1. At the global level, international migrants numbered 191 million in 2005.

2. Roughly one third live in a developing country and came from another developing country, while another third live in a developed country and originated in a developing country. That is, "South-to-South" migrants are about as numerous as "South-to-North" migrants.

3. In 2005, Europe hosted 34 per cent of all migrants; Northern America, 23 per cent, and Asia, 28 per cent. Only 9 per cent were living in Africa; 3 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean, and another 3 per cent in Oceania.

4. Nearly six out of every ten international migrants (a total of 112 million) reside in countries designated as "high income". But these high income nations include 22 developing countries, such as Bahrain, Brunei, Kuwait, Qatar, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

5. Nearly half of all migrants worldwide are women. In the developed countries they are more numerous than male migrants.

6. In 72 countries, the number of migrants decreased between 1990 and 2005. Seventeen nations accounted for 75 per cent of the increase in the migrant stock over that period -- the US gained 15 million migrants, with Germany and Spain adding more than 4 million each.

7. Between 1990 and 2005, at least 35 programmes were undertaken in both developed and developing countries to bring the status of migrants who were in an irregular situation into conformity with national regulations. Overall, these programmes regularized the status of at least 5.3 million migrants.

Skilled migration

1. In 2000, there were about 20 million migrants with tertiary education and aged 25 or over living in OECD countries, up from 12 million in 1990.

2. People with tertiary education accounted for nearly half the increase in migrants older than 25 years in the OECD countries during the 1990s .

3. Nearly 6 out of every 10 highly-educated migrants living in OECD countries in 2000 originated in developing countries.

4. Between 33 and 55 per cent of the highly-educated people of Angola, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania live in OECD countries. That proportion is even higher, about 60 per cent, for Guyana, Haiti, Fiji, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Remittances

1. Money sent home by migrants worldwide increased from US$102 billion in 1995 to an estimated US$232 billion in 2005.

2. The share of global remittances going to developing countries has also increased, from 57 per cent in 1995 (US$58 billion) to 72 per cent in 2005 (US$167 billion).

3. The top 20 recipient countries accounted for 66 per cent of world remittances in 2004. Only eight of them are developed countries. One third of global remittances went to only four countries: in order of total money received, these were India, China, Mexico and France.

4. Remittances constituted a high share of gross domestic product in only two of the major recipients: the Philippines, and Serbia and Montenegro. Most of the 20 countries where remittances accounted for at least a tenth of GDP are small developing countries.

Source: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division
For further information, please visit www.unmigration.org or contact Ms. Hania Zlotnik, Director,
United Nations Population Division, Tel: (212) 963-3179, e-mail: zlotnik@un.org.