Global Justice

China exports the greatest number of migrants

In its first comprehensive review on global migration, the IOM predicts that there will be even greater movements of people during this century - both forced and voluntary.

Most of those movements are expected to follow the trends established in the 20th century.

Movement patterns

Europe, Asia and North America appear to be the major destinations for both legal and illegal immigrants.

China is not only the world's most populated country, but also the largest source of unskilled labour, according to the report.

It says that up to 400,000 leave the country annually - possibly half of them with the help of organised smuggling rings.

The IOM estimates that by the early 1990s, more than 30 million Chinese lived abroad.

Thirty million people have left their countries in the past decade

The IOM report also says that although the total number of people who are smuggled across borders is unknown, human trafficking is believed to be rising.

Another trend described by the IOM is the rising number of women who leave their countries, many of them as principal wage earners, rather than accompanying family members.

Women now account for 47.5% of all international migrants, according to the report.

Global policies

The IOM report indicates that the most rapid growth in the number of international migrants is a result of crises across the world.

Migration produces effects both in the countries which people leave and those which receive them.

And the IOM suggests that it might be time to implement global migration policies similar to those that govern world trade.

But aid agencies dealing with refugees and the displaced say it is the root causes of migration - such as the widening gap between rich and poor and the upsurge in conflicts - which should be addressed, the BBC's Claire Doole reports from Geneva.