136 Global Ethics for Leadership
placed. There are few among us who have not, in turn experienced what
it is to have foreigners in our midst.
The United Nations (UN) estimates^125 that there were 244 million in-
ternational migrants (those who have lived outside of their country of
birth for over one year) in 2015, around 3.3 per cent of the world popu-
lation that has moved from their homelands to settle elsewhere, with
most going to Europe (76 million) closely followed by Asia (75 million)
with 54 million in Northern America. Behind those figures, of course,
are 244 million individuals. Around 48% of international migrants are
women, the average age of the total is 39 years, with one in six under the
age of 20 and 177 million—around 72%—of working age (between 20
and 64). Between them they sent back to their home countries remit-
tances totalling USD 583,430 million in 2014 with most of the monies
going to developing regions. We can surmise that a large number of
these individuals are motivated men and women working hard in a coun-
try that isn’t their own to support their families at home.
The experiences of international migrants vary depending on the rea-
sons for their move, their education and skill sets, social status and net-
works, on where they are from and where they are trying to settle, on
their personal struggles and dreams. Even when the move has been
made to take up a new job offer or as a student migrants often face chal-
lenges that are difficult to appreciate, especially when they do not speak
the language of their new country. A large number live with uncertainty
and no small amount of fear about their legal status and rights, about
what (if any) access they have to medical care, housing and social ser-
vices and their ability to meet their basic needs and those of their fami-
lies if they have them, not to mention access to the job market for those
who travel in the hopes that there are opportunities elsewhere. A top
concern is finding affordable ways of keeping in touch with family and
125
http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/publications/w
allchart/index.shtml