇪Estonia | 84.8% | 2025 |
| 5 | 🇸🇪Sweden | 83.7% | 2025 |
| 6 | 🇮🇪Ireland | 83.0% | 2025 |
| 7 | 🇭🇷Croatia | 82.8% | 2025 |
| 8 | 🇨🇭Switzerland | 82.7% | 2025 |
| 9 | 🇨🇿Czechia | 82.7% | 2025 |
| 10 | 🇵🇹Portugal | 82.3% | 2025 |
| 11 | 🇵🇱Poland | 81.9% | 2025 |
| 12 | 🇨🇾Cyprus | 81.4% | 2025 |
| 13 | 🇱🇺Luxembourg | 79.6% | 2025 |
| 14 | 🇲🇹Malta | 78.8% | 2020 |
| 15 | 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 78.6% | 2019 |
Estimated irregular migrant stocks
MIrreM / Zenodo research estimates — order-of-magnitude only.
| # | Country | Estimate | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇺🇸United States | 11.4M | 2022 |
| 2 | 🇨🇦Canada | 675K | 2021 |
| 3 | 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 674K | 2017 |
| 4 | 🇩🇪Germany | 650K | 2017 |
| 5 | 🇮🇹Italy | 458K | 2023 |
| 6 | 🇪🇸Spain | 430K | 2019 |
| 7 | 🇵🇹Portugal | 300K | 2022 |
| 8 | 🇫🇷France | 250K | 2017 |
| 9 | 🇬🇷Greece | 150K | 2017 |
| 10 | 🇧🇪Belgium | 110K | 2008 |
| 11 | 🇦🇹Austria | 62K | 2022 |
| 12 | 🇳🇱Netherlands | 40.5K | 2018 |
| 13 | 🇮🇪Ireland | 17.8K | 2020 |
| 14 | 🇵🇱Poland | 14.5K | 2019 |
| 15 | 🇫🇮Finland | 4K | 2023 |
Border detections & migrant deaths
Frontex route detections and IOM Missing Migrants regional totals — undercounts; not destination-country rankings.
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Want a country deep-dive? Open any row above, or start from a profile such as Germany, United States, or Türkiye.
Related insights
Other charts and country pages on the same theme.
- United States net migrationUSA
- Germany net migrationGermany
- Germany Bürgergeld by nationalityGermany
- Immigrant fiscal break-even UK vs EuropeEurope
- Citizens leaving and coming home EU EFTAEurope
- United Kingdom net migrationUK
- Compare net migrationWorldwide
- World populationWorldwide
- UK census ethnicityUK
- Denmark ancestry mapDenmark
- Germany country of birthGermany
- Spain country of birthSpain
- Russia ethnic groupsRussia
- Iran ethnic groupsIran
- Brazil colour / raceBrazil
- Canada visible minorityCanada
- South Africa population groupSouth Africa
What this page measures
- Net Migrationpeople
- Net number of migrants (immigrants minus emigrants) in a year. Source: World Bank Open Data.
- Foreign-born Populationpeople
- International migrant stock — the number of people living in a country who were born in another country (the immigrant / diaspora population). Source: World Bank Open Data.
- Foreign-born Population (% of total)% of population
- International migrant stock as a share of the total population — how large the foreign-born / diaspora population is relative to the country. Source: World Bank Open Data.
- Refugees (incl. refugee-like)people
- End-year stock of refugees and people in refugee-like situations under UNHCR’s mandate, by country of asylum. Does not include asylum-seekers still awaiting a decision, IDPs, or UNRWA-registered Palestine refugees. Source: UNHCR Refugee Statistics.
- Asylum-seekerspeople
- End-year stock of asylum-seekers whose claims for refugee status have not yet been determined, by country of asylum (UNHCR). Source: UNHCR Refugee Statistics.
- Refugees as Share of International Migrants% of migrant stock
- UNHCR refugee stock (incl. refugee-like) divided by World Bank international migrant stock × 100, for the nearest overlapping year. Rough composition of the foreign-born / migrant stock that is forced displacement rather than labour or family migration. Source: UNHCR Refugee Statistics.
- Third-country Nationals Ordered to Leavepeople
- Third-country nationals issued an order to leave the territory during the year (Eurostat migr_eiord, annual, rounded). Administrative count of enforcement decisions, not of people who actually left. Source: Eurostat.
- Third-country Nationals Returned After Orderpeople
- Third-country nationals returned following an order to leave during the year (Eurostat migr_eirtn, annual, rounded). Compared with orders, this measures the enforcement gap. Source: Eurostat.
- Return Rate After Order to Leave% of orders
- Returned persons as a share of persons ordered to leave in the same year (Eurostat migr_eirtn ÷ migr_eiord × 100). A crude annual ratio — orders and returns are not a matched cohort. Source: Eurostat.
- Labour-force Participation — Nationals% of population 15–64
- Activity rate of nationals aged 15–64 (Eurostat LFS, lfsa_argan where available). Share of nationals in the labour force (employed + unemployed). Source: Eurostat.
- Labour-force Participation — Foreign Citizens% of population 15–64
- Activity rate of foreign citizens aged 15–64 (Eurostat LFS). Citizenship is not the same as foreign-born; naturalised immigrants count as nationals. Source: Eurostat.
- Estimated Irregular Migrant Stockpeople
- Research estimates of the stock of irregular / unauthorized migrants residing in the country (compiled collection covering selected EU countries, Canada and the United States). Methodologies and reference years differ; treat as an order-of-magnitude estimate, not an official count. Source: Irregular migrant stock estimates (Zenodo).
- Detected Illegal Border Crossingsdetections
- Detected illegal border crossings on EU external borders (Frontex). Counts detections, not unique persons; the same person can be counted more than once. Route-level figures are attributed to the EU destination region of the route. Source: Frontex — EU border detections.
- Recorded Migrant Deaths & Disappearancespeople
- Deaths and disappearances of people in the process of migration toward an international destination, recorded by the IOM Missing Migrants Project. Region-of-incident attribution; figures are known undercounts. Source: IOM Missing Migrants Project.
- Net migration nets arrivals against departures, so a small figure can hide very large flows in both directions.
- Migration statistics are among the least complete demographic data; definitions and coverage differ by country.
- Eurostat returns, LFPR by citizenship and Frontex detections are Western / EU reporting series — not global rankings.
- Irregular-stock figures are research estimates (MIrreM); methods and population definitions differ by country.
- IOM Missing Migrants totals are undercounts and are published by region of incident, not destination country.
Definitions for every indicator are listed in the glossary, and collection methods in the methodology.
Sources & citation
- World Bank Open Data — World Development Indicators and population statistics. Licence: CC BY-4.0.
- Eurostat — European statistical office — crime, population and social statistics for EU/EFTA and candidate countries. Licence: Eurostat terms (CC BY 4.0).
- UNHCR Refugee Statistics — End-year stock figures for refugees, people in refugee-like situations, and asylum-seekers by country of asylum (Refugee Population Statistics Database). Licence: UNHCR terms.
- Frontex — EU border detections — Detected illegal border crossings on EU external borders, by migratory route. Administrative detections, not a population estimate. Licence: Frontex terms.
- IOM Missing Migrants Project — Recorded deaths and disappearances of people in the process of migration toward an international destination. Region-level; undercounts are likely. Licence: IOM terms.
- Irregular migrant stock estimates (Zenodo) — Compiled research estimates of irregular / unauthorized migrant stocks for selected Western countries (EU, Canada, United States). Methodologies differ by country; treat as order-of-magnitude, not census counts. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
- PopulationHow migration changes population totals
- Germany Bürgergeld by nationalityBA SGB II rates within nationality, plus ELB shares
- Immigrant fiscal break-evenUK vs DE/ES/FR lifetime balance by pay percentile
- Citizens leaving and coming homeEU/EFTA nationals emigrating vs returning, per 1,000
- Workers vs retireesAge structure that shapes labour supply
- CitiesMetro areas where migrants concentrate
- Census mapsEthnicity, ancestry, and country of birth
- US demographicsRace and Hispanic origin by U.S. state
birthrate.io, "Migration". https://www.birthrate.io/migration (accessed 27 September 2026). Underlying data: World Bank Open Data; Eurostat; UNHCR Refugee Statistics; Frontex — EU border detections; IOM Missing Migrants Project; Irregular migrant stock estimates (Zenodo).
Please cite the original statistical agency for the underlying figures. Charts and tables on this page may be reused with attribution.