Global Migration Growth Slowed by 27 Per Cent in 2020, Following Decades of Robust Increase, Annual Report Finds Global Migration Growth Slowed by 27 Per Cent in 2020, Following Decades of Robust Increase, Annual Report Finds Comments Off on Global Migration Growth Slowed by 27 Per Cent in 2020, Following Decades of Robust Increase, Annual Report Finds The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted all forms of human mobility through the closing of national borders and halting of travel worldwide, according to a newly released United Nations report. Preliminary estimates from the International Migration 2020 Highlights, published by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, suggest that the pandemic may have slowed the rise in the number of international migrants by around 2 million people by mid-2020 — 27 per cent less than the growth expected since mid-2019. Growth in the number of international migrants has been robust over the last two decades, reaching 281 million people living outside their country of origin in 2020. That number is up from 173 million in 2000, and 221 million in 2010.