Proportion of migrants who return to country of birth significantly higher than first thought, study suggests

Mexico-to-US route sees largest flow in past five years, but also biggest rate of return as study suggests 45 per cent of immigrants eventually return home Claims of a surge in migration around the world appear to be overstated, as a new study suggests movement of people has in fact been largely stable since the 1990s.

The number of people who moved country in each five-year period over the last 25 years has fluctuated between 67 and 87 million people, according to University of Washington researchers.

While this is higher than some previous estimates of global migration, the researchers found that it represents a stable proportion of between 1.1 and 1.3 per cent of the global population.