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 people living in sub-Saharan Africa who were forced to leave their homes due to conflict reached a new high of 18.4 million in 2017, up sharply from 14.1 million in 2016 – the largest regional increase of forcibly displaced people in the world.
As the number of international migrants reaches new highs, people around the world show little appetite for more migration – both into and out of their countries.
The recent historic migration surge into Europe has led to a large jump in the immigrant share of populations in many European nations, with the notable exceptions of the UK and France, which saw more modest increases.
The UK has the fifth-largest immigrant population in the world, at 8.5 million.
An estimated 12.5 million Syrians are now displaced, an unprecedented number in recent history for a single country.
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