# _Global Migration to Developed Countries_

The growth in the South-North migration has been driven largely by movements to the United States and Western Europe. Between 1960 and 2000, migrant stocks grew by 24.3 million in the United States and 22 million in Western Europe, accounting for some 42 percent of the world total in 2000. However, there are notable differences in the migrant compositions of these two regions. Whereas the U.S. immigrant profile has changed dramatically, Europe‘s has remained more stable, reflecting in part its continuing ties with former colonies.

Immigration to the United States in 1960 was dominated by Europeans, who accounted for around 60 percent of the total and 6 of the top-10 migrant corridors. Of the 10.4 million migrants in the United States at that time, 1.26 million were born in Italy, 990,000 in Germany, 835,000 in Great Britain, 750,000 in Poland, 360,000 in Ukraine, 340,000 in Ireland, and 305,000 in Austria. By 2000, the share of these origin countries declined, to around 15 percent. Balancing this trend, the number of migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean and East Asia and Pacific rose sharply. In 2000, 52 percent of the immigrant stock in the United States were born in Latin America and the Caribbean and 17 percent in East Asia and Pacific.

The United States is an important destination for migrants from all regions except Southern and Central Africa. In 2000, the United States received the largest number of migrants<sup>29</sup> from 60 countries, including Germany, Vietnam, Cuba, and the Republic of Korea. Moreover, 13 of the 50 largest migration corridors in the world and 6 of the 10 largest South-North corridors in 2000 were to the United States. The two largest corridors to the United States were from Mexico and the Philippines, the largest and 12th largest developing to developed country migration corridors in the world. They accounted for 10.8 million migrants, equivalent to 31 percent of the migrant stock in the United States, or nearly 7 percent of the world migrant stock.

Western Europe has been instrumental in many of the largest migrations in history, as both a major sending and receiving region. Between 1960 and 2000, many Western European countries transformed from net migration senders to net migration receivers. Today, Western Europe remains a key destination region for migrants from every other part of the world except the high-income Middle East and North Africa region. Increasingly over the period, Western Europeans began migrating to other countries in the region. In 2000, two-fifths of Western European migrants lived elsewhere in Western Europe, driven largely by the expansion and economic and political integration of the European Union. This is a significant increase from 1960, when far greater numbers of Europeans chose to migrate to the United States and to Latin America and the Caribbean. Despite these increases, however, intra-Western European migrants are increasingly becoming a minority proportion of the migrant stock, especially after 1970 as migration from developing countries increased. Migrants from Turkey and 29 Migration corridors are discussed to highlight the most important global migrant stocks; at no point does the discussion relate to migration flows. The focus is on stock data, and the term ―migration corridor‖ simply refers to the bilateral migrant stock for a particular pair of countries.

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