Human migration is the movement of people from one place to another, with intentions of settling, permanently or temporarily, at a new location (geographic region). The movement often occurs over long distances and from one country to another (external migration), but internal migration (within a single country) is the dominant form of human migration globally.
Migration is often associated with better human capital at both individual and household level, and with better access to migration networks, facilitating a possible second move. It has a high potential to improve human development, and some studies confirm that migration is the most direct route out of poverty. Age is also important for both work and non-work migration. People may migrate as individuals, in family units or in large groups. There are four major forms of migration: invasion, conquest, colonization and emigration/immigration.
People moving from their home due to forced displacement (such as a natural disaster or civil disturbance) may be described as displaced persons or, if remaining in the home country, internally-displaced persons. People who flee to a different country due to political, religious, or other types of persecution in their home country can formally request shelter in the host country. These people are commonly referred to as asylum seekers. If the application is approved, their legal classification changes to that of refugees.
Definitions One can subdivide migrants can be divided into three categories depending on the goals and reasons for relocation: migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Each category is defined broadly as the combination of circumstances that motivate people to change their location.
Migrants are traditionally described as persons who change the country of residence for general reasons. These purposes may include better job opportunities or healthcare needs. This term is the most widely understood, as anyone changing their geographical location permanently becomes a migrant. In contrast, the UNHCR defines refugees as "persons forced to flee their country because of violence or persecution". The reasons for the refugees' migration usually involve war actions within the source country or other forms of oppression, coming either from government or non-governmental sources. "Refugees" are usually people who must unwillingly relocate as fast as possible; hence, such migrants may relocate without documentation. Asylum seekers are persons who also leave their country unwillingly, yet, who also do not do so under oppressing circumstances such as war or death-threats. The motivation to leave the country for asylum seekers might involve an unstable economic or political situation or high rates of crime. Thus, asylum seekers relocate predominantly to escape the degradation of the quality of their lives.
Differential migration involves selective migration or migration involving parts of a population group. This contrasts with the large-scale migration exemplified by various peoples in (for example) the Migration Period () of late antiquity, when some entire ethnic groups shifted their residence.
Nomadic movements usually are not regarded as migrations, as such movement is generally seasonal; there is no intention to settle permanently in the new place. Only a few people have retained this form of lifestyle in modern times. Temporary movement for travel, tourism, pilgrimages, or commuting is also not regarded as migration, in the absence of an intention to live and settle in the visited places.
Migration patterns and related numbers
There exist many statistical estimates of worldwide migration patterns. The World Bank has published three editions of its Migration and Remittances Factbook, beginning in 2008, with a second edition appearing in 2011 and a third in 2016."Open Knowledge Repository: Migration and Remittances Factbook". World Bank Group. Retrieved 2019-08-11; Migrations and Remittances Factbook 2016, p. xiii: "Factbook 2016 builds on the two previous editions of Factbooks". The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has published ten editions of the World Migration Report since 1999. The United Nations Statistics Division also keeps a database on worldwide migration. Recent advances in research on migration via the Internet promise better understanding of migration patterns and migration motives.Reips, U.-D., & Buffardi, L. (2012). "Studying migrants with the help of the Internet: Methods from psychology", Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 38(9), 1405–1424.
Structurally, there is substantial South–South and North–North migration; in 2013, 38% of all migrants had migrated from developing countries to other developing countries, while 23% had migrated from high-income OECD countries to other high-income countries.Migration and Remittances Factbook 2016, p. 11 (reflecting figures from 2013). The United Nations Population Fund says that "while the North has experienced a higher absolute increase in the migrant stock since 2000 (32 million) compared to the South (25 million), the South recorded a higher growth rate. Between 2000 and 2013, the average annual rate of change of the migrant population in developing regions (2.3%) slightly exceeded that of the developed regions (2.1%)."
Substantial internal migration can also take place within a country, either seasonal human migration (mainly related to agriculture and tourism to urban places), or shifts of the population into cities (urbanisation) or out of cities (suburbanisation). However, studies of worldwide migration patterns tend to limit their scope to international migration.
+ International migrants, 1970–2015 Year Number of migrants Migrants as a % of the world's population 1970 84,460,125 2.3% 1975 90,368,010 2.2% 1980 101,983,149 2.3% 1985 113,206,691 2.3% 1990 152,563,212 2.9% 1995 160,801,752 2.8% 2000 172,703,309 2.8% 2005 191,269,100 2.9% 2010 221,714,243 3.2% 2015 243,700,236 3.3% 2020 280 598 105 3.6%World Migration Report 2024, https://publications.iom.int/books/world-migration-report-2024 Almost half of these migrants are women, one of the most significant migrant-pattern changes in the last half-century. Women migrate alone or with their family members and community. Even though female migration is largely viewed as an association rather than independent migration, emerging studies argue complex and manifold reasons for this.
As of 2024, the top ten immigration destinations for international migrants were:
United States Germany Saudi Arabia Russian Federation United Kingdom United Arab Emirates France Canada Australia Spain
In the same year, the top countries of origin were:
India Mexico Russian Federation China Syrian Arab Republic Bangladesh Pakistan Ukraine Philippines Afghanistan
Besides these rankings, according to absolute numbers of migrants, the Migration and Remittances Factbook also gives statistics for top immigration destination countries and top emigration origin countries according to percentage of the population; the countries that appear at the top of those rankings are entirely different from the ones in the above rankings and tend to be much smaller countries.Migration and Remittances Factbook 2016
New York City's multiple Chinatowns in Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn are thriving as traditionally urban enclaves, as large-scale Chinese immigration continues into New York, with the largest metropolitan Chinese population outside Asia, The New York metropolitan area contains the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, comprising an estimated 893,697 uniracial individuals as of 2017.
As of 2013, the top 15 migration corridors (accounting for at least two million migrants each) were:
Mexico–United States Russian Federation–Ukraine Bangladesh–India Ukraine–Russian Federation Kazakhstan–Russian Federation China–United States Russian Federation–Kazakhstan Afghanistan–Pakistan Afghanistan–Iran China–Hong Kong India–United Arab Emirates West Bank and Gaza–Jordan India–United States India–Saudi Arabia Philippines–United States
Economic impacts Joseph Henrich theorises that immigration can boost the relative growth of economically successful human groups.
World economy
The impacts of human migration on the world economy have been largely positive. In 2015, migrants, who constituted 3.3% of the world population, contributed 9.4% of global GDP. At a microeconomic level, firms largely recognize the value of human mobility. A 2021 survey by the Boston Consulting Group found that 72% of 850+ executives across several countries and industries believed that migration benefited their countries, and 45% considered globally-diverse employees a strategic advantage. According to the Centre for Global Development, opening all borders could add $78 trillion to the world GDP.
Remittances Remittances (funds transferred by migrant workers to their home countries) form a substantial part of the economy of some countries. The top ten remittance recipients : RankCountryRemittance (in billions of US dollars)Percent of GDP1802.802670.503349.144341.545250.966225.847208.438206.579185.7310146.35
In addition to economic impacts, migrants also make substantial contributions in sociocultural and civic-political life. Sociocultural contributions occur in the following areas of societies: food/cuisine, sport, music, art/culture, ideas and beliefs; civic-political contributions relate to participation in civic duties in the context of accepted authority of the state.McAuliffe, Kitimbo & Khadria, 2019, "Reflections on migrations' contributions in an era of increasing disruption and disinformation", World Migration Report 2020, IOM: Geneva. In recognition of the importance of these remittances the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10 proposes substantially reducing the transaction costs of migrants' remittances to less than 3% by 2030.
Voluntary and forced migration Migration is usually divided into voluntary migration and forced migration. The distinction between involuntary (fleeing political conflict or natural disaster) and voluntary migration (economic or labour migration) is difficult to make and partially subjective, as the motivators for migration are often correlated. The World Bank estimated that, as of 2010, 16.3 million or 7.6% of migrants qualified as refugees. This number grew to 19.5 million by 2014 (comprising approximately 7.9% of the total number of migrants, based on the figure recorded in 2013). As noted on p. xiii, the report presents migrant stocks for 2013, refugee numbers for 2014, remittance outflows for 2014, and remittance inflows for 2015. At levels of roughly 3 percent the share of migrants among the world population has remained remarkably constant over the last 5 decades.
Voluntary migration
Voluntary migration is based on the initiative and the free will of the person and is influenced by a combination of factors: economic, political and social: either in the migrants' country of origin (determinant factors or "push factors") or in the country of destination (attraction factors or "pull factors"). "Push-pull factors" are the reasons that push or attract people to a particular place. "Push" factors are the negative aspects(for example wars) of the country of origin, often decisive in people's choice to emigrate. The "pull" factors are the positive aspects of a different country that encourages people to emigrate to seek a better life. For example, the government of Armenia periodically gives incentives to people who will migrate to live in villages close to the border with Azerbaijan. This is an implementation of a push strategy, and the reason people do not want to live near the border is security concerns given tensions and hostility because of Azerbaijan.