International Migration Outlook 2026

Permanent migration across OECD countries fell for a second consecutive year by 1.6% in 2025, reaching 6.1 million new permanent immigrants. Despite this decrease, migration levels remained historically high, 12% above those observed in 2019.

Southern European countries recorded strong growth, with particularly large increases in Portugal, Italy and Spain, while several major destination countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Germany, experienced notable declines. Family migration remained the main channel of permanent migration (45%). Labour migration (20%) increased, reflecting persistent labour demand across many sectors, whereas humanitarian migration (10%) declined significantly.

The international student landscape is shifting. Between 2024 and 2025, inflows of international students fell sharply in the United States, Canada and Australia, while remaining broadly stable in the United Kingdom. The declines observed in several major destination countries occurred against a backdrop of recent policy changes intended to moderate international student inflows.

At the same time, several European countries continued to attract growing numbers of international students, in particular Austria, Germany and Italy, while Japan and Korea also recorded increases. Together, these trends show that growth in international student numbers is spreading across a wider range of OECD countries, beyond the traditional major English-speaking destinations.

Ageing societies generate a growing demand for long-term care services, which help people with day-to-day activities such as cooking, cleaning, getting dressed and personal care. But it is a struggle to attract workers to the sector. As a result, labour shortages in the care sector are expected to intensify.

Migrants already make up a substantial share of the long-term care workforce in a growing number of OECD countries. International recruitment of care workers is increasingly viewed as part of the solution to workforce shortages, either through regular labour migration channels or ones specifically developed for care workers. Keeping care workers in the sector, including migrant workers, would reduce the need to continually recruit replacements.

However, migration is only one component of a broader policy response that must also include domestic workforce development, productivity improvements and technological innovation.

Reviving productivity growth is top of the policy agenda across OECD countries. With migration at historically high levels, a challenge for migration and integration policies is to harness its potential to maximise economic benefits while mitigating possible adverse effects.

Workers in areas related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) play a key role in productivity growth through research, innovation and the adoption of new technologies. On average across OECD countries, one in five STEM graduates is an immigrant, a substantially higher share than immigrants represent in total employment.

Immigrants are also more likely to work in relatively low-productivity sectors, such as accommodation and food services, or in sectors where productivity growth has proven to be difficult, such as the health and care sector. This underlines the need for migration policies to balance productivity objectives with wider economic and social needs.