In this Q&A and video, learn about the methods and data sources the Center used to estimate the number of unauthorized immigrants in Europe.
A new Pew Research Center analysis estimates that at least 3.9 million unauthorized immigrants – and possibly as many as 4.8 million – lived in Europe in 2017. Learn how we conducted the first comprehensive estimate of Europe's unauthorized immigrant population in over a decade.
The size of Europe’s unauthorized immigrant population in 2017 was less than half the number in the United States.
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.
Border apprehensions are rising quickly and the demographic profile of apprehended migrants is changing.
A decline in U.S. refugee admissions comes at a time when the number of refugees worldwide has reached the highest levels since World War II.
People around the world are more accepting of refugees fleeing violence and war than they are of immigrants moving to their country.
While Mexico is the United States' largest source of immigrants, the number of Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. illegally has declined since 2007.
Canada resettled 28,000 refugees in 2018, similar to its 2017 total. Meanwhile, the U.S. resettled 23,000, down from the previous year.
More than 40 million people living in the U.S. were born in another country, accounting for about one-fifth of the world’s migrants in 2017.
