How European and U.S. unauthorized immigrant populations compare
The size of Europe’s unauthorized immigrant population in 2017 was less than half the number in the United States.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
The size of Europe’s unauthorized immigrant population in 2017 was less than half the number in the United States.
The number of unauthorized immigrants living in Europe increased between 2014 and 2016, then leveled off to an estimated 3.9 million to 4.8 million in 2017, according to new estimates from Pew Research Center.
Most live in Germany, the UK, Italy and France, and about half had arrived in Europe in recent years. Overall, these migrants account for less than 1% of Europe’s total population.
Majorities in top migrant destination countries say immigrants strengthen their countries. Yet publics are divided on immigrants’ willingness to adopt their host country’s customs.
Money sent by immigrants to their home countries in sub-Saharan Africa reached a record $41 billion in 2017.
Many Americans support encouraging high-skilled immigration into the United States. But the U.S. trails other economically advanced nations in its share of immigrants with high skills.
Nearly 14% of the U.S. population is foreign-born. That’s the highest share of foreign-born people in the country since 1910, but it’s far from the highest in the world.
More than 22.4 million people applied in 2017 to a U.S. visa program that provides 50,000 green cards each year through a lottery system. The number of applicants nearly matched the record 23 million applicants received in 2016 and came as the Trump administration and some members of Congress have sought to eliminate the program – the only one of its kind globally.
Sub-Saharan immigrants in the United States are also more highly educated than the U.S. native born population.
More people sought asylum in Canada in 2017 than at any point in at least a quarter-century. Furthermore, the 50,420 asylum applications Canada received in 2017 were more than double the number in 2016.
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