© Marcel Crozet / ILO

Statistics on migrant workers

Table of Contents

Introduction

In today’s globalized world, labour migration is an increasingly important policy issue. Economic hardship and geopolitical crises leading to the lack of decent work are resulting in growing and diverse migratory movements. In many economies, including emerging economies, ageing populations and declining labour forces are also contributing to the growing mobility of workers. Women are joining migration flows in growing numbers as independent workers, with important consequences for gender equality in countries of origin and destination alike.

We need to understand these dynamic migrant flows and their implications for labour markets, particularly in migrant-dominated sectors.

This page presents statistical information on migrant worker stocks, inflows and outflows. 

Data catalogue

Projects

Statistics Korea (KOSTAT) logo

ILO and Statistics Korea (KOSTAT) cooperate in implementing a cooperation project for capacity-building and data-sharing on international ang signed in 2015 has been successfully implemented from 2015 to 2019. The second memorandum of understanding, covering the 2020-2024 period is currently in place. 

Methods

ILO Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers – Results and Methodology

This report gives global and regional estimates, broken down by income group, gender and age. It also describes the data, sources and methodology used, as well as the corresponding limitations. The report seeks to contribute to the 2018 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and to achieving SDG targets 8.8 and 10.7.

Tutorials for data reporters

The International Labour Migration Statistics (ILMS) questionnaire

The ILMS questionnaire : concepts and indicators

Practical guide to complete the ILMS questionnaire

SDGs and labour migration

The 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda Declaration in its paragraph 29 states that: “We recognize the positive contribution of migrants for inclusive growth and sustainable development. We also recognize that international migration is a multi-dimensional reality of major relevance for the development of countries of origin, transit and destination, which requires coherent and comprehensive responses. We will cooperate internationally to ensure safe, orderly and regular migration involving full respect for human rights and the humane treatment of migrants regardless of migration status, of refugees and of displaced persons.” This objective is further concretized in SDG target 8.8: “Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment” and in SDG target 10.7: “Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies”, which both clearly relate to ILO’s mandate as articulated most recently in the fair migration agenda. 

The ILO is the custodian agency for further developing the methodology for two of the SDG target 8.8 indicators concerning occupational safety and health and freedom of association and collective bargaining, both to be disaggregated by sex and migrant status. Together with the World Bank, the ILO is also collecting data and developing a methodology to measure the cost of recruitment, which is one of the indicators under SDG target 10.7.

Publications

Note: Many publications are available only in English. If available in other languages, a new page will open displaying the options on the right. 

ILO Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers – Results and Methodology

This report gives global and regional estimates, broken down by income group, gender and age. It also describes the data, sources and methodology used, as well as the corresponding limitations. The report seeks to contribute to the 2018 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and to achieving SDG targets 8.8 and 10.7.

International labour migration statistics in South Asia: Establishing a subregional database and improving data collection for evidence-based policy-making

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of statistics related to extraregional labour migration of South Asian nationals, referring to those migrating outside of the subregion from the following eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Where applicable and relevant to the statistical discussion, this report also includes conversations on developments and trends in extraregional labour migration, migrant worker attributes (such as sex, skill level, occupation, country of destination, method of recruitment and more) and associated thematic areas (such as remittances) in South Asia.

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Use the search box to enter key words; use quotes around your term for better results. Available filters differ depending on the catalogue. Selecting a frequency allows users to find monthly, quarterly, or annual indicators. While all indicators are available for annual periods, only a subset are available as monthly or quarterly. 

Options to access data

Data Explorer

This tool provides an intuitive interface to filter the selection, pivot the table, calculate distributions and growth rates, and export data into various formats.

Excel summary

Data available in the Excel summary files are for indicators only (not available for countries or regions) for selected classification items for 2010 onward for annual data and 2018 onward for short-term indicators. For historical data or additional classifications, either use the Data Explorer or download the CSV file. 

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Available in the country catalogue only, this option takes users to the country profiles page with the selected country pre-filtered in the table. Highlighting the latest year available for key indicators, this is a subset of the available data for a given country.

Zipped csv (gz)

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