On September 17, 2019 according to the report by the United Nations(UN) named ‘The International Migrant Stock 2019’, India topped the country of origin of international migrants in 2019 with 17.5 million migrants globally, making it the largest diaspora in the world. Currently the world’s migrant population stands at 272 million in 2019, according to the report which grew by 23% over a decade. Country wise, United States(US) hosted large no. of international migrants at 51 million equaling 19% of the world’s total.
Key points
i. Report preparation: The International Migrant Stock 2019 report which provides latest estimates on International Migrants by age, sex and origin globally based on population census, national surveys etc, was prepared by population division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).
ii. Report on India:
- India has 5.1million international migrants in 2019 which is 5.2 million less when compared to the migration list of 2015 and the international migrants shared 0.4% of the total population in India steadily from 2010-2019.
- High no. of international migrants in India were from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal.
- India accounted for 4% of international migrants in terms of refugees that stood at 207,000. Among the international migrants in the nation, 48.8% were female. Median age of international migrants in the country was 47.1 years.
iii. General reports:
- Migrants account for 3.5% of the world’s population compared with 2.8 percent in the year 2000. The top 10 countries constituting high no of international migrants accounted for one-third of all international migrants. Region wise, Europe hosted the largest number of international migrants of 82 million people.
- One out of every 7 international migrants were below the age of 20 years. Northern Africa and Western Asia hosted 46% of the global number of refugees and asylum seekers.
- Half of international migrants reside in just 10 countries and The share of migrant women was highest in Northern America (52%).
Leading country of origin of international migrants:
| Rank | Country leading with origin of international migrants | Host countries of large no. of international migrants |
| 1 | India | United States(US) |
| 2 | Mexico | Germany |
| 3 | China | Saudi Arabia |
| 4 | Russia | Russia |
| 5 | syria | United Kingdom |
About United Nations:
Headquarters- New York City.
Secretary general-AntónioGuterres.