Global Program
The Global Program acts as a policy laboratory for innovative, evidence-based, and politically feasible solutions to migration policy challenges. From direct policy advice to deep comparative research, its work interrogates policy design and effectiveness, helps countries newer to immigration learn from innovation and evidence in other regions, and anticipates how demographic, economic, and technological shifts will reshape migration in the years ahead. It supports governments in responding to crises with greater coordination and foresight, and provides a trusted off-the-record space for engaging with sensitive topics. Its main geographical focus is Europe, the Americas, and Australia, but it increasingly works with governments and other partners worldwide, including in East Africa and Asia. For more on the Global Program, click here.
Featured
Population Aging Is Here. Immigration Can Offer Half an Answer.
Immigration on its own cannot solve population aging, but five policy principles can help it play a more effective role in a broader demographic…
Creating Inclusive Urban Economies for Migrants and Refugees
Cities hold powerful levers to turn migrants' and refugees' underused talent into economic growth—but doing so requires moving beyond first…
More Featured Work
Key Statistics
International migrants comprise 3.7 percent of the global population. Learn more about them
304.0 million
The number of migrants globally in 2024
50.6 million
The number who as of 2025 were refugees or asylum seekers
94.0 million
The number of international migrants in Europe—the top destination globally
Showing 211–220 of 696 results
Achieving the 'Partnership' in the European Union’s Talent Partnerships
The European Commission marks a new chapter in EU cooperation on migration with third countries with the launch of its Talent Partnerships, which seek to combine mobility schemes for work or training with investments in third countries in related areas, such as vocational education and training. The success of these partnerships will hinge on the degree of support they can win from Member States, the private sector, and third countries.
From Unilateral Response to Coordinated Action: How Can Mobility Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa Adapt to the Public-Health Challenges of COVID-19?
COVID-19 exposed weak cross-border governance across sub-Saharan Africa. Regional coordination and data reform can better balance public health and migration management.
From a Humanitarian Exodus to Long-Term Growth: Latin America’s Journey Responding to the Venezuelan Exodus
The convergence of the second largest refugee crisis in the world and the COVID-19 pandemic has left the more than 5.5 million migrants who have fled Venezuela in an even more vulnerable position. This discussion focuses on national and regional efforts to integrate Venezuelans, along with possible opportunities for further international cooperation.
EU Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration: Crafting a Road Map to Better Cooperation with Migrants’ Countries of Origin
The European Union’s 2021 voluntary return strategy must deepen cooperation with origin countries to make assisted departures and reintegration more effective and sustainable.
Missing Ingredients in Diaspora Engagement in Development: Destination-Country Policies and Integration
This webinar examines what roles diasporas could play in the development cooperation programs of countries of destination, as well as the potential challenges and opportunities for policy design.
Pushing Borders Outward: The state of asylum globally five years after the EU-Turkey Deal
Marking the launch of an initiative led by MPI and the Robert Bosch Stiftung, this event considers the extent to which externalization strategies such as the EU-Turkey agreement or deals with Libya and now-rescinded U.S. agreements to send asylum seekers to Central America have become the dominant strategies deployed by countries of asylum and how these policies have affected both asylum seekers and host and transit countries.
No “Climate Refugees,” But Still a Role for the UN Refugee Agency
When climate disasters displace people, where does the mandate of the UN refugee agency begin — and where does it end?
Building Effective Migration Management Capacity in Mexico and Central America
This report release event examines migration management in Mexico and Central America, and the growing government attention to migration functions, enhanced immigration enforcement, increased investments in asylum systems and existing protection frameworks, as well as labor migration policies. The discussion explores strategies that regional and U.S. governments, as well as civil society, can employ to better manage migration, as governments in the region are being confronted with rapidly changing migration trends.
A Year of Pandemic: The State of Global Human Mobility & What Is on the Horizon
The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed mobility and cross-border movement across the globe in 2020. This two-panel discussion, with introductory remarks from the IOM Director General, showcases findings from an IOM-MPI report examining how the pandemic reshaped border management and human mobility. The conversation also focuses on what the lasting impacts may be throughout 2021 and beyond.
The Benefits of Climate Migration
How can migration, remittances, and skills flows strengthen communities’ ability to cope with climate impacts?
