United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

The estimates are based on official statistics on the foreign-born or the foreign population, classified by sex, and age. Most of the statistics utilised to estimate the international migrant stock were obtained from population censuses. Additionally, population registers and nationally representative surveys provided information on the number and composition of international migrants. The designations employed and the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The term “country” as used in this publication also refers, as appropriate, to territories or areas. The names and composition of geographical areas follow those presented in “Standard country or area codes for statistical use” (ST/ESA/STAT/SER.M/49/Rev.3), available at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49.htm.

The 2022 Revision of World Population Prospects is the twenty-seventh edition of official United Nations population estimates and projections that have been prepared by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat.

For the systematic tracking of levels and trends in urbanization throughout the world, the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations has issued a recurrent series, known as World Urbanization Prospects, since 1988. The series provides estimates and projections of the size of the urban and rural populations of all countries and of the populations of cities or urban agglomerations above a threshold of 300,000 inhabitants. Today, we are releasing the results of the 2018 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects.