ICMPD Migration Outlook 2025

ICMPD’s Migration Outlook presents a brief analysis of recent migration and policy trends and provides an outlook on developments and events to watch out for. In the 2025 edition, you will find the ten most pressing issues to look out for this year, as well as origins, key events and trends in migration policy.

Featured Publication of the Month

A policy brief based on research from the Measuring Irregular Migration (MIrreM) project, suggests there has been no definitive change in the number and share of irregular migrant population in Europe since the estimates made in the Clandestino Project in 2008.

Vienna Migration Conference 2024: 5 takeaways on migration governance in a shifting geopolitical landscape

Reflecting on the conference discussions, the 5 takeaways shine a spotlight on the route-based approach, migration diplomacy, labour migration, the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, and external processing.

EU and partner countries commit to tackling irregular migration, legal pathways, human trafficking, border safety, and international protection

EU Member States and partner countries have agreed on a Joint Declaration outlining six key priorities for 2025-2030, including expanding legal pathways, tackling irregular migration, enhancing international protection, prevention of racism and discrimination, and stronger support for integration.

News

Update on the election of the next ICMPD Director General

17 January 2025

Vienna, 17 January 2025 – ICMPD selects a new Director General this year. This follows the end of the second and final five-year term of the incumbent, Director General Michael Spindelegger, in December 2025.

Migration Outlook 2025: Inflows to Europe stabilise but Trump 2.0, Ukraine, and Syria pose looming challenges for the EU

16 January 2025

The International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) has released its annual forecast of the 10 migration issues that can shape international migration in 2025. For the first time in years, irregular migration and asylum figures in Europe have decoupled from global trends on displacement. Much suggests that this trend is the result of more restrictive migration policies globally, but it is still too early to speak of a sustainable development. The downward trend, however, will reinforce political debates in Europe that primarily focus on control, externalisation and return.

MoNIS Project concludes: Driving digital transformation in immigration management

14 January 2025

Nigeria

In December 2024, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) reached a significant milestone with the successful conclusion of the Modernising the Nigeria Immigration Service Workforce (MoNIS) Project. Supported by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and the Government of Denmark, this initiative has redefined standards for institutional efficiency, inclusivity, and innovation within the NIS.

International Migrants Day 2024: ICMPD’s work on policy, research, migration dialogues, and projects on the ground

18 December 2024

Today is the International Migrants Day. On this occasion we reflect on our work in another year of continued or escalating wars and conflicts, rising climate change, and socio-economic deprivations that have displaced 120 million¹ people in their own countries or forced them to cross borders for their safety.

ENHANCER: Promoting entrepreneurship for refugees and businesses in host communities

17 December 2024

Türkiye

Strengthening the local economy while enhancing entrepreneurship capacities of migrants to contribute more productively with their skills and business ideas, as well as creating jobs enriches the host communities. This is the main thrust of the ENHANCER (Entrepreneurship Capacities for Sustainable Socio-Economic Integration) Project, launched in 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic that saw enterprises and workers losing their businesses and jobs.

InfoPoint Conference in Brussels: Migration and Border Cooperation in Central Asia - State and Civil Society Approach

13 December 2024

Belgium

On 20 November 2024, the conference "Migration and Border Cooperation in Central Asia - State and Civil Society Approach" took place in Brussels within the framework of the EU’s International Partnerships InfoPoint. The event, organised by the BOMCA and PROTECT projects - both implemented by ICMPD’s Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia - highlighted two key European Union-funded initiatives aimed at strengthening cooperation between civil society organisations and state migration authorities in Central Asia.