Last updated: 16 August 2026
This report is an evidence-based statistical overview of global immigration and migration trends. It prioritises the latest available figures from the United Nations, International Organization for Migration (IOM), OECD, Eurostat and UNHCR. Because migration datasets are published on different schedules and use different definitions, every figure below identifies its reporting year and statistical concept. A report published in 2026 does not necessarily mean that the underlying statistic covers calendar year 2026.
Quick Summary
- The United Nations estimates that 304 million international migrants were living outside their country of birth in 2024, equal to about 3.7% of the world’s population.
- IOM’s World Migration Report 2026 confirms the same broad 2024 estimate and notes that international migration remains the exception rather than the norm globally.
- OECD countries recorded 6.2 million new permanent immigrants in 2024, 4% below 2023 but still 15% above 2019.
- OECD countries recorded approximately 2.3 million temporary labour authorisations or permits in 2024, excluding Poland from the comparable total.
- OECD countries received more than 1.8 million new international tertiary students in 2024.
- OECD countries recorded approximately 3.1 million new asylum applications in 2024.
- The EU recorded 4.2 million immigrants from non-EU countries in 2024 and about 1.5 million moves between EU countries. These figures should not be confused with the EU’s total foreign-born population.
- UNHCR reported 117.8 million forcibly displaced people at the end of 2025, according to its Global Trends 2025 report published in June 2026.
2026 Data Snapshot
| Statistic | Figure | Reference year | Primary source |
| International migrant stock | 304 million | 2024 | UN DESA / IOM |
| OECD permanent migration | 6.2 million | 2024 | OECD |
| Temporary labour authorisations | ~2.3 million | 2024 | OECD |
| New international tertiary students | >1.8 million | 2024 | OECD |
| OECD asylum applications | ~3.1 million | 2024 | OECD |
| Forced displacement | 117.8 million | 2025 | UNHCR |
| EU non-EU immigration | 4.2 million | 2024 | Eurostat |
1. Global International Migrant Population
The United Nations estimated that 304 million people were international migrants in 2024. Under the UN migrant-stock framework, this broadly represents people living in a country other than their country of birth. International migrants represented approximately 3.7% of the world’s population in 2024, compared with about 2.9% in 1990.
This is a stock measure: it describes the number of international migrants living outside their country of birth at a point in time. It is not the number of people who crossed an international border during 2024.
IOM’s World Migration Report 2026 uses the latest available global evidence and likewise reports around 304 million international migrants by mid-2024. IOM emphasises that, despite the growth in international migration, most people still live in their country of birth and internal migration is much more common.
Primary source: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, International Migrant Stock 2024.
UN DESA International Migrant Stock
2. Where International Migrants Live
Europe hosted more international migrants than any other UN region in 2024, with approximately 94 million. Northern America hosted about 61 million, while Northern Africa and Western Asia hosted approximately 54 million.
These figures describe migrant stocks, not annual immigration flows. A country or region can have a large migrant population because migrants accumulated over many years, even if current annual arrivals are falling.
3. Permanent Migration to OECD Countries — 2024
The OECD recorded 6.2 million new permanent immigrants in 2024. This was 4% lower than in 2023, but still 15% higher than the 2019 level.
The OECD’s permanent-type migration measure generally relates to people granted a status allowing them to stay, or intending to stay, for at least one year. It is therefore not the same as every person entering an OECD country.
In 2024, the United States accounted for around one quarter of the OECD total, with about 1.4 million new permanent immigrants. Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom and Spain each accounted for between 7% and 11%.
Family reunification remained the leading reason for permanent migration across OECD countries, while labour migration declined sharply and humanitarian migration increased.
Primary source: OECD, International Migration Outlook 2025, reporting 2024 migration data.
OECD International Migration Outlook 2025
4. Temporary Labour Migration
Approximately 2.3 million foreign workers were granted temporary labour authorisations or work permits in OECD countries in 2024, excluding Poland from the comparable total. The OECD reports that this was broadly unchanged from 2023, 26% above 2019 and 51% above 2015.
The figure includes different temporary labour channels, such as seasonal workers, working-holiday migrants, trainees, intra-company transfers and other temporary-worker programmes. It should therefore not be interpreted as 2.3 million identical work visas or 2.3 million employer-sponsored permanent jobs.
If Poland is included using its less-comparable national data, the OECD indicates that the total could be closer to 2.5 million.
Primary source: OECD, International Migration Outlook 2025.
5. International Student Mobility
OECD countries received more than 1.8 million new international tertiary-education students in 2024, 13% fewer than in 2023.
The four largest receiving countries recorded declines in new international student inflows in 2024: the United States received about 390,000 new international students, the United Kingdom about 389,000, Canada about 213,100 and Australia about 182,000.
These are new student inflows, not the total number of international students enrolled in OECD countries.
The decline demonstrates an important 2026 lesson: international education remains a major migration pathway, but policy changes, costs, housing pressures and immigration restrictions can materially change student flows.
6. Asylum Applications in OECD Countries
OECD countries recorded approximately 3.1 million new asylum applications in 2024, 13% above the previous record in 2023.
Asylum applications are not the same as refugee admissions, permanent immigration or successful asylum claims. An application represents a request for international protection that still requires a decision.
This distinction is important because humanitarian migration statistics should not be mixed with ordinary work, study or family-migration statistics.
7. Global Forced Displacement
UNHCR’s Global Trends 2025, published in June 2026, reports that 117.8 million people were forcibly displaced at the end of 2025. The figure includes refugees, asylum-seekers, other people in need of international protection and internally displaced people.
UNHCR’s figures included approximately 41.6 million refugees, 9 million asylum-seekers and 68.7 million internally displaced people at the end of 2025.
The total was below the 123.2 million recorded at the end of 2024, but remained exceptionally high by historical standards.
Forced displacement is a distinct statistical category from migration undertaken primarily for employment, education or other voluntary mobility purposes.
Primary source: UNHCR, Global Trends 2025, published 11 June 2026.
8. Immigration to the European Union
Eurostat reports that 4.2 million people immigrated to the EU from non-EU countries in 2024. In addition, approximately 1.5 million people moved between EU countries.
Eurostat notes that the 4.2 million figure does not include asylum seekers and, for some countries, people from Ukraine benefiting from temporary protection. It should therefore not be treated as the EU’s complete migration total.
An earlier version of this article described 64.2 million as the EU’s immigrant population. That figure has been removed because its definition and source were not sufficiently clear for the claim being made.
Primary source: Eurostat, 27 February 2026, EU immigration in 2024.
9. Migration Routes and Changing Patterns
IOM’s 2026 route-based analysis shows that migration routes changed substantially during 2025. Geopolitical developments, conflict, economic pressures, environmental stress and policy changes affected the volume, direction and composition of movements along major corridors.
For example, IOM reported that the share of arrivals to Europe from Asia and the Pacific increased from 20% in 2024 to 30% in 2025, even as overall arrivals to Europe declined. IOM also reported a sharp decline in movements along the Central American route in 2025.
These route-level statistics should be read as indicators of changing movement patterns, not as forecasts of future visa demand or evidence that a particular immigration route is open to everyone.
10. What the Data Actually Shows
Migration remains large, but different measures tell different stories
The figures in this report describe different populations, flows and statistical concepts. They should therefore be interpreted individually rather than combined to produce a single “global immigration” total.
The UN’s 304 million figure measures the global stock of international migrants. The OECD’s 6.2 million figure measures new permanent-type migration into OECD countries during 2024. The OECD’s 2.3 million figure measures temporary labour authorisations or permits. These figures cannot simply be added together.
Permanent migration fell in the OECD in 2024, but remained historically high
OECD permanent migration declined 4% from 2023 to 2024, yet remained 15% above 2019. Family migration remained the leading reason for permanent migration, while labour migration declined sharply and humanitarian migration increased.
Temporary labour migration remained substantial
Temporary labour migration remained broadly stable in 2024 at approximately 2.3 million comparable permits and authorisations. The composition varies substantially by country and programme.
International student inflows declined in the OECD
The number of new international tertiary students entering OECD countries fell 13% in 2024. This does not mean international education stopped growing everywhere; it means the OECD-wide new-inflow measure declined from the 2023 level.
Forced displacement remains exceptionally high
UNHCR’s latest global data show that forced displacement remained exceptionally high at 117.8 million people at the end of 2025.
11. Major Migration Trends to Watch in 2026
- More targeted migration: many countries are increasingly targeting particular skills, occupations, sectors and regions rather than treating immigration as a single broad policy category.
- Greater pressure on temporary migration: governments are increasingly balancing labour shortages with housing, infrastructure and public-service capacity.
- Changing international-student policies: major study destinations continue to adjust student numbers, financial requirements, dependants and post-study work rules.
- Persistent health and labour shortages: healthcare and other shortage occupations remain important drivers of skilled migration in many OECD economies.
- Humanitarian mobility remains high: conflict and instability continue to generate substantial displacement and asylum demand.
- Migration routes remain adaptable: when one route becomes more restrictive, movement patterns can shift geographically rather than simply disappear.
12. Implications for International Students, Workers and Migrants
Statistics can identify broad trends, but they do not determine an individual’s immigration eligibility.
- Students: international education remains a major form of cross-border mobility, but study permission, post-study work rights and permanent-residence options must be checked separately for each country.
- Workers: temporary labour migration remains significant, but a work permit does not automatically provide permanent residence.
- Skilled professionals: labour-market demand can influence immigration policy, but an occupation being in demand does not guarantee a visa, sponsorship or job offer.
- Families: family migration remains an important component of permanent migration in OECD countries, but eligibility is programme-specific.
- Humanitarian applicants: asylum and refugee statistics represent protection systems and should not be treated as ordinary employment or study migration routes.
13. What This Report Does Not Claim
This report does not claim that:
- a country with high immigration is automatically the best destination;
- a shortage occupation guarantees sponsorship;
- a student visa automatically leads to permanent residence;
- a work permit automatically leads to permanent residence;
- higher immigration numbers mean easier visa approval;
- historical migration statistics can reliably predict an individual’s visa outcome.
14. Data Methodology
This report prioritises official statistical sources. Each statistic is labelled by its reporting period and source.
Where a source provides a specific statistical definition, that definition takes precedence over general terminology used elsewhere in this article. Figures are reproduced or summarised from the cited source and are not independently calculated by ZHC Faculty unless explicitly stated.
The report distinguishes between stocks (people living in a country at a given time), flows (movements during a period), administrative permissions, applications and displacement populations. These measures are not interchangeable.
Primary sources
- United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs — International Migrant Stock
- International Organization for Migration — World Migration Report 2026
- OECD — International Migration Outlook 2025
- Eurostat — Migration and Asylum
- UNHCR — Global Trends
Important Definitions
International migrant: a person living in a country other than the country of birth under the UN migrant-stock framework.
Permanent-type migrant: an OECD statistical category generally associated with residence of at least one year or an intention to remain for at least one year.
Temporary labour migrant: a worker entering or remaining under a temporary labour authorisation or permit; programmes differ significantly between countries.
International student: a student crossing a border for tertiary education; the OECD figure used here measures new international tertiary-education students, not total enrolment.
Asylum seeker: a person seeking international protection whose claim has not necessarily been finally decided.
Forcibly displaced person: a person included within UNHCR’s global forced-displacement framework, including refugees, asylum-seekers, other people in need of international protection and internally displaced people.
15. Limitations
Immigration statistics are not perfectly comparable across countries. Definitions, reporting systems, reference periods, administrative practices and revisions differ. Some datasets are provisional and may later be updated.
Historical figures may also be revised by the publishing organisation after initial release. Readers using the data for research should therefore check the latest version of the underlying dataset.
The most recent globally comparable migrant-stock dataset is for 2024, while some flow, labour, student and humanitarian datasets extend into 2025. Therefore, a “2026 report” should not be interpreted as a dataset containing complete calendar-year 2026 immigration figures.
For that reason, readers should treat this report as a statistical overview, not as an immigration eligibility calculator or a substitute for government guidance.
16. Official Sources for Further Verification
- UN DESA International Migrant Stock 2024
- IOM World Migration Report 2026
- OECD International Migration Outlook 2025
- Eurostat Migration and Asylum
- UNHCR Global Trends
Editorial Review
Reviewed: 16 August 2026. The numerical snapshot was checked against the latest official sources available at the time of review, including the 2026 IOM World Migration Report. Because new datasets and revisions can be released after publication, readers should verify time-sensitive figures against the linked primary sources.
Disclaimer
This report is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute immigration, legal, financial, employment or educational advice. Immigration rules and statistical datasets can change, and individual eligibility depends on the applicable law and programme requirements.
ZHC FACULTY Data-Use Check
Migration statistics describe populations and trends; they do not determine an individual’s immigration eligibility. When using statistics to make a decision, check the dataset, reference year, definition and source.
- Do not compare figures from different years as though they were simultaneous.
- Check whether a figure refers to migrants, immigrants, international students, workers or another defined population.
- Prefer the original government or recognised international dataset when a secondary source gives a different number.
- Use statistics as context, not as a promise of employment, admission or visa approval.
Publisher and Editorial Lead, ZHC FACULTY. Prince Onuzurike Chibuikem oversees the platform’s editorial direction and the development, research, source verification, updating and quality review of content covering international scholarships, study abroad, visa-sponsored employment, immigration and relocation. ZHC FACULTY is an independent information publisher and is not a government agency, university, recruitment agency or immigration law firm.
