Please click on the picture to open the interactive map.Country profiles provide information on migration, refugee flows and integration in different countries – covering countries of immigration and emigration in Europe and world-wide. The profiles include information on:
For most of its history, Ireland was a country of emigration. In the last twenty-five years, however, it has gone from being a largely homogenous country to an increasingly heterogenous country in which almost one in five people living in Ireland today was born abroad.
Throughout its recent history, Lithuania has been a country of emigration. Migration and integration policies are selective as they favour return migration of Lithuanian citizens and immigration of highly skilled migrants from particular third countries.
Development has been one of the major goals of successive Ethiopian governments. However, it has paved the way for large-scale land grabbing which dispossesses and displaces rural farmers and pastoralists and forces them to seek jobs in agribusiness-enterprises and urban areas.
For many years, Kenya has hosted the lion share of refugees from war-torn Somalia. These refugees are often perceived as a threat to security – not least due to their interlinkages with locals of Somali ethnic descent as well as their cross-border kinship networks.
The history of the Northern Europe region is marked by migration. People moved across borders and sometimes borders across people. Today, some Northern European countries attract large numbers of immigrants, while other countries experience extensive emigration.
South America has experienced various phases of immigration from Europe since its discovery at the end of the 15th century. At the same time, many South Americans have migrated to the USA and European states since the 20th century. Due to the political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, intra-regional migratory movements are currently increasing.
The East Africa region is characterized by high mobility. Voluntary movements within states and across national borders mix with forced migration, which is triggered not least by armed conflicts.
In current debates on immigration to the European Union, North African states are often in the focus of attention, as they are important transit countries for migrants who want to reach Europe via the Mediterranean. But there is also a high level of mobility within the region.
Jordan did not sign the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Nevertheless the country received many refugees in the course of its history. Thus, in Jordan live 2.1 million Palestine refugees who possess the Jordan citizenship. In contrast to them, the 629.000 Syrian refugees registered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have only restricted rights. Their access to central social sectors as education, healthcare, and the labor market are limited. The longer war rules in their home country, the worse get their living conditions.
According to its population, Lebanon hosts the largest number of refugees worldwide. Apart from 1.1 million Syrians, who fled to Lebanon since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in spring 2011, already for decades hundreds of thousands Palestine refugees live in the little country in the eastern Mediterranean. Lebanon guarantees protection to these refugees, although it did not sign the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
Since 2014 Turkey has been the world's major refugee hosting country as regards the absolute number of hosted individuals. Due to the large refugee inflow and connected challenges, the country put into force a new Law on Foreigners and International Protection in 2013.
More than four million Syrians fled the Syrian Civil War and have sought refuge in one of Syria's neighboring countries. Turkey is hosting the lion share. However, since their arrival in Turkey, living conditions have worsened. Especially Syrians who are living in urban areas hardly have access to public services.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis leave the country to work abroad. Their remittances play an important role in the country's economy. At the same time, Bangladesh has developed into a production hub of the international garments industry – a development that has increased internal migration. Within the country, mobility is also an important adaptation strategy of people whose lives and livelihoods are endangered by the impacts of climate change.
Sweden is a country with a long tradition of immigration. Already in the 1960s, when, against the backdrop of an economic upswing, foreign labor was recruited, Sweden did not regard immigrants solely as "guest workers" who would eventually return to their countries of origin. Instead, the government assumed from the outset that immigrant workers would stay.
Immigration has a long tradition in Argentina. In the years of the great transatlantic migrations Argentina developed into one of the most important immigration destinations in the New World, second only to the United States. Immigrants from Europe were regarded as agents of change who were expected to lead the country towards a path to civilization and modernity. Nowadays, immigrants from other Latin American states prevail. Their immigration challenges the dominant and popular image of a "white" society, a position shared by many Argentines.
The Republic of South Africa, referred to as the "Rainbow Nation" due to its multicultural population, is one of the BRICS countries and is regarded as the economic motor in Africa’s southern region. Since its colonization by the Netherlands and Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries, this country has continuously attracted migrants from Europe and other parts of the world. Those moving to South Africa from neighboring countries are usually labor migrants searching for better prospects for the future.
The United Kingdom became a country of immigration after the Second World War. Currently, the large number of immigrants leads to much controversy. For the first time in the country’s history, Migration from other European Union Member States lies at the core of these discussions. The winner of widespread anti-immigrant sentiments in the population is the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). Its current popularity suggests that the immigration issue could realign the country’s party system.
The Netherlands have attracted migrants for centuries. Initially, they were encouraged to maintain their own cultures. Since the 1990s, however, there has been increasing pressure to assimilate into Dutch culture. Successful integration has become a prerequisite to acquire political rights. The electoral success of anti-immigrant parties since the turn of the millennium has fuelled this development.
The population of the People’s Republic of China, founded in 1949, is characterized by ethnic and cultural heterogeneity. In addition to the Han nationality, there are 55 other ethnic groups, the so-called recognized national minorities. The People’s Republic is not a country of immigration: foreign nationals constitute only 0.05 percent of the total population. So far there are no internationally comparable instruments for the management of migration and integration of immigrants. Chinese leaders see their task in integration policy rather as facing the political, economic and socio-cultural challenges that have resulted from the historical multinational nature of China.
Greece has traditionally been an emigration country. This changed in the 1970s when immigration started to outnumber emigration. However, Greece first started to create a legal framework for the management of immigration flows only in the 1990s. Yet, lacking perspectives to acquire and maintain a legal residence status continue to shape the situation of many immigrants from non-EU states until today.
Emigration has been an enduring feature of the Philippine economy. Global political and economic developments in the last century have greatly influenced how the country’s policies have been shaped to respond to the changing international demand for workers. While colonial ties facilitated much of the flows in the early twentieth century, it was the international economic restructuring towards the end of the last century that has fueled the rapid growth of the flow of Filipino migrant workers.
Since the 1980s, Canada has accepted more immigrants and refugees for permanent settlement in proportion to its population than any other country in the world. During the twentieth century, the country’s immigration policy was transformed from a mechanism for keeping people of non-European origin out into a tool for selecting a mixture of newcomers – regardless of origin – designed to fuel the country’s economic and demographic growth.
Since the 19th century, Croatia has had comprehensive experience under different constitutional constructions and territorial demarcations with migration, asylum and displacement. To be emphasized are the overseas migration in the 19th century, the increasing migration in the direction of the northern and western European states in the early 20th century, the subsequent inclusion in the system of the European recruitment migration in the second half of the 20th century as well as the various migration and refugee flows connected to the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. Croatia can be equally described as a land of emigration, immigration, transit, and remigration as well as a country of both origin and destination for asylum seekers and displaced persons.
Contemporary Albanian migration is considered to be unique by virtue of its intensity over a short period of time. By 2010 nearly half of Albania's resident population had emigrated and was living abroad, while many others had moved internally.
The GCC organization was established in 1981 and includes the following states: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE (United Arab Emirates).
Only two million foreigners live in Japan. In other words, immigrants make up no more than 1.63% of the total population – a tiny percentage for an economically successful and politically stable nation and astonishing in view of its long history of international immigration and emigration.
The transformation of the role of Italy from a country of emigration par excellence to a country of immigration took place somewhat suddenly from the late 1970s onwards. Especially in the last twenty years, Italy has experienced stronger immigration than many other European countries and currently the annual growth rate of the immigrant population is one of the highest in the European Union. Despite its young history of immigration, the country has significant experience regarding migration movements.
Switzerland is a country of immigration. Despite early labor migration across national borders, this fact has for a long time not been recognized. With the strong economic upswing following the Second World War, the targeted recruitment of labor began, a phenomenon which especially marked the second half of the 20th century.
With almost half of its total resident population either born in a foreign country or the child of such a person, Australia is one of the world´s quintessential immigration countries. Moreover, in mid-2008 there were also over 800.000 people in Australia on a temporary basis and a million Australians living overseas on a permanent or long-term basis. A majority of its resident population perceives migration as having a positive economic and social impact.
International migration in Russia is composed of the inflow of immigrants from other countries of the former Soviet Union and an outflow of emigrants into economically more developed countries.
Traditionally Ireland has been a country marked by a declining population and high rates of emigration. Within the last two decades this situation has reversed dramatically. Immigration has increased significantly in the context of rapid economic growth.
Cooperation in matters of immigration and asylum is one of the most recently addressed aspects of European integration. Its significance has expanded rapidly since the matter was first introduced at the end of the 1980s, and today it is without doubt one of the core areas of the European integration project.
Since the 1960s, Morocco has evolved into one of the prime source countries of labour migrants to Europe. Increasing immigration restrictions in Europe did little to stop migration, and have led instead to the increasingly irregular character of migration and to the exploration of new destinations beyond the traditional ones of France and the Benelux countries.
Brazil, the fifth biggest country in the world in terms of area and population, is primarily known in Europe as an attractive holiday destination and former immigration country. Between the first Portuguese settlement in the 16th century and the Second World War, more than four million people migrated to the country, most of them Europeans. In the 1980s the situation reversed. An estimated three million Brazilians have left their country to date; initially their primary destination was the USA, but increasingly they also aim for Europe and Japan.
Mexico is a country of immigration, transmigration – mostly from Central America to the United States – and emigration, mostly to the United States. For the past century, emigration has far outweighed the other forms of international migration, yet the influences of all three forms of migration have been felt.
With regard to the subject of migration, too, Israel is unusual in one very important way: the state is virtually built on immigration. Mass immigration characterised various periods of the 20th century, especially the years immediately before and after the founding of the state in 1948.
In Europe and elsewhere, there is a widespread image of Africa as a continent in crisis, whose population seeks en masse to find a route to Europe. The example of Senegal, however, illustrates that African migration is far more complex a phenomenon.
During the past one hundred years Romania was predominantly a country of emigration, with a rather impressive record regarding the number of persons involved, the outcomes and the varieties of migratory arrangements. Emigration, combined with an ageing population, will likely make Romania turn to labour immigration in the future.
Lithuania, the biggest of the three Baltic states, lies on the eastern border of the EU, to which it was admitted in 2004. Since regaining independence in 1990, Lithuania has been strongly affected by labour emigration. Additionally, the country has been trying since its entry into the EU to overcome the difficulties arising from its role as a destination, source and transit country for legal and irregular international migration.
Traditionally an emigration country, Spain has been transformed within the space of a few decades to become one of the most important immigration countries in Europe. Since the middle of the 1980s Spain's foreign population has risen nineteen-fold to 4.52 million. Legislation has been modified many times in order to keep pace with this ever-changing situation. From the beginning, the focus has been on controlling the flow of immigrants and combating illegal migration, which represents a central problem for Spain.
With the exception of the influx of the Turkish Muslim populations of the Ottoman Empire who were left out of its newly established borders in 1923, Turkey has largely been considered a country of emigration throughout much of the 20th century. However, the last quarter of the 20th century witnessed a significant change in Turkey's role in international migration regimes as it transformed into a transit and immigration country.
The United States is often regarded as the definitive “immigrant nation”. After more than two hundred years of significant inflows, immigration to the U.S. is characterized by its diversity. Each year large numbers of people from different socio-economic, educational and ethnic backgrounds are drawn to the country.
The history of migration in Poland is characterised largely by emigration. Because of its geographic location between Eastern and Western Europe, Poland frequently serves as a transit country for migrants. In addition to this, it is developing into a destination country, primarily for migrants from neighbouring countries on its eastern border, and from other parts of the former Soviet Union.
The immigration situation in France has been strongly influenced to the present day by the legacy of colonialism of earlier centuries as well as the long tradition of recruiting foreign workers. Overall, there has been a steady increase in immigration over the last century, and this has had a strong impact on the nature of French society.
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