Issue-Based Coalition (Europe and Central Asia) on Large Movements of People, Displacement and Resilience - Key Messages and Advocacy Points on the COVID-19 outbreak - Issue no. 1 (04 May 2020)

KEY FACTS AND FIGURES

▪ The region hosts 11.4M persons of concern to the IBC1 including 7M refugees, 2.5M internally displaced persons (IDPs), over 1.3M asylum-seekers and returnees, and 605,000 stateless persons.

▪ In addition, Europe and Central Asia are home to 143.4M international migrants - including 24.M who are children or youth - representing 57% of the world's 271.6M international migrants.The proportion of migrants relative to the overall population within the region (11.7%) is more than three times the world’s average (3.5%).

▪ The region is also a major sender and recipient of international remittances which reached $689Bn in globally in 2019, greatly surpassing official development assistance and, for many countries, foreign direct investment, and underscoring the salience of international migration as a driver of economic development.

▪ As we jointly assess the public health, social and economic impacts of COVID-19, asylum seekers, hosting communities, IDPs, migrants, refugees and stateless people (hereafter “the IBC’s target population”) must be considered an essential part of the response and solution to the pandemic, both in addressing their specific vulnerabilities as well as leveraging their critical role as actors who may contribute to a sustainable recovery

International Organization for Migration

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