The global number of migrant workers has risen by nine per cent to 164 million within four years, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates.

“This total, which includes employed refugees, accounts for 4.7 per cent of the global workforce,’’ the UN agency said on Wednesday in Geneva.

In high-income countries, the number slightly decreased from around 112 million to around 111 million between 2013 and 2017.

According to the ILO report, migration into middle-income countries increased in this period, where a global pact to regulate migration and to protect migrant rights is set to be endorsed.

Two thirds of the world’s migrant workers live in wealthy countries, including the European Union with its borderless internal labour market.

Almost a quarter of the world’s migrant workers are in Western, Southern and Northern Europe, followed by 23 per cent in North America and 14 per cent in the Arab region. (dpa/NAN)