Illegal Immigration around the World - Immigration

ARCHIVED PAGE

This page was archived on June 15, 2022 and will no longer be updated.

CLANDESTINO, the European Union-funded project tasked with providing data on unauthorized migration, was terminated. The project’s database coordinators may update the CLANDESTINO site.

We have gathered data on illegal immigration in Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom and the United States. We included all of the countries we could find with at least three years of illegal immigration data between 2000 and 2010.

While the statistics for the United States and Turkey only include illegal immigration, the 12 other countries listed measure “irregular immigration,” which combines people living in the country illegally with people working in the country illegally (whether they are legal residents).

“Irregular immigration” is a term used by the organization CLANDESTINO, which is the European Union-funded, multi-nation consortium designed to provide data on “unauthorized migration” to EU members. The term includes what people in the United States largely consider illegal immigration: 1. “Seemingly regular registered foreign nationals with falsified papers”; 2. “Children without resident status”; 3. “Aged family members without resident status”; 4. “Unemployed foreign national without resident status”; and 5. “Foreign nationals without residence status in regular tax-paying jobs.” “Irregular immigration” also includes people who reside in the country (legally or illegally) and who are working illegally: 6. “‘Tourists’ from non EU countries in irregular unregistered jobs”; 7. “Foreign nationals without residence status working in irregular unregistered jobs”; 8. “Foreign nationals with residence status and without work permission, in irregular unregistered jobs”; and 9. “Foreign nationals with residence status and work permission, in irregular unregistered jobs.”

Because the “irregular immigration” statistics include illegal immigration and for purposes of roughly comparing the United States to other nations, we have shown illegal immigration statistics alongside irregular immigration statistics. All estimates are rough estimates and each country may count, estimate, or calculate the numbers using different methods. Some countries have different sources for different years, which may account for some unusual variation. Population ranges and corresponding percentages for individual countries were averaged in the summary chart below.

		People in the country illegally, as % of population
	Country	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
	UNITED STATES	3.0	2.7	3.3	3.3	3.2	3.5	3.9	3.9	3.8	3.5	3.8
AVERAGES FOR 13 COUNTRIES LISTED BELOW		0.54	0.45	0.59	0.77	0.80	0.74	1.5	1.06	1.0	1.04	1.30
	AUSTRIA	—	0.97	0.89	0.74	0.77	0.60	0.55	0.52	0.43	—	—
	CZECH REPUBLIC	2.22	0.38	0.32	0.32	0.26	1.29	0.11	0.07	—	—	—
	FRANCE	—	—	—	—	—	0.49	—	—	0.17	0.12	0.09
	GERMANY	0.11	0.11	0.11	1.03	0.50	0.33	0.35	0.40	0.37	0.29	0.31
	GREECE	—	0.36	—	—	2.07	0.18	0.67	2.30	2.22	2.99	3.49
	HUNGARY	0.19	0.16	0.16	0.13	0.13	0.18	0.16	0.27	0.15	—	—
	ITALY	—	—	1.20	—	—	0.92	1.10	0.60	1.10	—	—
	NETHERLANDS	0.55	0.61	0.65	0.47	1.07	0.54	—	—	—	—	—
	RUSSIA	—	—	—	—	—	—	8.79	4.21	2.81	—	—
	SLOVAKIA	0.23	0.39	0.43	0.56	0.78	—	—	0.32	—	—	—
	SPAIN	—	0.62	1.40	2.80	1.98	2.80	1.70	0.81	0.72	0.75	—
	TURKEY	0.14	0.14	0.12	0.08	0.09	0.08	0.09	—	—	—	—
	UNITED KINGDOM	0.34	0.74	—	—	0.36	0.77	—	—	1.03	—	—

AUSTRIA

	2001	2008
# of irregular immigrants	78,000	36,000
Population of country (in millions)	8.04	8.34
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.97%	0.43%

Sources:
CLANDESTINO, “Irregular Migration in Austria,” www.irregular-migration.net, July 2009
Google Public Data, “Population,” www.google.com/publicdata, Jan. 17, 2013

	2002
# of irregular immigrants (minimum estimate)	50,000 – 80,000
# of irregular immigrants (maximum estimate)	70,000 – 100,000
Population of country (in millions)	8.08
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.61 – 0.86% (minimum) 0.99 – 1.24% (maximum)

Sources:
Google Public Data, “Population,” www.google.com/publicdata, Jan. 17, 2013
IOM International Organization for Migration, “Illegal Immigration in Austria,” www.irregular-migration.net, Nov. 2005

	2001	2002*	2003*	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
# of irregular immigrants (minimum estimate)	39,456	29,660 80,000	28,934	30,934	25,174	22,906	22,981	18,439
# of irregular immigrants (central estimate)	77,572	58,312	56,886 70,000	62,980	49,506	45,442	43,243	36,252
# of irregular immigrants (maximum estimate)	115,687	86,964 100,000	84,837	95,027	73,838	67,978	63,504	54,064
Population of country (in millions)	8.04	8.08	8.12	8.17	8.23	8.27	8.30	8.34
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.49 – 1.43%	0.37 – 1.07% 0.99 – 1.24%	0.36 – 1.04% 0.86%	0.35 – 1.16%	0.31 – 1.15%	0.28 – 0.82%	0.27 – 0.77%	0.22 – 0.65%

* Note: This source gave two sets of minimum and maximum numbers for 2002 and two sets of central numbers for 2003.

Sources:
CLANDESTINO, “Stocks of Irregular Migrants: Estimates for Austria,” www.irregular-migration.net, Oct. 16, 2009
CLANDESTINO, “Undocumented Migration: Counting the Uncountable. Data and Trends Across Europe,” www.irregular-migration.net, Oct. 2009

CZECH REPUBLIC

“Estimating the size and composition of irregular migrant population has never been the main research topic of any survey conducted in the Czech Republic since 1990s. Most of published estimates were rather ‘guesstimates’ not based on a reliable method, neither with a clear definition of the target group, nor with a fixed time frame. The range of estimates, thus, varied from about 17,000 to 300,000 irregular migrants living in the Czech Republic.”

Source:
CLANDESTINO, “Undocumented Migration: Counting the Uncountable. Data and Trends Across Europe,” www.irregular-migration.net, Sep. 2009

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
# of irregular immigrants	53,116 295,000 335,000	39,399	32,205	32,475	26,129	14,545 250,000	10,793	7,549
Population of country (in millions)	10.27	10.24	10.20	10.21	10.22	10.24	10.27	10.33
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.52% 2.87% 3.26%	0.38%	0.32%	0.32%	0.26%	0.14% 2.44%	0.11%	0.07%

Note: The numbers above represent only those “persons apprehended for illegal migration,” which includes illegal border crossing (including by Czech citizens) and illegal stay.

Souces:
CLANDESTINO, “Undocumented Migration: Counting the Uncountable. Data and Trends Across Europe,” www.irregular-migration.net, Sep. 2009
Google Public Data, “Population,” www.google.com/publicdata, Jan. 17, 2013

FRANCE

	2005
# of irregular immigrants (minimum estimate)	200,000
# of irregular immigrants (maximum estimate)	400,000
Population of country (in millions)	60.77
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.31 – 0.64%

Sources:
CIA, “CIA World Factbook,” www.cia.gov, 2013
CLANDESTINO, “Stocks of Irregular Migrants: Estimates for France,” www.irregular-migration.net, Nov. 11, 2009

	2008	2009	2010
# of irregular immigrants	111,670	76,355	56,220
Population of country (in millions)	64	64.35	64.69
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.17%	0.12%	0.09%

Note: The figures for 2008-2010 above are only those undocumented migrants caught in the country, sourced by several government departments.

Sources:
CLANDESTINO, “Databases on Irregular Migration,” www.irregular-migration.net, 2012
Eurostat, “Population at 1 January,” www.epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu, 2012

GERMANY

“Current estimates on the stock of irregular immigrants in Germany range from 100,000 to 1 million persons. This difference presented in officical documents underlines that there is no authoritative assessment available which can claim general credibility.”

Source: Norbert Cyrus, “Undocumented Migration: Counting the Uncountable. Data and Trends Across Europe,” www.irregular-migration.net, July 2009

	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
# of irregular immigrants	49,231	93,973	101,852	110,208	102,941	100,578	90,531	92,777	94,023	89,935	76,223
Population of country (in millions)	81.33	81.53	81.82	82.01	82.06	82.04	82.16	82.26	82.44	82.54	83.53
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.06%	0.11%	0.12%	0.13%	0.12%	0.12%	0.11%	0.11%	0.11%	0.11%	0.09%

The figures for 1993-2003 above represent irregular immigrants apprehended at the border. A statistical subtracting method was used by the study authors to further reduce those numbers to account for double counting by the authorities of the same persons being arrested twice. These figures represent a “barebones” minimum, and it is likely the numbers are much larger as the authorities cannot apprehend everyone.

Sources:
Norbert Cyrus, “Undocumented Migration: Counting the Uncountable. Data and Trends Across Europe,” www.irregular-migration.net, July 2009
DeStatis Statistiches Bundesamt, “Population,” www.destatis.de, 2013

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
# of irregular immigrants (minimum estimate)	1,000,000	62,825 81,040 500,000	64,247 49,196 280,000	64,605 240,000	200,000	180,000	140,000	100,000
# of irregular immigrants (maximum estimate)	1,500,000	1,000,000	680,000	560,000	450,000	420,000	330,000	400,000
Population of country (in millions)	82.53	82.50	82.44	82.32	82.22	82.00	81.80	81.75
% of population that is irregular immigrants	1.20 – 1.80%	0.08 – 1.20%	0.08 – 0.82%	0.078 – 0.68%	0.24 – 0.55%	0.22 – 0.51%	0.17 – 0.20%	0.12 – 0.49%

Source: CLANDESTINO, “Database on Irregular Migration,” www.irregular-migration.net, 2012

GREECE

“The main difficulty in the study of stock and profiles of illegal immigration concerns documentation. Most of the existing methods of estimation regarding illegal immigration make use of various data sets stemming from different sources (administrative sources, such as ministries and local authorities, statistical services, border and police control). However the precision and reliability of such methods are in serious doubt. The difficulties derive from the fact that illegal immigration, due to its clandestinity, can only be measured indirectly through the traces illegal immigrants leave in the labour market, borders control, domestic police controls, etc. Thus, these data sets can be used only as an indication of the extent of illegal immigration and do not account for a precise measurement.”

Source: European Migration Network, “Practical Measures for Reducing Irregular Migration,” www.irregular-migration.net, 2012

	2007
# of irregular immigrants	481,501
Population of country (in millions)	11.19
% of population that is irregular immigrants	4.30%

Sources:
CLANDESTINO, “Undocumented Migration: Counting the Uncountable. Data and Trends Across Europe,” www.irregular-migration.net, July 2009
Google Public Data, “Population,” www.google.com/publicdata, Jan. 17, 2013

	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
# of irregular immigrants	19,519	75,053	142,015	249,108	337,163	443,800
Population of country (in millions)	11.10	11.15	11.19	11.24	11.28	11.32
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.18%	0.67%	1.27%	2.22%	2.99%	3.92%

Sources:
European Migration Network, “Practical Measures for Reducing Irregular Migration,” www.irregular-migration.net, 2012
Google Public Data, “Population,” www.google.com/publicdata, Jan. 17, 2013

	2001	2004*	2007*	2010	2011
# of irregular immigrants (minimum estimate)	40,000	30,000 230,000 260,000	280,000 172,000	350,000	390,000
# of irregular immigrants (maximum estimate)	—	330,000 300,000	209,000	—	—
Population of country (in millions)	10.95	11.06	11.19	11.32	11.30
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.36%	0.27% 2.07 – 2.98% 2.35 – 2.71%	2.50% 1.54 – 1.87%	3.09%	3.45%

* Note: This source gave three minumum numbers and two maximum numbers for 2004, and two minimum numbers for 2007.

Sources:
CLANDESTINO, “Stocks of Irregular Migrants: Estimates for Greece,” www.irregular-migration.net, July 2, 2012
Google Public Data, “Population,” www.google.com/publicdata, Jan. 17, 2013

HUNGARY

	2007*
# of irregular immigrants (minimum estimate)	10,000 30,000
# of irregular immigrants (maximum estimate)	20,000 50,000
Population of country (in millions)	10.06
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.10 – 0.20% 0.30 – 0.50%

* Note: This source gave two sets of minimum and maximum numbers.

Sources:
CLANDESTINO, “Stocks of Irregular Migrants: Estimates for Hungary,” www.irregular-migration.net, Oct. 16, 2009
Google Public Data, “Population,” www.google.com/publicdata, Jan. 17, 2013

	2008
# of irregular immigrants (minimum estimate)	10,000
# of irregular immigrants (maximum estimate)	20,000
Population of country (in millions)	10.04
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.10 – 0.20%

Sources:
CLANDESTINO, “Undocumented Migration: Counting the Uncountable. Data and Trends Across Europe,” www.irregular-migration.net, Nov. 2008
Google Public Data, “Population,” www.google.com/publicdata, Jan. 17, 2013

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
# of irregular immigrants	15,764	22,906	19,213	19,717	15,976	15,976	12,990	13,103	18,294	16,508
Population of country (in millions)	10.29	10.27	10.24	10.21	10.19	10.16	10.13	10.11	10.09	10.07
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.15%	0.22%	0.19%	0.19%	0.16%	0.16%	0.13%	0.13%	0.18%	0.16%

Note: The numbers above are the “[n]umber of migration related border apprehensions including foreigners and citizens of the reporting country, 1997-1006.”

ITALY

	2002	2005	2006	2007	2008
# of irregular immigrants (minimum estimate)	702,156	—	—	—	—
# of irregular immigrants (central estimate)	—	541,000	650,000	349,000	651,000
Population of country (in millions)	57.00	58.50	58.80	59.10	59.60
% of population that is irregular immigrants	1.20%	0.92%	1.10%	0.60%	1.10%

Sources:
CLANDESTINO, “Databases on Irregular Migration,” www.irregular-migration.net, 2012
Istat.it, “Population and Households,” www.istat.it./en/, Mar. 14, 2013

NETHERLANDS

“No institution in the Netherlands is specifically engaged in collecting statistical data in relation to illegal immigration, as this information is simply not available. Information obtained from the police hoever (the number of people stopped and questioned in connection with illegal residence) is regarded as the best indication to be used in research into the nature and extent of this phenomenon. The estimated combined figure that includes both non-Western and European illegal aliens comes to between 125,000 and 225,000 illegal aliens annually.”

Source: European Migration Network, “Illegal Resident Third Country Nationals in the EU Member States: State Approached Towards Them and Their Profile and Social Situation,” www.irregular-migration.net, Sep. 2005

	2004
# of irregular immigrants (minimum estimate)	125,000
# of irregular immigrants (maximum estimate)	225,000
Population of country (in millions)	16.28
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.77 – 1.38%

Sources:
European Migration Network, “Illegal Resident Third Country Nationals in the EU Member States: State Approaches Towards Them and Their Profile and Social Situation,” www.irregular-migration.net, Sep. 2005
Google Public Data, “Population,” www.google.com/publicdata, Jan. 17, 2013

	2000*	2001*	2002	2003	2005
# of irregular immigrants (minimum estimate)	71,578 72,629	46,500 77,973	77,721	60,469	62,320
# of irregular immigrants (central estimate)	84,523 91,788	80,000 117,373	104,990	77,077	88,116
# of irregular immigrants (maximum estimate)	97,467 110,948	115,600 156,772	132,262	93,684	113,912
Population of country (in millions)	15.93	16.05	16.15	16.23	16.32
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.45 – 0.61% 0.46 – 0.70%	0.31 – 0.72% 0.49 – 0.97%	0.48 – 0.81%	0.37 – 0.58%	0.38 -0.69%

* Note: This source gave two sets of minimum, central, and maximum numbers for 2000 and 2001.

Sources:
CLANDESTINO, “Stocks of Irregular Migrants: Estimate for Netherlands,” www.irregular-migration.net, Oct. 16, 2009
Google Public Data, “Population,” www.google.com/publicdata, Jan. 17, 2013

RUSSIA

“Russia is primarily a destination country for irregular migrants; secondly, a transit state for those on their way to Western and Central Europe… The major route of irregular migrants arriving in Russia is through the southern borders–the states of Central Asia and Trans-Causasus.”

Source: International Organization for Migration (IOM), “Migration in the Russian Federation: A Country Profile 2008,” www.publications.iom.int, 2008

“Estimating the scope of illegal migration to Russia, however, has been difficult. Arriving at a meaningful definition of who is an illegal immigrant is even harder in Russia then [sic] elsewhere because of the legal status of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose confederation of 12 former Soviet countries.”

Source: Timothy Heleniak, “Migration Dilemmas Haunt Post-Soviet Russia,” www.migrationinformation.org, Oct. 2002

	2006	2007	2008
# of irregular immigrants	10-15,000,000	5-7,000,000	4,000,000
Population of country (in millions)	142.20	142.20	142.20
% of population that is irregular immigrants	7.00 – 10.50%	3.50 – 4.92%	2.81%

Sources:
Federal State Statistics Service [Russia], “Population,” www.gks.ru, 2012
International Organization for Migration, “Migration in the Russian Federation: A Country Profile 2008,” www.iom.int, 2008
RIANOVOSTI, “Russia’s Population Down 0.39% to 142.2 mln in 2006,” www.en.rian.ru, Feb. 21, 2007

SLOVAKIA

“The Slovak Republic does not collect data on the total number of irregular migrants residing in the territory of the SR. There are only gross estimates in this area, and no in-depth research on these issues has been conducted so far.”

Source: Andrea Mrlianova, Natalie Ulrichova, and Monika Zollerova, “Practical Measures for Reducing Irregular Migration in the Slovak Republic,” www.irregular-migration.net, Nov. 2011

“[T]he data on stocks of irregular migrants in Slovakia are practically not collected/generated/provided by any institution. This face may be considered one of the gravest methodological problems and much aggravates conducting reserach on the topic. That is why we have to be satisfied with rough estimates with a high potential risk of error. In addition, these estimates vary to a large extent. We have also to realise that Slovakia has still been more a transit than a destination country for undocumented migrants (though this has begun to change after Slovakia’s accession to the Union…).”

Source: Boris Divinsky, “Undocumented Migration: Counting the Uncountable. Date and Trends Across Europe,” www.irregular-migration.net, Dec. 2008

	1998	2000	2001*	2002*	2003	2004	2007
# of irregular immigrants (minimum estimate)	8,000	12,500	15,000 12,900	20,000 10,500	20,000	42,000	15,000
# of irregular immigrants (maximum estimate)	—	—	35,000	40,000	40,000	—	20,000
Population of country (in millions)	5.39	5.39	5.38	5.38	5.38	5.38	5.40
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.15%	0.23%	0.27 – 0.65% 0.24%	0.37-0.74% 0.19%	0.37 – 0.74%	0.78%	0.28 – 0.37%

* Note: This source provided a set of numbers for 2001 and 2002 as well as an additional minimum number for those years (12,900, and 10,500).

Source: Boris Divinsky, “Undocumented Migration: Counting the Uncountable. Date and Trends Across Europe,” www.irregular-migration.net, Dec. 2008

SPAIN

“Spain is unique in Europe as regards the data on the number of immigrants since irregular immigrants register voluntarily. Thus, we can compare the number of aliens registered with those aliens with residence permits and obtain the number of irregular immigrants. All estimates about the size of irregular immigration in Spain are based in the comparison between these two sources.”

Source: Carmen Gonzalez-Enriquez, “Undocumented Migration: Counting the Uncoutable. Data and Trends Across Europe,” www.irregular-migration.net, Jan. 2009

	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
# of irregular immigrants (minimum estimate)	—	—	—	691,655	—	—	280,000	300,000	300,000
# of irregular immigrants (maximum estimate)	250,645	572,551	949,881	998,031	1,203,751	747,014	438,092	353,927	390,000
Population of country (in millions)	40.48	40.96	41.66	42.35	43.04	43.76	44.47	45.28	45.83
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.62%	1.20%	2.80%	1.60 – 2.30%	2.80%	1.70%	0.63% – 1.00%	0.66 – 0.78%	0.65 – 0.85%

Source:
CLANDESTINO, “Databases on Irregular Migration,” www.irregular-migration.net, 2012
Eurostat, “Population at 1 January,” www.epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu, 2012

TURKEY

“Due to its geo-political location, Turkey lies on a major migration route with a significant number of irregular immigrants coming from the East trying to cross Turkey towards the wealthy Europe.”

Source: Alin Chindea, “Migration in Turkey: A Country Profile 2008,” www.publications.iom.int, 2008

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
# of immigrants in the country illegally(minimum estimate)	94,514	92,365	82,825	56,219	61,228	57,428	64,290
Population of country (in millions)	67.80	64.54	65.45	66.34	67.24	68.14	69.06
% of population that is immigrants in the country illegally	0.14%	0.14%	0.12%	0.08%	0.09%	0.08%	0.09%

Note: The above numbers represent apprehensions of immigrants without proper documentation at the border, not a methodological estimate of all undocumented migrants in the country.

Sources:
Google Public Data, “Population,” www.google.com/publicdata, Jan. 17, 2013
Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Turkey’s Fight Against Illegal Migration,” www.mfa.gov.tr, 2011
Turkish Statistical Institute, www.turkstat.gov.tr, accessed Mar. 14, 2013

UNITED KINGDOM

	2000	2001	2004	2005	2008
# of irregular immigrants (minimum estimate)	—	310,000	—	120,000 515,000	417,000
# of irregular immigrants (central estimate)	200,000	430,000	216,850	240,000 670,000	618,000
# of irregular immigrants (maximum estimate)	—	570,000	—	380,000 870,000	863,000
Population of country (in millions)	58.89	59.11	59.84	60.24	61.39
% of population that is irregular immigrants	0.34%	0.5 – 1.00%	0.36%	0.20 – 0.60% 0.86 – 1.20%	0.70 – 1.20%

Sources:
CLANDESTINO, “Database on Irregular Migration,” www.irregular-migration.net, 2012
Migration Watch, “The Illegal Migrant Population in the UK,” www.migrationwatchuk.org, July 28, 2005
Office for National Statistics, “Population Estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland,” www.ons.gov.uk, 2012
Bastian Vollmer, “Undocumented Migration: Counting the Uncountable. Data and Trends Across Europe,” www.irregular-migration.net, July 2009
Jo Woodridge, “Sizing the Unauthorised (Illegal) Migrant Population in the United Kingdom in 2001,” www.webarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk, May 29, 2001

UNITED STATES

For more information on illegal immigration in the United States, see “Illegal Immigration, Population Estimates in the United States, 1969-2011.”

More on the Immigration Debate