Permanent migration to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries fell for a second year in a row in 2025, down 1.6 percent from the previous year, with 6.1 million new permanent immigrants in the bloc's 38 countries against 6.2 million in 2024.

Legal humanitarian migration dropped 26 percent, while labor migration rose 13 percent. Portugal saw a 139-percent increase to 313,600 people, Spain a 25-percent increase to 460,500 and Italy a 45-percent increase to 248,800; the United States saw a 14-percent drop, Canada 19 percent to 393,800 and the United Kingdom 32 percent to 295,800. Despite the decline, the number of permanent immigrants settling for the long term was up 12 percent compared with 2019. The International Migration Outlook 2026, the OECD's annual report, was published on Thursday.