Introduction 7
as south–north migration (Henning, 2012). In terms of world regions, by 2010, the
UN (2009) expected Europe to host 70 million migrants, Asia 61 million, North
America 50 million, Africa 19 million, Latin America and the Caribbean 7 mil-
lion, and Oceania 6 million international migrants (UN, 2009). Table 1.3 shows
foreign-born populations in the 11 countries represented in this book.
3
In contemporary times, whether as a consequence of economic inequalities,
wars, or conflict, there have been movements of people across transnational bor-
ders in unprecedented numbers. World migration has dramatically increased
especially since the 1960s (Williamson, 2006; Henning, 2012), even though the
recent economic recession has decreased the movement of labor, particularly in
the IT, construction, and manufacturing sectors (International Organization
for Migration [IOM], 2012). The annual growth rate of migrants amounted to
about 2.1% between 1965 and 1990. Today, it stands at 2.9% (IOM, 2012). Since
World War II, there have been four significant trends in world migration: first,
Latin America, formerly primarily a destination world region, has become a
major sending region. Second, migration from Asia, Africa, and the Middle
East has significantly increased. Third, the number of European emigrants
has declined because of a growing migration within Europe. Fourth, since the
1980s, migration from Eastern Europe has increased (Williamson, 2006). Since
the European enlargement in 2004, there has been an increase of migrant fami-
lies and children from countries such as Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia,
and Poland. Labor migration within Europe has impacted more upon some
countries than others. For example, three-quarters of the migrant population
in Europe resides in a handful of countries—namely France, Germany, Italy,
Spain and the United Kingdom (Council of Europe, 2011).
Table 1.3. Foreign-born population, by country
Country Foreign-born as percentage
of the total population (year
of measurement)
Australia 26.8 (2010)
Austria 15.7 (2010)
Canada 19.9 (2010)
Estonia 16.3 (2010)
Finland 4.6 (2010)
Italy 8.0 (2009)
Netherlands 11.2 (2010)
Norway 11.6 (2010)
Spain 14.5 (2010)
United Kingdom 11.5 (2010)
United States 12.9 (2010)
Source: OECD, 2012.