Migration trends, 2011

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees issues an annual report concerning the approximately 21 million people worldwide falling under its mandate: refugees forced to leave their countries due to war, political, racial or religious persecution, as internally displaced persons, or as repatriates on their way back home.  An interactive visualisation gives an insight into the flows and connections of global flight and expulsion.

As Western populations live ever longer, they will need more nurses, care assistants, housekeepers and cleaners.  The demand for highly skilled workers will therefore grow too, and countries will start to compete more fiercely for mobile talent. Migration will “define our future” , say the authors of a book published in 2011.