International Organization for Migration
An IMGW News Report
The World Migration Report 2024, the twelfth (and latest) in the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) series, arrives at a moment when global mobility has rarely been more politicised. The report sets out both the numbers and the narratives: long-term migration trends, the scale of displacement, and the increasingly contested politics of movement.
The stock of international migrants stood at 281 million in 2020 – 3.6% of the world’s population, more than three times the level of 1970. While the figure has grown steadily, the report stresses that most people remain in their country of birth. Migration is the exception, not the norm.
“As the digital economy grows, new categories of movers – students, nomads, investors – blur the lines between migration, tourism and commerce”
Displacement has reached unprecedented levels. By the end of 2022, 117 million people were living in forced displacement, including 35 million refugees and 71 million internally displaced persons. Conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan and Myanmar, compounded by climate disasters, were already straining humanitarian systems. The outbreak of war in Gaza in late 2023 added another layer of human tragedy, displacing hundreds of thousands and destabilising the wider region.
Alongside crises, new mobility patterns are emerging. Internationally mobile students now number more than six million, almost triple the figure two decades ago. Their flows overlap with a growing cohort of digital nomads – knowledge workers who leverage remote technology to live and work across borders. Together, these groups are reshaping education markets, urban economies and even visa regimes, as countries from Portugal to Thailand craft bespoke programmes to attract them.
“… And as politicians in Washington, London, Canberra and Brussels sharpen rhetoric, migration is set to remain a defining fault line of the 21st century”
Economic forces remain central. Remittances reached $831 billion in 2022, of which $647 billion went to low- and middle-income countries. The figure dwarfs aid budgets and provides lifelines to millions of households. Investment migration programmes, including so-called Golden Visas and Citizenship by Investment programmes, have become part of this landscape. Critics argue they exacerbate global inequality by offering passports to the wealthy, while proponents view them as pragmatic channels for capital and mobility in a world where legal pathways are narrowing for many.
The politics of migration, however, often overshadow the data. In the US, UK, Australia and much of the EU, migration has been weaponised in electoral contests, frequently framed through the lens of security and cultural anxiety. Anti-immigration narratives – sometimes amplified by disinformation – have become pivotal in shaping public opinion and, in some cases, swinging election outcomes.
Demographic shifts underline the complexity. Migrants today are almost evenly split by gender, while the share of children among migrants has fallen from 16% in 2000 to just over 10% in 2020. Oceania hosts the highest proportion of international migrants relative to population, while Gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates remain outliers, with foreign nationals comprising the vast majority.
The report’s broader message is that migration is neither crisis nor cure alone. It is structural: a driver of remittances, innovation and education, but also a flashpoint in geopolitics. As the Gaza war shows, conflict can quickly redraw mobility patterns. As the digital economy grows, new categories of movers – students, nomads, investors – blur the lines between migration, tourism and commerce. And as politicians in Washington, London, Canberra and Brussels sharpen rhetoric, migration is set to remain a defining fault line of the 21st century.
