Do Wealthier Countries Host More Migrants?

Do Wealthier Countries Host More Migrants

The relationship between national income and migrant populations is often assumed rather than measured. Yet the pattern is clearer when viewed across countries; richer economies tend to accommodate a larger share of migrants, while poorer states host far fewer. Plotting the percentage of migrants against gross national income per person reveals a positive correlation: countries with deeper pockets are generally more likely to attract people from abroad.

The trend, however, is far from uniform. Many high-income countries, including the Gulf states, Singapore and Switzerland, stand out as global outliers, hosting migrants who make up half or, in Qatar’s case, more than three-quarters of their populations. These economies rely heavily on imported labour to keep services, construction, and domestic work running. By contrast, a handful of wealthy states remain surprisingly closed. China, despite its low fertility rate and rapidly greying population, counts migrants as just 0.1% of its total, an exceptionally small share compared with Japan and South Korea, which have cautiously expanded foreign-worker schemes.

Lower-income countries generally admit fewer migrants, though there are notable exceptions. Jordan and Lebanon host unusually high migrant and refugee populations because of conflicts in their neighbourhood. Others, such as Uganda and Chad, absorb displaced people from nearby crises despite modest means. Yet most poorer states sit firmly in the bottom-left quadrant of the chart: low income, low migrant exposure.

Taken together, the data underline a simple reality. Economic magnetism matters, but politics matters even more. Wealthy countries usually have the institutions, services and labour markets that attract newcomers. Whether they welcome them is another question entirely.