Asylum seekers, refuees and ilegal immigrants

  

The 57 Muslim-majority countries (members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) host significantly more registered refugees than Western nations, whereas Wester<
The 57 Muslim-Majority Countries: Over 16 million refugees. The biggest hosts are Iran (~3.76 million), Türkiye (~2.7 million), and Pakistan (~1.75 million).

Western Countries (Europe, US, Canada, Australia): Roughly 6 to 7 million refugees. The largest single host in the West is Germany, which protects around 2.5 million refugees (heavily comprised of Ukrainian and Syrian nationals). 

The United States officially hosts fewer than 500,000 individuals with fully processed refugee status, as it primarily utilizes a separate resettlement and parole system.

2. Pending Asylum Seekers (Awaiting Processing)Western nations face a massive bottleneck of individuals who have crossed borders to request protection but whose legal status is not yet decided.Western Countries: Over 4.5 million asylum seekers. The United States has the largest backlog in the world, with over 1.5 to 2 million pending cases. In the European Union, there are roughly 1.1 million active asylum seekers awaiting a decision.

The 57 Muslim-Majority Countries: Roughly 1 to 1.5 million asylum seekers. Because many neighboring host states do not have formal, legal asylum processing systems (such as the Gulf States or Pakistan), people are logged under emergency UN mandates rather than local "asylum seeker" backlogs.

3. Undocumented / Illegal Immigrants (Estimates) Because this demographic evades official tracking, these numbers rely on official government and demographic census estimations:

Western Countries: 

- Over 16 million people. 

United States: Estimated 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants.

- Europe (EU/UK): Estimated 3.9 to 4.8 million undocumented immigrants. 

- The 57 Muslim-Majority Countries: Over 5 million people. Many nations do not track "illegal immigration" in the same manner, but massive undocumented populations exist. 

For example, Pakistan and Iran collectively house an estimated 2 to 3 million undocumented Afghans who did not register with the UN. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers overstay visas under the strict Kafala system in wealthy Gulf States (Saudi Arabia, UAE), making them technically undocumented. 

(with Gemini)