Displacement and Migration

The number of refugees globally has dramatically increased in recent years. According to the UN Refugee Agency, by May 2024, 120 million people were displaced globally due to human rights violations, violence, persecution, general conflict, and climate change. This is a five percent increase from the end of 2023. By 2050, this number is projected to rise to 1.2 billion people due to climate change alone.

According to the most recent American Community Survey (ACS) from the U.S. Census Bureau, 47.8 million immigrants lived in the U.S. in 2023, the most in U.S. history. That year, immigrants comprised 14.3 percent of the U.S. population, close to the record level of 14.8 percent set in 1890. The immigrant population grew by more than 1.6 million people between 2022 and 2023, or about 3.6 percent, the largest annual growth since at least 2010.

2023 saw many local governments struggling to integrate hundreds of thousands of newcomers, with Chicago, New York, and other cities deploying temporary strategies. Planners should continue working to accommodate the influx of immigrants in their communities while also actively monitoring the evolving political landscape surrounding immigration. For more information on integrating migrants into communities, read the APA blog post, "Planners Can Integrate Climate Migrants."