Two World Bank series for every economy it reports, plus the World Bank regions and the EU.
- Net migration (migration.wb.net.<country>, for example migration.wb.net.mex): people who moved into the country in the year minus people who left, citizens and non-citizens alike.
- Net migration per 1,000 people (migration.wb.net_per_1000.<country>): the same divided by the mid-year population, times 1,000 (a Palanor calculation). Plus 5 means migration alone added half a percent to the population in a year.
How to read it
Above zero, more people arrived than left; below zero, more left. Use the rate to compare countries of different size. A region's figure only counts arrivals from and departures to the rest of the world, because movement between its own countries nets out. The world is left out: its net migration is zero by definition.
What it is and isn't
The figures are the UN Population Division's estimates (World Population Prospects), published in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. Migration is the hardest part of population change to measure. Where data are thin, the UN works it out as population growth minus births plus deaths. Older years are often averages over five years, so they move in steps. The series ends in 2023, the last year the UN's 2024 revision estimates; the World Bank also carries the UN's projections for later years, and Palanor leaves them out until a new revision replaces them with estimates. Each new UN revision can rewrite the history. A country's own official figure can differ: for the UK, see the ONS series uk.migration.net.total.
Where to find it
Every Country Dossier with a figure shows the latest rate in its facts and both series in the Migration section. The Charts library has Iraq, Israel, Mexico and the United States since 1990, each on its own scale, and a world map of the latest rate per 1,000 people.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators: SM.POP.NETM (from UN World Population Prospects) and SP.POP.TOTL, CC BY 4.0. Refreshed monthly.
Related: [Country Dossiers](/help/modules/country-dossier), [Charts](/help/modules/charts)