Without migration, the population of high-income countries would shrink

In recent years, migration has prevented population decline among high-income countries.

The World Bank defines high-income countries as those with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of over $14,000 in 2023. It includes countries like the United States, Chile, and Poland.

The chart shows annual population growth with and without migration in these countries.

The green line, which includes migration, shows that populations in high-income countries are still growing.

What would this have looked like without migration? The blue line gives you the answer — it shows the annual population growth only considering births and deaths in the country. It has been falling for decades and went negative in 2020.

Note that these figures apply to high-income countries as a group; in some countries, such as Italy or Japan, the total population is shrinking, even when considering migration.

This data comes from the World Population Prospects dataset published by the United Nations.

(This Daily Data Insight was written by Simon van Teutem.)