How many international immigrants are there?
Current Events Friday
Data Scavenger Hunt
Find answers to the following questions using the visual above:
An immigrant is someone moving to a country they were not born in. As of 1960 approximately how many immigrants were there worldwide?
As of 2015 approximately how many immigrants were there worldwide?
Describe the change in the number of international immigrants between 1960 and 2015.
What is the big story of change over time that the data tells?
Based on the interactive map above, what country currently has the most total immigrants?
Big Brain Questions
Answer these questions by yourself using your brain and the links below:
Why do you think large numbers of immigrants move to countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, and Germany?
Immigrants leave their countries of birth because of push factors (things that make them leave - war, economic hardship, environmental degradation, and natural disasters) and because of pull factors (things that draw them to a new country - jobs, family, opportunity, the end of political or religious oppression). Which factor do you imagine is more powerful for the average immigrant.
Category 5 hurricane Otis hit Mexico this week causing widespread devastation. Recent floods in Pakistan covered one third of the nation. Fires in Canada destroyed 59,000 square miles or three times the size of Costa Rica. How do you think climate change will impact levels of global immigration.
Explain why immigration is such a hot issue in American politics and how you believe it will impact the next presidential election.
Some countries do not have enough people to do all the jobs needed in that country. Immigrants often take those jobs and solve work shortages. Identify three other benefits of Global immigration.
Write and Discuss
Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.
Act on your Learning
About 45 million people living in the United States in 2021 were born in other countries. As of 2019, roughly three-quarters of the foreign-born population were here legally. Talk to someone who is an immigrant (you can interview yourself if you are an immigrant) and ask them to share the story of their journey to the United States. Share their story in class.
Get Creative
Imagine you had to move to another country not because you wanted to, not for a big adventure, but because life at home was unbearable for your entire family. What would that be like? Try to capture the feeling of a global immigrant in a creative and artistic expression such as flash-fiction (a super-short story of less than one page), a collage of images of general push factors, a packing list before leaving home, or some other creative process. Share your work with your classmates.
Learn More
Go to the Our World In Data website and use their wicked cool interactive tools to watch the rate of change of foreign born populations over the past half century. Pretty nifty, huh?
