UN: Covid19 slows down international migration

The covid19 pandemic halted the increase of international migrants by nearly two million people until mid-2020, the United Nations (UN) said on Friday.

A report published by the UN, explained that there was a decrease of 27 per cent compared to mid-2019.

However, the report said that the international migrant population has grown from 173 million in 2000 to 281 million in 2020. These people represent about 3.6 per cent of the world's population today.

One of the main findings of the UN study is that two-thirds of all migrants live in just 20 countries.

As a region, Europe continues to host the most immigrants, with a total of 87 million, followed by North America (59 million) and North Africa and Western Asia (50 million).

Latin America saw how the number of migrants within the region doubled in the last two decades in large part owing because large number of Venezuelans displaced to other countries owing to its economic crisis.

The United States was the main destination for immigrants worldwide, with 51 million migrants – 18 per cent of the world total – followed by Germany (16 million).

The next three destinations were Saudi Arabia (13 million), Russia (12 million) and the United Kingdom (9 million).

The largest diaspora in the world is India, as the second most populous country on the planet has 18 million people living outside its borders.

This is followed by Mexico and Russia (with about 11 million emigrants each), China (10 million) and Syria (8 million).

Although most of the world's migrants move voluntarily to work and in search of a better life, in the last two decades the number of refugees – people who are forced to leave their country due to conflict, crisis or persecution – has skyrocketed.

In 2020, refugees accounted for 12 per cent of all international migrants, up from 9.5 per cent in 2000.