7 facts about world migration | Pew Research Center

Interesting portrayal of countries and migration. Check out the interactive map:

Here are seven interesting global migration patterns we found using the map.

1. The United Kingdom is home to the most diverse immigrant community in the world. It used to be said that the sun never set on the British Empire. Now, people from the many countries the British once ruled live inside the U.K.’s borders. Based on the Herfindahl-Hirschman index – which is widely used by biologists, ecologists, linguists, economists, sociologists and demographers to measure the degree of concentration of human or biological populations – the diversity of immigrant birth countries in the U.K. on a 0 to 100 scale is 97. For immigrants living in the U.S., it is 91.
2. The French like to live all over the world – emigrants from France live in more countries than emigrants from any other nation. Using the Herfindahl index, the destination diversity of emigrants born in France is 95 on a 0 to 100 scale. It is 89 for American-born people living outside of the U.S. There are at least 1,000 French-born people living in each of 83 different countries and territories; the most popular destinations are Spain 220,000 and the United States 180,000.
3. The Mexico-to-U.S. link is the most popular bilateral migration path in the world. As of 2013, more Mexican immigrants 13 million were living in the U.S. than all immigrants to Russia combined 11 million. Russia has the second largest number of total foreign-born residents, after the United States, which has a total foreign-born population of about 46 million.
4. The number of Indian-born people living outside of India and the number of Chinese-born people living outside China both doubled between 1990 and 2013 – for India, from 7 million to 14 million, and for China, from 4 million to 9 million. India has the largest number of people living outside of its borders, in 2013 surpassing Mexico, the former leader. Russia and China rank third and fourth, respectively. The United Arab Emirates 2.9 million and the United States 2.1 million have the most Indian migrants, while Hong Kong 2.3 million and the U.S. 2.2 million are the top destinations for Chinese migrants.
5. The number of immigrants living in Spain grew nearly eightfold between 1990 and 2013, from less than 1 million to more than 6 million. Spain’s economy was soaring prior to the global recession, drawing migrants from Europe, Latin America, North Africa and elsewhere. Spain’s economic structure, immigration laws and demographics combine to create an attractive landing spot for prospective immigrants.
6. The United Arab Emirates has the highest share of foreign-born people 84% of its population. The next three highest – Qatar 74%, Kuwait 60% and Bahrain 55% – also are in the Persian Gulf area. Immigrants in the UAE and neighboring countries come from many different places, but the largest numbers are from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The foreign-born population has grown by nearly 500% in recent decades, from 1.3 million in 1990 to 7.8 million in 2013.
7. Countries with the fewest resources send lower shares of migrants. Although international migration is intrinsically tied with the search for jobs, people in the most impoverished countries may not have the money to finance a trip. The Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Niger – countries with some of the lowest U.N. Human Development Index ratings and GDP per capita – all have less than 3% of their population living outside their borders.

7 facts about world migration | Pew Research Center.