A great migration of humanity into cities is under way, and with millions drawn to urban areas for the promise of a better life, the main United Nations forum on population opened its annual session on Monday examining ways to protect people on the move and help create cities that can embrace the massive number of new arrivals.

“People are moving at high rates within national borders, and international migration is growing more complex, with more countries serving simultaneously as countries of origin, transit and destination,” said Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed at the openi

Judging by media reports alone, we might be led to believe that migration is the defining challenge of the 21st century; that it is an unprecedented strain on the social services of states and a threat to their values. Yet, recent UN DESA data shows that 96.6 per cent of all people live in the country of their birth.

International organizations, policy experts, statisticians and civil society came together on Monday at a United Nations-supported forum in Paris to answer the global call for more accurate and timely information on migration flows and examine how improved data collection can feed into better policymaking.

Organized jointly by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM

There are now an estimated 258 million people living in a country other than their country of birth — an increase of 49% since 2000 — according to new figures released by UN DESA today, on International Migrants Day. The International Migration Report 2017 (Highlights), a biennial publication of the department, states that 3.4% of the world’s inhabitants today are international migrants. This reflects a modest increase from a value of 2.8% in 2000.

Commitment and cooperation from the global community is critical to maximize the benefits of migration and to overcome its challenges, said a senior United Nations official at the conclusion of a stocktaking meeting on the Global Compact on international migration.

While there are challenges, including changing demographics, stresses in the environment, poverty and conflict, human mobility offers immense benefits, such as the promise of more sustainable development, more attuned to international labour market needs and improved working standards, highlighted Louise Arbour,

A Global Compact on migration has to be “truly global” but it also has to take into account the regional specificities given the very diverse nature of the phenomenon, a senior United Nations official on international migration has said.

“There are some 250 million migrants in the world and they move and settle in very different circumstances,” said Louise Arbour, the UN Special Representative for International Migration, told UN News ahead of a meeting on the Global Compact, to be held Monday in Mexican city of P

United Nations officials today highlighted the need to continue working together towards more equitable ways to share the responsibility for refugees, as well as achieve safe and orderly migration, at an event to take stock one year after the international community agreed to find solutions to better manage human mobility.

“I believe we can and must find a way through, based on a humane, compassionate, people-centred approach that recognizes every individual’s right to safety, protection and opportunity,” Secretary-General António Guterres

Cities are centres of demographic, social, economic and political change, and magnets for migrants from near and far. Migrants living and working in cities often become agents of social, economic and political change, with cities acting as centres of innovation, invention and originality.

More than half of the world’s people today are living in urban areas. By 2060, two thirds of our planet's population will be urban. Cities throughout the world are contributing significantly to economic growth and migrants gravitate towards them.

UN DESA’s Assistant-Secretary-General Thomas Gass called today for strengthening migration data to better understand migrants’ contribution to social and economic development.

“Only by placing a high priority on improving migration data will countries be able to develop evidence‑based policies (…) and to shift the current toxic narrative on international migration,” said Gass at a meeting that is laying the foundations for a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration.

The vast and diverse contributions

The current world population of 7.6 billion is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, according to a new United Nations report being launched today.