2012-03-07-皮尤-The_Religious_Affiliation_of_International_Migrants_114页_18mb

Summary: "Faith on the Move: The Religious Affiliation of International Migrants"

Overview

• World population migrants increased from 80 million in 1960 to 214 million by 2010 (3% of global population). If formalized, this represents the fifth most populous country globally.
• The Pew Forum assessed religion for all international migrants using the new Global Religion and Migration Database (GRMD), focusing on 231 countries and territories.

Challenges & Methodology

• Definitions: An international migrant is defined as someone living outside their birth country for over a year.
• Religious Groups: Divided into seven categories: Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Other Religions, Unaffiliated.
• Data Limitations: Data is an estimate; missing data requires imputation ("origin proxies" or "destination proxies"). Accuracy depends on data quality, covering ~86% of migrations.

Global Religious Affiliation Among International Migrants (2010)

• Top Religions:
  • Christians: 49% (≈106 million)
  • Muslims: 27% (≈58.6 million)
  • Hindus: 5% (≈10.7 million)
  • Buddhists: 3% (≈7.3 million)
  • Unaffiliated: 9% (≈19.3 million)
  • Jews: 2% (≈3.65 million)
  • Adherents of Other Religions: 4% (≈9.1 million)

Key Patterns

• Globally, Christians and Muslims are the largest groups, but Christians are disproportionately overrepresented in migration (50% vs ~33% of global population). Muslims are slightly overrepresented (27% vs 23% globally).
• Jews demonstrate the highest migration rates (25% left their birth country).
• Europe, especially countries receiving intra-EU immigrants, often sees different migration patterns between emigration (e.g., from Muslim-majority countries) and immigration into some nations (high Christian and Muslim immigrant proportions in many destinations).
• The USA attracts the largest share of international migrants (≈43 million), dominating as a destination for largely Christian and non-Muslim migrants, and uniquely for Buddhist and unaffiliated migrants.
• Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries rely heavily on foreign labor (often Muslim), creating significant demographic changes where Muslim immigration is common alongside other groups.

Data Construction & Assumptions

• Data used censuses, surveys, population registers, remittance records, and assumption of patterns where data is unavailable.
• Robust testing methods were used, though methodological proxies mean data must be interpreted cautiously.
• Religious affiliation may change upon migration, complicating interpretation.

Caveats

• Religious selection occurs in migration patterns based on destination and origin countries.
• Estimates are cumulative stocks as of 2010, not migration flow rates.
• Data relies heavily on some national sources and imputation for others.

Notable "Destination Spotlights"

• USA: Dominant international migrant hub, appealing to diverse religious groups, despite unadjusted lower estimates than UN figures.
• Europe: Increasing Muslim immigration contrasts with the fast growth of Christian foreign-born populations inside the EU due to intra-European movement.
• GCC Countries: Fueled by massive influxes of varied faiths due to migration policy and labor needs.

Concluding Thoughts

The GRMD marks a significant step forward in comprehending global migration and religion as intersecting domains. However, it remains dependent on country-level data quality, relegating the report to an estimate rather than precise count.