The countries with the most immigrant population in the world, exposed on this map

The number of migrants has not stopped growing in the last 50 years. Since many countries They opened their doors to immigrationinternational migratory flow has not stopped intensifying. In fact, some of those countries, such as the United States, They could not explain without immigrationbut in recent years, economic, labor, war and even climatic issues have caused the number of migrants to exploit.

And it is something that is perfectly reflected in the following maps.

Immigration map in 2025. On the upper map, prepared by Visual Capitalist With the last data United Nations Migration Reportwe can see the 20 countries with a greater proportion of international migrants until 2024. A migrant is defined as someone who lives in a country other than his birth for at least 12 months, regardless of reason.

And what we can see is that Qatar, United Arab Emirates or Monaco are countries in which more than 70% of its population are international migrants. Around 50%, we have both European countries (Liechtenstein, Andorra or Luxembourg) and the Middle East (Kuwait, Baréin or Jordan) and Singapore.

Trend. Beyond this map, there are other resources to understand the Magnitude of these migratory movements In recent years. One of them is provided by the United Nations report itself, a graph in which we can see the evolution of the number of migrants in the last 25 years. Of the 150 million of 1990, where there was already an upward trend, we went to 304 million in 2024.

Distribution. The region that hosted the most migrants during the past year was Oceania, with 21.5%, followed by North America with 15.9%, Europe with 12.6%, North Africa and the Middle East with 9.3%, Latin America with 2.6%, sub -Saharan Africa with 2%, this of Asia with 1%and south of Asia with just 0.9%. It is very clear what are the regions that welcome those migrants.

And another interesting resource to see those migratory movements in the last 25 years is this interactive map in which we can see the total number of immigrants from 1990 to 2024.

International runners. Putting the cursor over Mexico, we observed 4.49 million people who migrated in 1990, less than half of the more than 11 million people who left the country last year looking for something better. And, of course, these people go somewhere, there are favorite destinations for cultural reasons, of language or, simply, close.

These movements are summarized in the ‘runners’, and the Next graphic It allows us to take an eye on those favorite international corridors. An example, the clearest, is that of Mexico and its almost 11 million inhabitants going to the United States. Others are 3.5 million Indians going to the United Arab Emirates, another 2.8 million traveling to the United States and another 2.5 million moving to Saudi Arabia.

Chance. Immigration is an opportunity for those people looking for something better, but also for the countries themselves. For example, thanks to this immigration there are countries that seek to improve their demographic situation. The case of Europe is clear, with countries that They do not approach the replacement rate and others that, thanks to immigrants, The pension system is strengthened. And then there is Japan.

It is no longer that they look for that Demographic salvationbut They need labor. They do not find it in the country due, among other things, population agingand that’s why they trust and give You help whoever wants to start a new life In the country.

And need. And, obviously, that immigration is the exit for situations that, unfortunately, are becoming more frequent worldwide. From the beginning of the Russian invasion, eight million Ukrainians moved internally due to the crisis, but others six million They became refugees. In Palestine, se esteem that almost six million people are refugees.

In total, according to estimatesin 2024 there were more than 123 million people displaced by force around the world. Of these, 42 million were refugees and another 73 million moved internally.

In Xataka | Thousands of Americans want to flee from the country because of the political climate. And they have a preferential destination: Spain