2.2.2 1.a; 2.2.2 1.b - Global migration patterns and development

International migration numbers and directions

International migration involves a change in a person's country of usual residence. A tourist crossing a border is not automatically an international migrant, while a long-term resident may be a migrant even if they later obtain the destination's nationality. Statistical sources often use country of birth, or citizenship where birth data are unavailable, so check the definition before comparing counts.

A stock counts international migrants living in a place at a stated time. An inflow counts arrivals during a period and an outflow departures; net migration is inflow minus outflow. A country can have a large established migrant stock but a small annual net flow, or substantial immigration and emigration that nearly cancel. A positive net figure also does not show which people moved or why.

The UN's International Migrant Stock 2024 estimates about 304 million international migrants worldwide, compared with about 154 million in 1990. These are stocks, not the number moving during 2024. The global increase masks uneven origins, destinations and routes. Major inter-regional connections include Latin America and the Caribbean to Northern America; substantial movement also occurs within regions, such as between European countries. South Asian connections with Gulf destinations demonstrate important movement between subregions of Asia. Define the regional scheme rather than switching between continents and subregions mid-comparison. UN international migration account, using the 2024 dataset, checked 14 October 2026.

Flows are selective and heterogeneous. Employment, study, family reunion, protection, return and retirement can produce different age, sex, skill and legal-status profiles. The direction may also change: an origin can become a transit or destination country, and an established corridor contains return movement as well as departures. A map's thick arrow should therefore not be read as one uniform group travelling permanently in one direction.

Worked example — a positive net flow

Illustrative dataset: a country receives 24,000 arrivals and records 17,000 departures in one year.

The country gains 7,000 residents through the balance of migration. Gross immigration is still 24,000: the net figure measures a different quantity.

Worked example — a negative net flow

Illustrative dataset: a second country receives 12,000 arrivals and records 19,000 departures over a matching year.

The negative balance means departures exceed arrivals by 7,000. Neither calculation gives migrant stock, which counts residents at a date rather than movements during the year.

Migration and development indicators

Development influences people's reasons and capacity to move, while migration can change development in both origins and destinations. Differences in wages, employment, education and security can create incentives. Yet moving also requires information, money, networks and access to routes. Very poor households may be unable to finance an international move, so the lowest-income countries do not necessarily have the highest emigration rates. Development can initially increase mobility by expanding aspirations and resources.

The Human Development Index combines dimensions of health, education and income. Comparing it with emigration or remittance indicators can reveal patterns, but national averages conceal regional and household differences. HDI is not a measure of immigration policy or every dimension of wellbeing, and an association with migration cannot establish a single causal direction. Conflict, historical ties and recruitment networks can modify the relationship.

Remittances are transfers sent by migrants to people in another place, commonly relatives in the origin country. Their absolute value shows the scale of recorded transfers; their share of GDP shows their size relative to the economy. A large country can receive more money but depend less on it proportionally. A rising percentage may reflect falling GDP rather than rising transfers. Recorded data can also miss informal transfers and do not reveal how benefits are distributed among households.

Worked example — a large transfer total

Illustrative dataset: country C receives 3 billion monetary units of remittances and has GDP of 150 billion units.

Both quantities use billions of the same monetary unit, so those units cancel in the ratio.

Worked example — a smaller, more dependent economy

Illustrative dataset: country D receives 0.9 billion units of remittances and has GDP of 6 billion units.

C receives more money in total, while D has the larger share relative to its economy. The ratio reveals relative scale, but household evidence is needed to explain who receives the funds and how they are used.

Combine quantitative and qualitative approaches. A remittance series can show change; interviews can explain transfer costs, obligations or household decisions; a corridor map can reveal where connections operate. Accounts from migrants and non-migrants may differ because access to migration itself is unequal. Evaluate the sampling and definitions of each source rather than treating a personal story as a national estimate or a national average as everyone's experience.