The research desk
Nothing on this site asks you to take a feeling as a fact. Every figure we publish comes from an open, citable source, and every source below is linked to its own publisher. Figures are rounded published estimates and are updated as new releases arrive.
Public history · Research series
Atlantic slavery, diverse African societies and the production of wealth in the Americas. A comparative study proposal with linked evidence, open questions and a research podcast concept under The One Who Stayed. Scholarly review pending.
Explore the research seriesLive desk
Checked Nov 3, 2026
Headlines and summaries come directly from OpenAlex and United Nations News. The project links to the original publisher and does not republish full articles.
Foundational sources
UN DESA Population Division
The baseline global count of people living outside their country of birth, by origin, destination, age, and sex.
How we use it: Every global figure and corridor estimate on the map page begins here.
Open the sourceInternational Organization for Migration (IOM)
A biennial synthesis of migration data, drivers, governance, and regional patterns.
How we use it: Context for why corridors form and how they change.
Open the sourceU.S. Census Bureau
Annual U.S. data on nativity, citizenship, year of entry, language, household structure, and income.
How we use it: The source for the U.S. origin table and family questions in the project.
Open the sourceUNHCR
Counts of refugees, people seeking asylum, internally displaced people, and stateless people.
How we use it: Distinguishes chosen migration from forced displacement in our writing.
Open the sourceWorld Bank and KNOMAD
Remittance flows by corridor, and the cost of sending money home.
How we use it: Grounds the material viability pillar of the Relational Home Model.
Open the sourceMigration Policy Institute
Country and state profiles, policy analysis, and integration indicators.
How we use it: Policy background for the support and advocacy work of the project.
Open the sourcePew Research Center
Public opinion, outcomes for the second generation, and identity research.
How we use it: Evidence for the belonging and second generation chapters.
Open the sourceU.S. Census · American Community Survey
Roughly 50.6 million people living in the United States were born somewhere else, about 15% of the population, the highest share on record. These are the ten largest origins.
See it on the world mapSource: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. Rounded estimates.
A number tells you how many. It never tells you why someone left, or what it cost them.
The word migrant holds a surgeon, a farmhand, a grandmother, and a child in the same category.
Undocumented people, unregistered elders, and those who stayed behind are systematically undercounted.