ILO global estimates on international migrant workers : results and methodology

Abstract

Based on figures for 2017 provided by the United Nations/<br/ >Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN/DESA),<br/ >which are adjusted for the number of refugees, there are<br/ >258 million international migrants, 234 million migrants<br/ >of working age (15 and older)1 and 164 million migrant<br/ >workers worldwide. For the purposes of this report, the<br/ >term "international migrants" refers to persons who are<br/ >foreign-born (or foreign citizens when place-of-birth<br/ >information is not available), while the term "migrants of<br/ >working age (15 years of age and over)" is a subset of<br/ >international migrants. The term '"migrant worker", on<br/ >the other hand, refers to international migrant individuals<br/ >of working age and older who are either employed or<br/ >unemployed in their current country of residence. Overall,<br/ >migrants of working age constitute 4.2 per cent of the<br/ >global population aged 15 and older, while migrant<br/ >workers constitute 4.7 per cent of all workers. In destination<br/ >countries, the higher share of migrant workers among<br/ >the global workforce than among the global population<br/ >of working age is due to the higher labour force participation<br/ >rate of migrants (70.0 per cent) compared to non-migrants<br/ >(61.6 per cent).