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.
Money sent by immigrants to their home countries in sub-Saharan Africa reached a record $41 billion in 2017.
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.
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.
The number of Muslim refugees admitted to the U.S. in the first half of fiscal 2018 has dropped from the previous year more than any other religious group.
Sub-Saharan African nations account for nine of the 10 fastest growing international migrant populations since 2010.
Remittance flows decreased worldwide for a second consecutive year in 2016, the first back-to-back decline in over three decades. Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean, however, rose to a record high.
Nearly 13 million Syrians are displaced after seven years of conflict in their country. No nation in recent decades has had such a large percentage of its population displaced.
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