Europe ranked as the leading destination for African migrants outside Africa in 2020. Around 11 million African-born migrants lived in European countries that year. Nearly five million Africans resided in Asia, while about three million lived in Northern America. Overall, more than 19.5 million Africans were living in different world regions as of 2020.

Historical migration from Africa to the United States is a delicate and complex issue. Although African-Americans make up more than one eighth of the current US population, the majority of their ancestors would most likely trace back to chattel slavery, which was prevalent throughout the Americas from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Although the slave trade was abolished in the US in 1808, illegal smuggling continued for years after (particularly from the Caribbean, as it was not abolished throughout the British Empire until 1833), and the practice of slavery continued until 1865. Another noteworthy point to remember is that the term "African-American" is generally applied to those with Sub-Saharan roots, and not to those from the predominantly Arabic, North Africa.

The data shown here applies only to free, documented migrants from the continent of Africa to the United States, between 1820 and 1957. In the nineteenth century, migration from Africa to the US was very low, and it was rare that more than one hundred migrants arrived in the US in any given year. Migration did increase in the first half of the twentieth century, however it was still the lowest out of all continents, including Oceania, which had a much lower overall population than Africa.

More than half of all African immigrants who migrated during the first half of 2019 moved within the African continent. More specifically, of 40.2 million African migrants, 53 percent migrated to other African countries. The second most common destination region is Europe. By mid-year, some 26 percent of migrants from Africa went to Europe.

South Africa had the highest number of immigrants among all African countries as of July 2020, hosting *** million people. Côte d'Ivoire followed with *** million international migrants. Among the macro-regions, Eastern Africa hosted the highest number of international migrants in Africa, with **** million. Western Africa followed with some **** million migrants.

In 2024, citizens originally from Morocco were the most common African nationality in Spain, with about ******* residents. The Senegalese population as of June of that year amounted to approximately ******, making this group the second-largest nationality in Spain.

According to estimates, South Sudan had the highest net migration rate in Africa as of 2023, at nearly ** per 1,000 inhabitants. This meant that, for 1,000 people in South Sudan, ** will immigrate to the country. The positive net immigration rate also indicated that the number of international migrants coming to South Sudan was higher than that of South Sudanese people leaving the nation. On the other hand, Eritrea had a net migration of minus **** per 1,000 inhabitants. The negative rate indicated a number of emigrants higher than that of immigrants.

In 2020, cumulative South African emigrants amounted to roughly 915,000. The vast majority settled in the United Kingdom (around 247,000), followed by Australia (nearly 200,000). Together, the two countries constituted roughly 49 percent of the total South African migrants living abroad. Moreover, the third major country of destination for South Africans was the United States, with about 117,000 people living there. Overall, the 21 countries presented covered 94.4 percent of all South African migrants.

Language: a primary driver of emigration destinations

Language is a factor that helps ease communication and integration for individuals within a new society. Noticeably, the five leading destinations for South African emigrants had English as an official language. In South Africa, English was the second most spoken language outside households. Furthermore, the Netherlands ranked seventh, which language can also justify. Afrikaans, a language developed from 17th-century Dutch, was the third most spoken language among households in South Africa.

Unemployment a major worry and prevalent among youth    

A real worry for South Africans in 2022 was unemployment. As of April 2022, 64 percent of the respondents of a survey reported concern regarding the job market and the unemployment situation in the country. As of the first quarter of 2022, the unemployment rate among the age groups 15-24 years and 25-34 years was significantly higher than the rest, reaching 63.9 percent and 42.1 percent, respectively.

The survey, commissioned by the newsmagazine Suomen Kuvalehti, charted attitudes in Finland towards immigrants from different countries as well as beliefs about race. First, the respondents were asked to state their position on a scale from 0 to 10, where 10 indicated they hoped that Finland would be populated as much as possible by people of Finnish origin sharing the national values, and 0 that they hoped Finland would be populated as much as possible by people from a diversity of countries and ethnic backgrounds. Next, opinions were studied regarding how desirable or undesirable the respondents thought it was that immigrants of certain nationalities would come to Finland. The nationalities mentioned were Swedes, Germans, Russians, Estonians, US Americans, Somalis, Kosovars, Iraqis, Afghans, Syrians, Chinese, Thai and Ukrainians. The respondents were also asked to what extent they agreed with the following four statements: 'The mental abilities of black Africans are lower than those of white people living in Western countries', ' All people have equal value regardless of the colour of their skin or ethnic background', 'The white European race should be prevented from being mixed with darker races because otherwise the original population of Europe will become extinct before long ', and 'There is no such thing as 'race' since all human beings are genetically very much alike'. One question studied whether the respondents thought the Finnish media reported more negatively or positively on the Perussuomalaiset party (the Finns Party) than on the other political parties. Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, region of residence (NUTS3), major region of residence (NUTS2), city or type of municipality, education, occupational status and economic activity, household composition, number and ages of children living at home, total gross annual income of the household, and type of housing.

Aim: Fragmented distributions should show immigration and diversification dynamics consistent with the predictions of island biogeography theory. We test whether this applies to the fragmented Cape fynbos vegetation. Location: Southern Africa, Cape Floristic Region (CFR) Taxon: Angiosperms, Restionaceae (restios) Methods: We used a large occurrence dataset and environmental layers to characterize an existing regionalization and the intervals between the regions ecologically and spatially. We extended the available phylogeny for restios and inferred their historical biogeography using models implemented in BioGeoBEARS. We then measured the relative contribution of immigration and in situ speciation to the species richness of each region within the CFR. We used standard statistical methods to test the predictions of the island biogeography theory. Results: The area and environmental heterogeneity of the seven regions of the CFR are positively correlated with in situ speciation rate. Furthermore, more isolated areas, and areas colonized more recently, have proportionally higher immigration rates, and more central and older areas proportionally higher in situ speciation rates. Main Conclusions: The variation in immigration and diversification dynamics among the regions within the CFR is extensive and consistent with the archipelago model of island biography theory. This dynamic may contribute significantly to the diversity of the Cape flora. Such a model could be generally useful for understanding the generation and maintenance of diversity in biodiversity hotspots, and may even scale up to explain continental biodiversity.

In a survey conducted among African migrants in Europe in 2018, Libya and Morocco were the most common departing countries to reach Europe. In particular, ** percent of respondents declared they were in Libya before they arrived in Europe. Furthermore, ** percent of interviewees declared that Morocco was the country they left to migrate to Europe.

The Paleogene–Neogene boundary is an important transitional time for the evolution of African fauna. Many taxa that evolved endemically in the Paleogene begin to wane in diversity, while new taxa, many of which will become exemplars of the modern African fauna, immigrate from Eurasia via newly opened terrestrial connections. The Paleogene–Neogene boundary is documented in the fossil record at Nakwai, in northern Kenya. Here we describe the mammalian carnivore fauna, which includes the earliest carnivoran records in Africa, and an interesting mix of Paleogene and Neogene hyaenodont taxa. The carnivoran fauna includes Jinomrefu lakwanza, gen. et sp. nov., the earliest barbourofelid in Africa, which has a transitional sabertooth morphology. An analysis of ecomorphological change in African mammalian carnivores across this boundary shows that hyaenodonts become more disparate in body size and more hypercarnivorous as they are displaced by invading carnivorans. This provides another test case for possible competition between carnivorans and hyaenodonts, a group that goes extinct in Africa and globally during the Neogene. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D803E9DB-B2F1-497D-B796-57BED91BC744

In 2020, South Africa hosted approximately **** million international migrants. The vast majority were from Zimbabwe, amounting to roughly *** thousand people. The neighboring country Mozambique was the origin of around *** thousand migrants, while *** thousand held Lesotho's nationality, which is an enclave within South Africa.

As of 2022, the main reason why some South Africans want to emigrate is to improve their safety and security. The second most important factor is to secure a better future for their children, followed by having no confidence in the future of South Africa. The increasing numbers of violent crime, as well as the deadly riots which broke out in July 2021, have likely caused more people to reconsider their future in the country.

The migration route from the coasts of West Africa to the Canary Islands, in Spain, is active since 2006. In the last years, more African migrants have been taking this route to reach the Spanish archipelago, the closest territory of the European Union from West Africa. The main nationalities of people crossing the Atlantic route are Mali, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal. Tracking migration routes is complex and the actual number of deaths is difficult to fully picture. Between January and November 2020, over ** thousand people arrived in the Canary Islands crossing the Western African-Atlantic Route. Some *** people died or disappeared along this sea route.

South Africa's immigrant population has undergone noticeable changes in recent decades, with the total number reaching approximately 2.4 million in 2022. Interestingly, while the overall immigrant population has grown, the number of immigrants who are South African citizens has steadily declined since 2001. This shift in citizenship status among immigrants reflects broader trends in migration patterns and policies in the region. Demographic shifts and origins of immigrants The composition of South Africa's immigrant population has evolved, with Zimbabwe emerging as the primary source country in 2022, accounting for 48.5 percent of immigrants. Mozambique and Lesotho followed, contributing 20 percent and nearly 11 percent, respectively. The median age of immigrants has also increased slightly, reaching 34 years for men and 33 years for women in 2022, up from 31 and 30 years in 2011. These demographic changes highlight the dynamic nature of migration flows in the region. Regional context and refugee populations South Africa's immigration trends are part of a larger pattern of population movements across Sub-Saharan Africa. The region has experienced a significant increase in refugee populations, with nearly eight million refugees recorded in 2023, a substantial rise from 2.2 million in 2010. While South Africa remains an important destination for immigrants, other countries in the region, such as Uganda, Sudan, and Ethiopia, host large numbers of refugees. Uganda, in particular, has emerged as the African country with the largest refugee population, sheltering nearly 1.5 million individuals as of 2023.

In comparison to the other continents, historical migration rates from Africa to the United States have been relatively low. While almost 400,000 Africans were forcibly taken to mainland North America during transatlantic slavery, the abolition of the slave trade in 1808 was followed by incredibly low migration rates due to widespread poverty across the continent, lack of opportunity, and restrictive migration policies in the U.S. The past two decades have seen a significant rise in immigration from across Sub-Saharan Africa, where rapid population growth, climate change, conflict, and instability have driven millions to leave the continent each year, although only a relatively small share migrate across the Atlantic to the U.S..

The most common country of origin of refugees in Nigeria is Cameroon. As of August 2021, about 67 thousand refugees in Nigeria came from this country. Cameroonians flee from violence ongoing between security forces and armed groups. In the last three years, the number of refugees from Cameroon arriving in Nigeria has increased considerably.

Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria

With almost two thousand kilometers in length, Cameroon's longest border is with Nigeria. The majority of Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria are in the states of Cross River, Benue, and Taraba, the states at the borders with Cameroon. The territories the two countries are also highly impacted by the terrorism of Boko Haram. The violence in this region continues to push people out of their homes and seek safety in neighboring countries.

Deadly migration routes

The migration routes taken by African migrants are among the deadliest in the world. In the attempt to reach other African or European countries, more than ten thousand migrants lost their lives on the African continent between 2014 and 2021. Some of the most dangerous routes include the West African Atlantic route, from West Africa to the Canary Islands, and the Mediterranean routes, from North Africa to South Europe. The latter registers the highest number in the word of deaths and missing people who try to migrate.

The net overseas migration from South Africa to Australia in financial year 2022 was over 4.5 thousand people. Several thousand people have migrated from South Africa to Australia each year since 2005. In financial year 2009, it is estimated that almost 13 thousand South Africans migrated to Australia.

In 2024, 13,779 immigrants who reached Italy came from Bangladesh. Moreover, around 12,500 migrants were from Syria, whereas 7,700 people originated from Tunisia. These three nationalities constituted more than half of the total individuals arrived. Mediterranean routes to Europe The Mediterranean Sea recorded the largest number of deaths and missing cases of migrants worldwide. The Mediterranean Route leading to Italy is known as the Central Mediterranean Route, which counts the highest number of fatalities among the different Mediterranean routes. This route includes the crossing from North Africa to Italy, as well as to Malta. The main departing country is Libya, while Tunisia, Egypt, and East Algeria are minor departing shores. After the Central Mediterranean Sea, the Eastern Mediterranean Sea registered the second-highest number of deaths and missing people. The Eastern Mediterranean route includes migration flows from Türkiye to Greece and Cyprus. Main countries of arrival Between January and October 2024, Italy was the European country registering the largest number of migrants' arrivals. All the 55,000 immigrants reached the country by sea. Spain was the second country of first arrival in Europe, followed by Greece. The overall number of migrants who set foot on Italian shores expanded in the last years. However, the death and missing cases did not drop proportionally to the number of people who reached the coast.

Between January and August 2021, the immigration numbers in Italy were largely influenced by citizens from Africa. Tunisia represented the most frequent origin country declared upon arrival, while Egypt and Ivory Coast occupied the third and fourth positions in this ranking. During the first eight months of 2021, 11 thousand Tunisians arrived on the Italian shores, while the number of people from Bangladesh amounted to 5.3 thousand.

Nationality of asylum seekers  

In October 2020, 792 asylum applicants in Italy came were from Pakistan. Pakistani represented the most frequent nationality of asylum seekers according to the requests processed in that month. Nigerian was the second most common nationality, with 501 requests made in October 2020. In the same month, 471 examined asylum applications were made by Bangladeshis. Bangladesh is among the most frequent places of origins declared upon arrival in Italy.

Unaccompanied and separated children

In 2019, 659 unaccompanied and separated children arrived in Italy to seek for asylum. Between 2014 and 2019, the number of asylum applications from unaccompanied children peaked in 2017 at 9.8 thousand. The largest percentage of unaccompanied and separated children who arrived in Italy by sea were from Sudan. Separated children are children separated from both their parents, for instance due to conflicts or other disasters. Unaccompanied children are infants separated from both parents or other relatives, which are by law responsible for taking care of them.