7) Where do most of the world’s migrants live? November 3, 2008
Posted by ruthsrobinson in Briefings.trackback
… in Europe (56 million), Asia (50 million) and North America (41 million)
http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/ittmig2002/press-release-eng.htm
It’s probably important to be aware that the figure of 56 million migrants for Europe includes EU citizens of one EU state exercising their right to live and work in another EU state as well as non-EU citizens moving to Europe from other continents. EU citizens represent approximately 60% of all those listed as migrants in Europe. This makes comparisons with Asia and America somewhat problematic. Migrants in Asia and the US are essentially citizens of one sovereign State who intend to live and work in another sovereign State for a period of more than one year (UN definition).
If the US were counting migrants in the same way that the UN counts migrants in the EU, the US estimates, for example, would need to count people from one US State moving to live and work in another US State.
Hope that helps clarify notoriously tricky analysis of migration statistics!
For more information about migration in Europe see my 140p ‘Mapping Migration – Mapping Churches Response: Europe Study ‘ available at €10 (inc. p&p) from djackson@novaresearch.eu