Context: Recently, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) released its 2024 World Migration Report, highlighting conflict and climate change as major drivers of global displacement.

• There are about 281 million international migrants worldwide, with 117 million displaced, marking a record high.

• In India, climate impacts drive internal migration from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh.

• India hosts the most international migrants (18 million), with top destinations being UAE, USA, and Saudi Arabia. In 2022, India led in remittances, exceeding USD 111 billion.

About World Migration Report 

• The World Migration Report is released by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

• Since 2000, IOM has been producing its flagship world migration reports every two years.

• India received over USD 111 billion in remittances in 2022, the largest in the world, becoming the first country to reach and surpass the USD 100 billion mark.

The top five remittance recipient countries in 2022 are:

1. India

2. Mexico

3. China

4. Philippines

5. France

Key findings of the report 

• According to the report's data, India was the top country receiving remittances in 2010 (USD 53.48 billion), 2015 (USS 68.91 billion), and 2020 (USD 83.15 billion).

• India came in 13th as the destination country for immigrants.

• Very large number of migrant workers from the sub-region, Southern Asia receives some of the largest inflows of remittances globally.

• Three countries in Southern Asia (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) rank among the top ten recipients of international remittances in the world.

• The Gulf States remain significant destinations for migrant workers from around the world.

• In the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar, migrants made up 88 %, nearly 73 and 77 % of the national populations, respectively.

• Most migrants work in sectors such as construction, hospitality, security, domestic work and retail.

• India’s large Diasporas live in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Saudi Arabia.

• The contraction of remittance flows to China includes demographic shifts (shrinking of the working age population) and zero-COVID policy.

• Countries in Asia are the origins of the largest number of internationally mobile students in the world.

• The US is the largest destination country for international mobile students in the world, followed by the UK, Australia, Germany and Canada.

• The report said that there are more female than male international migrants in destination countries in Europe and Northern America, such as the US, Canada, France, Spain and Italy, but also in India.

• Loss of jobs along with wage theft and lack of social security during the pandemic has plunged many Indian migrants into deep debt and insecurity.