Migration to OECD countries falls 1.6% as rules tighten

Migration to the 38 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development fell 1.6 percent in 2025, the second consecutive annual decline, according to a report the Paris-based group published on Thursday.

OECD countries recorded 6.1 million new permanent immigrants in 2025, down from 6.2 million a year earlier. The total is still 12 percent above the 2019 level, a comparison RFI drew from the same report. Governments have tightened rules for workers, students and refugees over the period, and several Western countries have seen political backlash against irregular arrivals.

Humanitarian migration fell sharply, down 26 percent from 2024, while labour migration rose 13 percent, the report found.

Three countries recorded notable increases. Portugal admitted 313,600 permanent migrants, up 139 percent, after approving a backlog of pending residency permits. Spain rose 25 percent to 460,500 after broadening its residency policies, and Italy rose 45 percent to 248,800, driven largely by family and labour arrivals.

Other destinations fell. The United States took in more than 1.2 million permanent migrants, still the largest number in the OECD, but 14 percent fewer than in 2024. Canada dropped 19 percent to 393,800 and the United Kingdom 32 percent to 295,800.

Asylum applications to OECD countries excluding the United States fell 22 percent to 1.1 million, though that remains about 10 percent above 2019 levels.

India was the largest country of origin for migration flows to the OECD, ahead of China and Colombia, on the most recent figures available, for 2024. Men remain a majority of new arrivals: women made up about 46 percent of new immigrants that year. The United States and Ireland admitted 54 percent women, Sweden 53 percent, and Israel, Chile, Australia and New Zealand 52 percent.

Mark Pearson, the OECD's acting director of employment, labour and social affairs, said the group's working-age population is projected to shrink 8 percent by 2060. "Immigrants now account for 16 percent of employment across the OECD, 3 percentage points more than a decade ago," he said. The question, he added, "is not whether migration is good or bad for productivity, but how policies can maximise its potential."