Distribution of migrant workers worldwide 2019, by host region

Nearly half of the migrant workers in the world were based in the high-income regions of Southern, Northern, and Western Europe as well as Northern America. Another 14 percent were based in Arab States. In 2019, there were around 170 million migrant workers worldwide.

The American melting pot

While Northern America has the second highest proportion of migrant workers globally, the United States has the highest number of migrant workers out of every country globally. In 2022, the United States had 32 million foreign-born workers. By comparison, Germany, which has the second highest number of migrant workers, had nine million foreign-born workers in 2022. Moreover, over one million people received legal permanent residence status in the United States in 2022.

Japanese population crisis

East Asia has a small proportion of migrant workers worldwide, at 2.8 percent of the total. Many East Asian nations have stricter barriers to migration compared to other regions. For a nation like Japan, which has a shrinking population, these policies present major challenges. In 2022, foreign nationals only accounted for 2.5 percent of Japan’s total population. In the face of an aging, decreasing population, over half of companies in Japan report shortages of full-time employees, despite Japan’s low unemployment rate.