Migration Profile on Nigeria - IOM Publications - International ...

24 per cent of the total emigration population, followed by the United States
(14%) and the United Kingdom (9%) (see Figure 6) (DRC, 2007).
Estimates of foreign-born Nigerians in OECD countries based on de Haas’
(2006) calculations from an OECD database give the following: France (2,563);
United Kingdom (88,378); Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal (26,435); other
European countries (22,361); North America (150,917); and Japan, Australia
and New Zealand (3,190). The data sources are population censuses/population
registers, mostly dating back to 2000–2001.
Moreover, the breakdown by region of destination in 2007 shows that
sub-Saharan Africa is the leading region, followed by Europe and Central Asia,
North America, the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, East Asia and the
Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Figure 6: Nigerian emigrants by country of destination, 2000 (%)
Source: DRC, 2007.
Note: These estimates are based on 2000 Census Round data (1995–2005).
In general, it can be said that African countries absorb most of the
emigration flows, even though European countries and the United States are
preferred, at least by educated Nigerian emigrants.
Data on emigrant flows are equated with those on the departure of
people from Nigeria. Departure data are based on the information supplied
on the cards filled out by travellers at the country’s official exit points. Since
data on departures were not cross tabulated with the duration of stay, the data
generated can serve only as passenger flows, as stated earlier with regard to
data on arrivals.
56 <strong>Migration</strong> in Nigeria: A Country <strong>Profile</strong> 2009