The most frequent migration journeys are between neighboring countries
One approach to understanding how far migrants move is by measuring the shortest possible distance between the borders of their origin and destination countries. For example, if someone moved from Portugal to France, it would measure the shortest distance between the Portuguese and the closest French border, which is just over 500 kilometers.
This measure should not be taken as the actual distance traveled but rather as a representation of the shortest distance between borders. It assigns zero kilometers for movements between neighboring countries.
This chart shows these distances for all international migrant populations worldwide, again highlighting the total number of people living outside their home country rather than annual migration flows.
The most frequent migration journeys are short, with neighboring countries being the most common destinations. This is especially common in low-income regions of the world. For example, 39% of Rwandan emigrants move to border countries, as do 46% of Yemeni and 72% of Afghan emigrants.
The largest group of migrants — about 47% of the total — moves less than 500 kilometers. That’s about the distance from the Netherlands to Switzerland. The median distance traveled is under 600 kilometers.
24% of migrants travel between countries that are over 3,000 kilometers apart — about the distance from Ukraine to Portugal. Only a small fraction, less than 4%, move more than 10,000 kilometers, equivalent to a journey from Rwanda to the United Kingdom.
The fact that long-distance migration is rare today doesn’t mean it will stay that way. Travel distances have been getting longer in recent decades.
Even as the world becomes more interconnected, short-distance moves remain dominant around the world. Long-distance moves are becoming more common, but they’re still rare. For most people, international migration means crossing a nearby border, not an ocean.