Washington: The number of migrants and refugees in the world has almost doubled in the past 30 years, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday.
According to Namibia Press Agency, the IMF disclosed that as of 2024, the global stock of legal migrants and refugees had reached 304 million, representing 3.7 percent of the global population. This figure is nearly double that observed in 1995, with about one in six being refugees or asylum seekers. This information was presented in a chapter of the IMF’s World Economic Outlook, ahead of its and the World Bank’s Spring Meetings in Washington.
The report highlighted that almost 40% of migrants and three-quarters of refugees currently reside in emerging markets and developing economies. However, advanced economies continue to host some of the largest groups of migrants, primarily drawn from emerging markets and developing economies.
The IMF noted that flows to advanced economies represented the majority of global movements in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Since then, the movement of both migrants and refugees between emerging market and developing economies has increased, now accounting for nearly half of overall net flows. Notably, three of the five largest increases in migrant and refugee stocks during 2010-2024 occurred in large emerging market economies.
The IMF warned that changes in migration and refugee policies could have significant effects on migration flows within and between economies. Although these flows constitute a small share of the population in advanced destination economies, averaging about 2 percent over five years, policy changes can still impose short-term costs. These costs are particularly evident when flows are redirected to jurisdictions where labor market integration is challenging or skill mismatches are more prevalent. Nonetheless, the report suggested that such policy changes could potentially offer long-term gains.